The bulldozers seen along Route 15 last March were real, and so was the cleared ground they left on both sides of the road north of Leesburg. That work did not start the widening. It started the step before it. County schedules filed this year show a utility relocation phase that runs into the fall of 2028. Road construction is now set to begin in late 2027, and the finished road is targeted for November 2030.
For anyone who turns onto Raspberry Falls Drive most mornings, that changes the next four years of driving. The stretch between Battlefield Parkway and Montresor Road will have activity for most of the second half of this decade. Through 2028, a lot of that activity will be utility crews working on the poles and lines, with road builders following later.
What the March clearing was actually for
Loudoun County posted the notice on March 5, 2026. Starting the week of March 9, crews would clear trees on both sides of Route 15 between Battlefield Parkway and Whites Ferry Road, with work expected to run until mid-April. The notice gave the reason as preparing for utility relocation. It also warned that flaggers and temporary lane closures might be needed whenever heavy equipment pulled on or off the road.
A second notice followed on March 23. It covered a partial closure of the Route 15 exit ramp to Route 15 Business/Leesburg from Wednesday, March 25, through Monday, March 30, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with nearby work continuing through April.
Those two notices are what most drivers remember. The schedule behind them got less attention. In its April 17, 2026 status update, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority listed utility relocation on this project as starting in April 2026 and finishing in September 2028. A County status sheet for the Battlefield Parkway to Whites Ferry Road segment lists the current phase as land and utilities. It also notes that the County is working with Dominion on the design for moving those utilities. On the County's own corridor tracker, Phase 1 is still labeled "Land & Utilities" and Phase 2, from Whites Ferry Road to Montresor Road, is labeled "Land & Design."
So the cleared roadside is where utility lines will be moved over the next two years. The new lanes come after that.
A schedule that moved twice in four months
This year's NVTA reports show the timeline moving in steps. Here is where each milestone stood in the most recent filings:
| Milestone | Earlier target | Latest target in 2026 filings |
|---|---|---|
| Design completion | September 2026, per the April 17 report | Summer 2026, per the May 22 report |
| Land acquisition complete | n/a | January 2027 |
| Utility relocation | n/a | April 2026 to September 2028 |
| Construction advertised for bids | n/a | March 2027 |
| Phase I construction start | December 30, 2026 | November 28, 2027 |
| Project completion | December 2028 | November 2030 |
The two reports don't agree on design completion. The April report said September 2026, and the May report said design was underway and expected to wrap up in summer 2026. Neither one explains the change. The completion date is the more important figure for daily drivers. The April report moved it from December 30, 2028 to November 1, 2030, and the July 17 report repeated the shift from December 2028 to November 2030. That adds almost two years. None of the status reports gives a cause. NVTA's next report, current as of August 21, does not list the widening among its substantive updates.
The County's bid board shows where things stand in procurement right now. As of early October, the open solicitation on this project is a request for qualifications for construction engineering and inspection services. Those are the people who oversee and inspect the work. The request was published September 15, received an addendum on October 2, and closes October 13, 2026 at 4 p.m. No general construction contractor has been awarded. County staff expect to advertise the construction contract itself in March 2027.
One $86 million contract, written under a new set of rules
Two decisions in 2026 shaped how that construction contract will be bid.
First, the County combined the two phases into a single job. In a May 19, 2026 Board item, staff wrote that the Battlefield Parkway to Whites Ferry Road segment had been combined with the Whites Ferry Road to Montresor Road segment. The goal was to deliver the widening "more efficiently and cost-effectively," and the combined project carries an estimated value of $86 million.
Second, the Board chose this road as Loudoun's pilot transportation project to be built under a Project Labor Agreement. State code defines a PLA as a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement for a specific public works project. According to Loudoun Now's coverage of the May 12 finance committee meeting, Assistant Director of Procurement Cheryl Middleton described the project as a good fit. She pointed to its cost, its extended timeline and its several complex parts. She also noted that it uses no state or federal funding, so the County can structure the pilot without additional VDOT or federal review.
Supervisors disagreed openly. Supervisor Caleb Kershner, whose Catoctin District includes the project, is not on the finance committee. He sent a letter raising concerns about how the requirement could affect Route 15. Supervisor Matthew Letourneau explained Kershner's concern by noting that staff consider "a flexible schedule" a good PLA criterion, and that this project, already delayed, did not have one in Kershner's view. Letourneau also warned that the contractors who usually bid on County work might stay away. Chair Phyllis Randall replied, "We're not building the Taj Mahal. They are buildings and roads." Committee Chair Juli Briskman said she disagreed that union labor would make the projects cost more or take longer.
At the May 19 business meeting, Kershner asked to split the motion so Route 15 got its own vote. The Route 15 PLA pilot passed 7 to 2, with Kershner and Letourneau opposed.
Timing matters here. The April NVTA report had already pushed completion to November 2030 weeks before the committee took up the PLA. Nothing in the record ties the 2026 delays to that decision. What the PLA does add is a reporting rule. The same motion directs staff to update the finance committee every six months, or sooner if a significant issue comes up. Counting six months from May 19, the first of those updates would be due around late November 2026.
What eventually changes at the Raspberry Falls Drive light
When construction does happen, the plans show these changes for Raspberry Falls drivers:
- Whites Ferry Road / Raspberry Falls Drive. This stays a signalized intersection, updated as part of the widening. NVTA's project documents name this junction specifically.
- Montresor Road. A new roundabout, with Limestone School Road realigned to meet it. The County's March notice calls it a two-lane hybrid roundabout, and the May Board item calls it four-legged. Both descriptions point to the same intersection.
- North King Street. A Continuous Green "T" intersection at the south end of the project.
- Along the corridor. Two double-span bridges, stream relocation and restoration, and a shared-use path on the west side of Route 15.
The same Board item flags something drivers should expect once crews arrive. Because of how much traffic uses Route 15, staff wrote that keeping traffic moving during construction is expected to be a "major construction component." On this stretch, that means lanes will shift and the work will be staged around commuters for the length of the build. Under the current schedule, that runs from late 2027 to late 2030.
Between now and the first paving crew
As of early October, the County's Route 15 corridor blog has no posted notice of lane closures or utility work on this stretch since the March notices. That page, along with the County's Route 15 Bypass to Montresor Road project page, is where the March notices appeared, so it is the best place to watch for the next round. If utility relocation stays on the April schedule, it is still running into 2028. Work like that has typically brought daytime flaggers and short lane closures, the same impacts the County described in March.
These schedules can still change. The latest dated completion target is November 2030, from the July 17 NVTA report, and every target in this post comes from 2026 status filings that have already been revised during the year. The next fixed date on the calendar is October 13, when the County closes its search for the inspection team.
If you're thinking about selling a Raspberry Falls home in the next few years, it helps to know where Route 15 will be in its construction cycle when you plan to list. Matt Elliott and his team can walk you through the timing, how to present the road project honestly to buyers, and how to pick a listing window that works with it. Request a Free Seller Consultation to start that conversation.
