The march toward improvements to the walking, cycling and driving experience along about 2.9 miles of Route 29 continued at a virtual public meeting last Wednesday (June 5).
County staff is looking to boost pedestrian comfort at intersections, reduce the level of traffic stress for bikers and shorten wait times for cars on the roadway between Buckleys Gate Drive and Jermantown Road in the Fairfax Center area.
Proposed changes that could enhance the pedestrian experience include adding crosswalks, moving existing crosswalks where possible to reduce the crossing distance, and adding pedestrian push buttons.
Most of the affected corridor currently gets a high stress, “uncomfortable for most” rating for cyclists. A 1.7-mile long shared-use path between Legato Road and Steven Drive gets a much more favorable rating, but it has shortcomings, too.
“[The path] is often not wide enough to be considered a shared-use path,” said Arpita Chatterjee, the project manager with the Fairfax County Department of Transportation. “There is general need for improved shared-use path maintenance,” including removing overgrown plants.
Car wait times could come down as a result of “lane geometry” changes at intersections, such as the conversion of a lane that allowed left turns and through traffic into a dedicated left-turn lane. Adding a southbound through lane on Monument Drive, for instance, would reduce the time it takes for eastbound drivers to turn left at the intersection from more than 100 seconds to about 42 seconds.
Similar reconfigurations are being considered for the Legato and Shirley Gate/Waples Mill intersections. FCDOT has also proposed prohibiting left turns onto Route 29 out of the Lowe’s parking lot, rerouting that traffic onto Jermantown Road, but any changes at that intersection would need to be coordinated with Fairfax City.
Construction won’t be kicking off anytime soon, however. Changes from this project shouldn’t be expected within the next five to 10 years, Michael Garcia, chief of the county’s transportation planning section, said at the meeting.
County staff is looking for another round of community feedback on its proposals via a survey, open until the close of business on June 21. The survey can be filled out online or by calling 703-890-5898 and using the code 1312.
The first round of the survey ran from Feb. 12 to March 1. In it, many respondents supported widening sidewalks and bike lanes, expressed dissatisfaction with short turn lanes on the roadway, and indicated satisfaction with the corridor overall.
At the meeting last week, a few attendees shared concerns about the roadway and asked questions about the county’s plans.
“I don’t even try to ride my bike unless it’s like a Sunday morning. It’s just too scary in this area,” said one commenter, who said she lives along Route 29.
This summer, staff will finalize a report and make recommendations for changes to the comprehensive plan. The Board of Supervisors will need to authorize a plan amendment before the project can move into the funding stage, which will involve prioritizing recommendations and identifying funding sources.
“This whole presentation here is our recommendation and proposal, but it has not yet been adopted by the comprehensive plan,” Chatterjee said.
