The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) has embarked on a new round of community engagement in its Envision Route 7 effort to upgrade transit options.
NVTC has opened an online feedback form, asking a host of questions about how bus riders in the Route 7 corridor between Seven Corners and Alexandria’s Mark Center/Southern Towers areas currently interact with the system, and what they would like to see in the future.
“Last fall, the team asked residents, business owners, and visitors along the Route 7 corridor to share their vision for transit improvements,” transit officials said in a newsletter announcing the survey. “Now, we’re back to share feedback results, project updates and gather additional input.”
The form can be completed in English, Spanish, Amharic and Vietnamese.
Route 7 is home to the most heavily used bus route in Northern Virginia — Metrobus’s F20 (formerly 28A) — which currently runs at a 12-minute daytime frequency from the Tysons Metro station to the King Street Metro station.
Last October, a community forum was held in Culmore to gather community input on what planners hope will evolve into a bus rapid transit (BRT) system running for 14 miles between Tysons and Mark Center in Alexandria.
In the interim, the initiative is working toward short-term improvements seen as a “foundational step” toward a full BRT network.
To date, 10 capital projects have been funded with a direct link to improving bus transit service along the proposed Route 7 BRT corridor.
Planning has been conducted in stages, moving west to east from Fairfax County into Falls Church, Arlington and Alexandria. Ownership of roadways along the route is split between the Virginia Department of Transportation and the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria.
Fairfax County’s plan for BRT in the Tysons area extends service north of Tysons on International Drive and would connect the Spring Hill and Tysons Metro stations. The county hopes to provide dedicated lanes for the new bus service while preserving the existing number of travel lanes, though that will require the road to be widened.
Service also deviates from Route 7 briefly in order to connect to the East Falls Church Metro station before returning to the Route 7 corridor.
An upcoming open house related to the segment from Seven Corners to Mark Center is slated for Tuesday, June 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch Library (4701 Seminary Road) in Alexandria. It will be a drop-in format, with no formal program.
“You can review the design options, and tell us what you think of them,” NVTC officials said.
In addition, there will be pop-up events and “bus stop chats” in the corridor through June.
