Commentary-Some Good News: Board's Four-Year Transportation Plan Nears Completion

By Gerald E. Connolly, Chairman, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

By statute, transportation in Virginia is a state responsibility. However, Fairfax County is stepping in to address our transportation needs through the Four-Year Transportation Plan, adopted unanimously by the board on February 9, 2004. The purpose of the plan is to provide transportation choices that do not currently exist, be it upgrading intersections that would otherwise be ignored by the state, getting Rail to Dulles built, promoting telework, or adding capacity to our road and transit networks.

The most extensive portion of the plan focuses on specific road projects. With more than 80 projects utilizing $104.3 million in county funds, the plan is ambitious. I am proud to announce that in our most recent status report, 57 of these projects have now been completed, most ahead of schedule, with 16 additional projects currently under way. To date, the plan has addressed regional trouble spots with projects upgrading the Dulles Toll Road/I-495 interchange and adding grade-separated interchanges along Route 28. A number of projects have been completed that address our secondary roads and intersections, such as Rt. 50 at Waples Mill, Rt. 50 at Annandale Road and Telegraph Road at South Van Dorn Street. Several additional projects have been completed in the past three months, such as improvements to the intersections of Braddock and Backlick roads, Reston Parkway and South Lakes Drive and Great Falls Street and Chain Bridge Road. However, most of the projects are spot improvements close to home, adding turn lanes at key neighborhood intersections such as Gallows/Hummer/Annandale roads and widening local arterials such as West Ox and Lorton roads.

We have several big projects nearing completion this summer as well. The final phase of the Springfield Mixing Bowl project was celebrated on July 18, while the last bridge along Rt. 123 over the Occoquan River will be completed this summer. The project to add an additional left turn lane from Poplar Tree Road onto Stringfellow Road will be completed this summer, as will the construction of the protective pedestrian barrier at the intersection of Old Keene Mill and Spring Street to facilitate safer pedestrian crossings.

Pedestrian access and safety is another of the plan's main components. We have completed a number of these projects, adding sidewalks along Olley Lane, Lee Highway near the Vienna Metro station, Old Centreville Road and just this past month, Dead Run Drive. This summer we will complete the construction of an eight-foot trail along Lee Highway under I-66 in Centreville. To address pedestrian safety, the plan includes the installation of 63 "Yield to Pedestrian $100-$500 Fine" signs primarily at school crossings, and the installation of countdown pedestrian traffic signals at 125 high-volume pedestrian intersections. While the plan is project-focused, it includes many less tangible items, including a $165-million transportation bond passed in 2004 and a $115-million bond referendum scheduled for this November. Telework is also a key component, and in 2005, Fairfax County reached its eligible-employee telecommuting goal of 20 percent.

Despite the state's own formula, localities such as Fairfax County must pay the vast majority of operating and capital costs for our transit systems. To make transit a more viable commuting option for as many people as possible, the plan seeks to redress this imbalance. Construction has already begun to add parking capacity at the Burke Center Virginia Railway Express and Huntington Metro stations, while construction of the Reston Town Center Transit Center and the renovation of the Huntington bus garage have each been completed. Our top priority remains the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, getting rail through Tysons Corner on to the national capital's main international airport. The Richmond Highway Public Transportation Initiative is setting the stage for a form of rail along the Rt. 1 corridor by adding a highly effective express bus service, increasing ridership in that corridor by 40 percent since the service began. Adding transit capacity in this vital corridor takes on extra importance with the additional 20,000 employees coming to Fort Belvoir as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure process. To help Metro gain the dedicated source of revenue it so desperately needs, the board worked with the General Assembly to raise matching funds for the $1.5 billion proposed by the federal government. Fairfax is also working with VDOT on the High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes project coming to I-495 between the Mixing Bowl and Tysons Corner, for it will add transit capacity to the Beltway that does not currently exist. Moreover, Fairfax is working to ensure that the new overpasses across the Beltway that will be built by this project include safe bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

By the end of our Four-Year Transportation Plan, we will have completed more than 70 projects, and we are already hard at work compiling a second list of projects to complete over the next four years that we will be unveiling in the near future. Our first Four-Year Transportation Plan is designed to enhance mobility, promote pedestrian safety and to create choices for the commuting public by bringing relief to our neighborhoods one turn-lane, one trail, one traffic signal at a time.

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