Northern Virginia Fairfax and Arlington Counties Permits

The Fairfax / Arlington Permit section approves permits for work in Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) right of way (ROW) in Fairfax and Arlington counties, and accepts streets for maintenance into the secondary roads system.

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What's New

Tysons Permits and Street Acceptance Guidelines (PDF, 436 KB)

Acceptance of Supplemental Right of Way Dedication Presentation (PDF, 10 MB)

Note the following changes to our procedures.

VDOT’s Fairfax Permits Section is now offering new options for surety review in addition to the regular submission process. Contact the permits office if you have questions.

Option 1. Allow developers to submit plans for surety estimates review at plan’s second submission, which will allow additional time for developers and VDOT as:

Surety will be ready at the time of permit application
Surety review is performed during non-critical time
Surety checklist may be revised to reflect changes, if any, during county bonding and approval

Option 2. Allow in-person surety review, this option requires:

An appointment
Engineer should be present
Will result in direct and immediate resolution of review issues.
This option for approved plans only.

Note that surety reviews for all options are good for one year and may be extended as approved by the VDOT reviewer.

Effective March 1, 2014

Fairfax County and VDOT have agreed through a procedural memorandum to allow supplemental right of way dedication as defined by the VDOT’s Directive MDD 6.02, dated Jan. 11, 2010, to be accepted through VDOT’s land use permit system (LUPS).

The implementation will be effective March 1, 2014, for projects submitted to Fairfax County Bonds and Agreements. Permits submitted to Fairfax County Bonds and Agreements prior to March 1, 2014, will be processed under the current street acceptance process.

Effective Immediately

VDOT may waive permits for minor site plans with no impact to VDOT right of way, provided the work activity does not create excessive construction traffic.

Minor site plans should be submitted to VDOT Permits for review to determine if a permit can be waived.

Effective Jan. 9, 2012

As stipulated in 24VAC30-151-80.B of the current Land Use Permit Regulations, consideration will not be given to an extension request for a permit that has been reinstated after an extension.

VDOT has embarked on a project to transform the LUPS to a web-based application and the new LUPS will no longer allow multiple permit extensions and reinstatements.

It will only allow a one-time extension of an active permit (to be submitted 10 calendar days prior to the original permit expiration date) and a one-time reinstatement of an expired permit.

Should a reinstated permit expire, the permit must be closed out and the permittee will be required to apply for a new permit to complete the work authorized under their original permit.

Effective Jan. 9, 2012

As stipulated in 24VAC30-151-710 of the current Land Use Permit Regulations, time extensions for active permits shall incur a monetary charge equal to one-half the application fee charged to the initial permit.

Expired permits may be reinstated; however, fees for reinstatement of expired permits shall equal the application fee.

New Land Use Permit Regulations

The new Land Use Permits Regulations can be found in Virginia Code 24VAC30.

Regulations for New Work Zone Certifications

Beginning July 1, 2009, all land use permit applicants are required to provide at least one person that, at a minimum, is certified by VDOT in basic work zone traffic control for all permitted activities within state maintained right of way that involves installing, maintaining, or removing work zone traffic control devices.

This person shall be responsible for all placement, maintenance and removal of work zone traffic control devices.

In addition, any new permit applications must endorse and submit the LUP-WZ document with all permit applications, as well as the LUP-SP (Northern Virginia) document and E and S (LUP-Erosion) form.

Final Inspection Request

In order to simplify requests for the final inspection process, maintain accurate digital records and prevent misplacement of manually delivered requests, effective Sept. 25, 2006, all permittees are required to use an online form to request final inspection. The Request for Final Inspection form is available on the Forms web page. This will be the only way we accept requests for inspections.

Email Correspondence for Permits

A majority of our regular permit correspondence is now emailed to the permittee. Hard copies of the correspondence will no longer be sent. To update contact information, submit a Permit Update Request.

Arlington County assumes ownership of Route 244, Columbia Pike, Arlington County

Effective Oct. 1, 2010, Arlington County will assume ownership of Route 244, Columbia Pike from the Fairfax County line to just south of Joyce Street.

Any current active permits for Route 244, Columbia Pike, that are not completed by Oct. 1, 2010, will require Arlington County’s authorization to proceed with further construction.

Online Resources

Permit Applications

Site Plan Permits
Commercial construction, subdivision construction
Single Lot Permits
Driveway, water connection, sewer connection
Landscaping Permits
Planting, maintenance, or removal of landscaping in VDOT right of way

Existing Permits

Cancellation
Extension
Permit Work Complete / Surety Refunds
Pavement Open Cut Requests
Permit Revisions
Reinstatement Request

Street Acceptance

GIS Files

All files for download require WinZip. To download a file, click on the link and choose "Save to Disk". Go to the location where you saved the file and double click on the file. From within WinZip click "Extract" and choose a place to save the files.

Report a road problem 800-FOR-ROAD (800-367-7623)