On September 30, 2026, the Town of Clifton awarded the Main Street Streetscape Phase II contract to M&F Concrete, Inc. The award covers $772,280.43 for a utility duct bank and $967,276.92 for rebuilding the roadway. The project has been in public discussion since at least 2018. The award is the first time a construction company is on the hook to build it.
The contract runs in two stages, and the first one happens mostly underground. The street you'll see rebuilt can't start until the buried utility work is finished and certified. So the timeline depends on a chain of approvals as much as on how fast a crew can dig.
What the Plans Actually Cover
The work zone is short. In the Town's invitation to bid, the project means relocating utilities that conflict with the streetscape, then demolishing and rebuilding Main Street, which is Route 645, "between Chapel Street and Ford Lane." The Town's 2023 public hearing notice gives tighter limits, from Ford Lane to 50 feet east of Chapel Street.
That hearing notice lists the goals: street and sidewalk improvements, putting utilities underground, safer and ADA-accessible walking, and landscaping and amenities that suit Main Street as a scenic and historic byway. The bid lists Stage 2 work as traffic maintenance, environmental controls, asphalt pavement, concrete work, drainage systems, underdrains, pavement markings and planting.
Part of the job sits on railroad property. Town project updates call for a mill-and-overlay of the pavement in the Norfolk Southern right-of-way and a new streetlight there. That required a lease amendment between the Town and the railroad.
One promised change comes up again and again in council talk, and that's curbs. At the May 6, 2025 meeting, council members discussed how heavy event parking blocks sidewalks and keeps big trucks from making the turns. According to the meeting minutes, Councilmember Davis said the streetscape would help because "there will actually be curbs."
Why the Wires Go First
Three utilities have lines in the corridor: NOVEC, Verizon and Cox. Before anyone can pour new curbs or relay the street, those lines have to move into a shared underground duct bank. At the May 6, 2025 Council meeting, the project chair explained why burying them made sense. Main Street has so little room that even estimating a like-for-like aboveground relocation was hard.
Planning-era statements describe this order of work. They're estimates the Town gave before the contract was awarded, not the contractor's schedule:
- Trench and duct bank. The Town's contractor digs the trench, installs the duct bank and covers it again. The utilities' own contractors then pull their conduits through. In the council discussion, the trench is covered rather than left open while the utilities do their part, "so there will not be a trench sitting in the middle of the road for 30 days."
- Utility work. In May 2025 this was expected to take three to four months.
- Certification. The utility and right-of-way work has to be certified before roadway construction can start.
- Roadway. Demolition and reconstruction of Main Street itself. A February 2024 estimate put construction at about eight months overall.
In May 2025, the hope was that the duct bank would start that August or September and the roadway would follow the next March. The duct bank did not start in 2025. A contractor was awarded the work in September 2026, about a year after that hoped-for start.
The Clock Runs on Paperwork
The September 30 award comes with conditions. M&F Concrete still has to submit the signed owner-contractor agreement, performance and payment bonds, insurance certificates and other contract documents. Then the Town issues an administrative notice to proceed.
The October 2026 Town Council packet includes a draft of that notice for Mayor Lynn Screen's signature. It's dated October 6, 2026, marked "to be revised," and the effective date is still blank. It also says a separate Construction Notice to Proceed "will follow upon completion of Pre-Construction Administrative items." A crew can't start digging until that second notice is issued.
Funding paperwork is moving too. In an October 5 email in the same packet, VDOT's urban program manager for Northern Virginia told the Town that revised funding appendices for both project numbers could take "a couple of weeks or longer." He also said the money appears in VDOT's current six-year program. VDOT could ask its central office for those revisions only after the actual award amount was entered in its system.
As of mid-October 2026, nothing in the public record sets a start date for digging.
Eight Years and One Bid That Fit
The Town advertised a public information meeting on "Main Street Streetscape – Phase II" for June 5, 2018, at the Community Meeting Hall on Chapel Road, according to a notice in the Connection Newspapers. By February 2024, the estimate was about $2.9 million against $2.5 million in federal Transportation Alternatives funding.
The first time the duct bank was advertised, it drew a single bid, and the project team judged it not viable. In November 2025 the team planned to rebid the duct bank separately while keeping the roadway bid ready in case the two had to be combined again. They were combined. The joint project was advertised April 29, 2026, and four bids were opened June 25.
| Bid opened June 25, 2026 | Total |
|---|---|
| Lowest | $1,739,557.35 |
| Second | $1,799,305.00 |
| Third | $1,870,018.04 |
| Fourth | $3,993,317.15 |
The two amounts in M&F Concrete's award add up to exactly $1,739,557.35, the lowest bid on that list. The top three bids came within about $130,000 of each other. That suggests contractors read the job much the same way the second time around, unlike the single-bid round that sent the duct bank back out.
Where the Work Meets Your Errands
Rebuilding a street this narrow touches the properties along it, so the Town had to secure easements first. At its May 2025 meeting, the Council approved easement documents for several familiar spots:
- Clifton Café, with $3,200 in approved compensation
- Ayre Square, the Town's green on Main Street
- Golden Phoenix
- Peterson's Ice Cream Depot
- Main Street Pub
The project team also said businesses next to the work, naming Clifton Café and Peterson's Ice Cream, needed talks about how customers get in and out. It planned to meet with businesses and property owners before and after choosing a contractor.
That promise came from recent experience. In 2025, VDOT closed Chapel Street for an unrelated storm drain replacement, and the May 6, 2025 Council minutes record the mayor saying no residents were told and they were all blocked in. The project chair answered that duct bank logistics would be discussed with affected residents and businesses, working with the Town's communications committee.
The holiday calendar has its own wiring issue. The October 2026 packet says planning is underway for the Holiday Tree Lighting on the first Saturday in December. The electrical service line at Ayre Square had failed, and repair pricing was still pending. That repair is a separate item from the streetscape contract. It shows how much of downtown runs on electrical service that's getting old.
What Isn't Settled Yet
The biggest open question is the start date. The draft administrative notice in the October packet still has a blank effective date, and the construction notice to proceed comes after that. The Town materials we reviewed don't give a current work schedule, lane closures or parking plans from the awarded contractor, and the 2024 and 2025 durations above came before the award. The 2023 hearing notice said property impact details and tentative schedules were available for review at Town Hall, 12641 Chapel Road. Monthly Town Council packets have been the most dependable place to see each step as it happens. The next ones to watch are the signed administrative notice, VDOT's revised appendices and the construction notice to proceed.
A street project like this can change how a block feels and works for years, both for the homes facing it and for the people deciding whether to buy on it. If you own property near Main Street and want to talk through what the streetscape could mean for a future sale or purchase, Amanda Jones and our team follow these Council updates closely and are glad to help. Contact Us to Start Your Move.
