Regional transportation planners continue to take the pulse of riders and other local residents as they prepare for a major revamp of the Route 7 bus corridor.
“It’s a good thing” to be out in the community, said Kate Mattice, executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), which is overseeing a study that could bring bus rapid transit (BRT) service to the corridor from Tysons to Alexandria.
She was speaking during a Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 15) open house on the Envision Route 7 initiative at Culmore Library. Over the course of three hours, the drop-in event drew dozens of local residents seeking information and offering opinions on how to improve the rider experience.
BRT aims to provide speedier, more efficient service than a traditional bus system through improvements that could range from something small, like signal prioritization, to full-fledged, dedicated travel lanes.
“There’s different ways to address congestion. We can implement small changes” and build on them, Vikram Sinha, the NVTC senior program manager overseeing the project, said.
Sinha says planners are taking inspiration from Metroway, the Metro-operated BRT currently running between Arlington and Alexandria.
Improvements along that corridor have made bus travel a viable option for commuters.
“We’ve done it before and we can do it again,” Sinha said.
No funding has been identified for the Envision Route 7 project beyond the planning stage, but that gives officials the chance to make appropriate decisions, Mattice said.
“A big part of that is getting the view of the community,” she told FFXnow.
Having final proposals that work for bus riders in the corridor “is really important,” Mattice said. So, too, is improving pedestrian safety through the service area, which includes Fairfax and Arlington counties and the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria.
Among the open house attendees was Sonya Breehey, a Falls Church resident who was viewing proposals both as a prospective rider and as a staff member of the pro-transit group Coalition for Smarter Growth.
“This is really important — BRT is really an opportunity,” she said. “So many people ride the bus.”
Breehey also voiced hope that transit improvements would be complemented by pedestrian safety initiatives. A study conducted by the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the immigrant advocacy nonprofit CASA in 2022 found that much of the Route 7 corridor is decidedly unfriendly to those trying to walk or cross.
As attendees worked their way from presentation to presentation, it became clear no one-size-fits-all approach is planned for the 14-mile stretch between Tysons and Alexandria.
“Each road is kind of unique in terms of conditions,” one Fairfax transportation planner told attendees as they collectively viewed a map of the project. “It’s really a case-by-case basis. You just can’t widen your way out of some of these issues.”
Alexandria City Council member Canek Aguirre, who serves on the NVTC board of directors, was busy getting feedback from constituents.
“What we’re trying to see is what the commute looks like today and what they would want it to look like,” he said. “From there, we’ll be able to start putting in projects.”
Envision Route 7 focuses on the corridor served by Metrobus Route F20 (known as 28A before Metro overhauled the network in Jun), which runs from Tysons to King Street in Alexandria. Aguirre noted that dozens of bus lines and multiple Metrorail stations connect with F20 along its route.
“The ripple effects [of improvements] will be all over the place,” he said.
The latest round of public engagement on Envision Route 7 is slated to run through next summer, but NVTC officials hope to speed the process up to start making physical upgrades. Final decisions will require authorization by the involved jurisdictions and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Unlike Fairfax County’s billion-dollar BRT project with dedicated bus lanes in the Route 1 (Richmond Highway) corridor, the Route 7 project is likely to focus on “smaller changes we can make” to improve bus flow, Aguirre said.
“We’re really excited,” he said of the prospects.
The Route 7 area is the second busiest bus corridor in Northern Virginia. Ridership stayed strong throughout the pandemic era and has grown since.
Planning for the coordinated improvements began in 2013. Ultimately, the Route 7 BRT line is expected to connect with similar bus rapid transit networks planned throughout Northern Virginia.
