Covering Annandale, Bailey's Crossroads, Lincolnia, and Seven Corners in Fairfax County, Virginia

Stream restoration project starts this week in Annandale

Construction is expected to start this week on a stream restoration project in the Broyhill Crest neighborhood in Annandale. 

The Murray Lane Outfall Restoration Project will stabilize a 722-linear-foot section of an unnamed tributary of Holmes Run in the Cameron Run watershed. The project will increase capacity in the existing channel and stabilize the stream banks in an effort to reduce erosion and improve water quality.

The Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services has contracted with Environmental Quality Resources LLC for the project. Construction is projected to last through October 2021.

The work will be conducted four days a week, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Broyhill Crest Park, the garden plots at the end of the Lockwood Lane cul-de-sac, and the pedestrian bridge will remain open during construction. However, parking will be prohibited in the cul-de-sac.

Many trees will be removed, but the county promised the community “a massive native replanting” when the project is completed. 

That section of the stream “has a long history of maintenance concerns,” says Sharon North, spokesperson for the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. 

The stream was realigned as part of the development of the Broyhill Crest subdivision in the 1950s. “Vertical walls were constructed in place of the original stream banks and the channel invert was lined with concrete,” North says. 

“Despite repeated stabilization efforts to address severe erosion and flooding issues, the stream continues to erode and portions of the walls and concrete invert are now failing in several areas,” she says.

As a result, the public sanitary sewer infrastructure is exposed within the channel, and the downstream end of the channel has failed, causing the natural channel downstream of Broyhill Crest to become too wide.

The project will draw on natural channel design concepts. The existing vertical walls will be replaced with a “channel in channel” design to improve floodplain capacity. 

The project also will protect property and public utility infrastructure, create in-stream and riparian habitat for wildlife, and improve water quality through the removal of phosphorus, nitrogen, and total suspended solids.

5 responses to “Stream restoration project starts this week in Annandale

  1. Does anybody know why it is necessary to take down many trees? Sounds like they will destroy the stream to fix the stream.

  2. Because it seems the county never met a tree it didn’t want to cut down, despite its claims of being tree-friendly – dare I mention the denuded Hudson Quarters development along Sleepy Hollow Rd. County okayed that slaughter.

  3. According to its proponents, the damage inherently involved in stream "restoration" is worthwhile, but the specialist who spoke at a community meeting a few years ago left me desperately hoping he was right. (I wasn't convinced.)

    An opinion piece I read the other day made a more logical and well-articulated case, but to be honest, it echoes the "ounce of prevention" philosophy that I've held my whole life, so my reaction may not be the most objective one:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/28/alexandria-chesapeake-bay-urban-stream-renewal/

    The bottom line for me? Humans can "break" the environment much more effectively than we can "fix" it.

    –kda

  4. Well, I personally know many of the people who work in Stormwater Planning. They are always trying to do better but when sewer pipes are involved it does involve removing more trees than anyone likes. There are those out there who have never done a stream restoration project that like to get communities upset and I'm not saying that there aren't reasons for their concerns since many engineering firms fail to consider the environment at all. But I believe this is an area that Fairfax County does well and I don't say that lightly since I feel completely betrayed by the current powers that be there.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *