"This is an important investment in our community, and one that will have a meaningful impact on the way people travel through this part of Leesburg every day," Mayor Kelly Burk said at the September 17 groundbreaking, according to the Town of Leesburg's announcement. The widening ends in early 2029. For the next two-plus years, the bigger change for anyone driving in from Grenata Preserve is the clock the job runs on.
That clock comes from three schools. Heritage High School, J. Lupton Simpson Middle School and Evergreen Mill Elementary School sit along the 1.3-mile project, and the Town limited construction hours around their arrival and dismissal times. As a result, the work zone is busiest in late morning and early afternoon. Early mornings, evenings and the town's December night events mostly fall outside it.
The first phase sits on the Grenata end of the road
Grenata Preserve is just outside Leesburg, off Evergreen Mills Road. Driving into town from that direction, the first part of the project you reach is its southern limit at the Heritage High School entrance, south of Battlefield Parkway. That is where the work starts. The Town's September 16 preconstruction presentation splits the job into three phases that move north toward downtown:
- Phase I: the southern project limits at Heritage High School to Battlefield Parkway
- Phase II: Battlefield Parkway to Wallace Drive
- Phase III: Wallace Drive to South King Street, which is Route 15
The groundbreaking release confirmed that crews would start in front of Heritage High School and work toward Battlefield Parkway. It also warned of regular lane closures and flagging operations along the way. The baseline schedule set a tentative Notice to Proceed of September 22, 2026. General Excavation Inc. is the contractor, and Volkert, Inc. handles construction management and inspections.
The Wallace Drive intersection carries extra weight for the whole project. The contractor stages materials and equipment there, so trucks and machinery will cluster at that corner even while Phase I work is happening farther south. The Town also bars contractor parking in residential neighborhoods and requires all personnel to follow posted speed limits.
Two school-zone windows set the crew's day
The Town's standard hours for work behind the concrete barrier are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Near the schools, the weekday window is shorter from August 15 to June 15.
| Stretch of the project | Weekdays, Aug. 15 to June 15 | Weekdays, June 16 to Aug. 14 | Weekends, year-round |
|---|---|---|---|
| General work behind the barrier | 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Near Heritage High School and J. Lupton Simpson Middle School | 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Near Evergreen Mill Elementary School | 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
The school-year rows are the ones that apply now, and they will keep applying through mid-June. Phase I runs right in front of Heritage High School, so on a weekday this winter the scheduled work in that first segment fits inside 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. A drive out of Grenata before 9:30 a.m. reaches the Heritage stretch before that window opens. A return after 3 p.m. arrives after it closes.
There are two caveats. The Town says it will announce any weekend or night work in advance if the job needs it. And outside crew hours, the road is still a construction corridor with barriers in place. The work hours tell you when flaggers and active lane closures are likely. They don't mean the road is back to how it was.
Peak traffic is what the road is being widened for
Under the bell-based hours, crews mostly stay out of the busiest periods. Those periods are also the reason the project exists. The Town says the widening is meant to relieve congestion during the morning and evening peaks. The project goals include cutting congestion at the Heritage High School entrance and improving safety at the Battlefield Parkway intersection, and both sit in or next to Phase I.
The volume figures explain why. A 2020 traffic study counted 9,000 to 11,000 vehicles a day on the stretch between South King Street and Heritage High School. It projects 17,000 to 20,000 a day by 2045, roughly an 80 percent increase on a road that is two lanes today. That growth is the problem the four-lane design is meant to absorb. Meanwhile the schedule keeps construction away from the hours when today's 9,000 to 11,000 daily trips pile up.
December's evening events fall after crews stop
The same schedule affects the holiday season. Leesburg's two biggest December events, the tree lighting and the parade, start after crews have stopped for the day. Here are the dates on the Town's parks and recreation events calendar:
- Freeze Your Gizzard 5K and 1-mile fun run: Saturday, November 21, at Ida Lee Park
- Holiday Tree Lighting: Saturday, December 5, at 6 p.m.
- Holiday Fine Arts & Crafts Show: Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6
- Christmas and Holiday Parade: Saturday, December 12, at 6 p.m., with Sunday, December 13, as the rain date
Weekend construction hours end at 5 p.m., so the tree lighting and the parade both start an hour after scheduled work stops. The crafts show runs on a weekend daytime schedule, which overlaps with the 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. window. A daytime trip to the show from Grenata is the one December outing that may meet active work on Evergreen Mill. An evening trip to the parade avoids it, unless the Town announces night work beforehand.
What the road becomes when the barriers come down
The finished road is four lanes, up from two. It will have new turn lanes at key intersections and pedestrian signals at every signalized intersection. A sidewalk will run along the west side and a shared-use path along the east side, and a new crosswalk at Wallace Drive will give pedestrians a protected crossing. According to the Town, that adds up to fully ADA-compliant pedestrian connectivity between Heritage High School and South King Street. Storm drainage, utility relocation and full curb and gutter are part of the job too. Signal timing will be optimized to reduce congestion.
The project has been in the works for a decade. It was funded through the Town's Capital Improvements Program, with design starting between 2016 and 2018. In 2018 more funding extended the limits south of Battlefield Parkway, the stretch that is now Phase I. Final design was finished in 2023, and land acquisition and utility relocation ran from 2023 through 2025. Loudoun County contributed $15.5 million.
The north end of the project ties into future plans at the corner. The presentation lists improved turn lanes and a better entrance to the future shopping center near King Street and Evergreen Mill Road. That site is the Meadowbrook Neighborhood Center, a 23.56-acre tract at the southeast corner of South King Street and Evergreen Mill Road, according to the Town's June 25, 2024 public-hearing notice. Leesburg Town Council approved its mixed-use rezoning in December 2022 and the follow-up rezoning for its final land bay on June 25, 2024, according to the Town's announcement. The 2024 amendment allows a 12,000-square-foot childcare center, a 175,000-square-foot continuing-care facility with 175 dwelling units, 5,000 square feet of retail and 14,300 square feet of office space on that land bay.
The Town's estimate for finishing the road is winter 2028/2029 into spring 2029. Anyone can sign up for regular project updates at leesburgva.gov/evergreenmill.
If you own in Grenata and want to know how a road project on your route figures into your home's value, The Bill Davis Team tracks Grenata sales against what is changing around the community. Request Your Free Home Value Report, and we'll show you where your home stands while the Evergreen Mill work moves toward downtown.
