Data centers present both opportunities and challenges, and at a recent regional meeting, local leaders were urged to become acquainted with both, regardless of whether their jurisdictions are directly impacted.
“Don’t ever have a conversation of ‘all-good’ or ‘all-bad’ — there are a lot of nuances,” Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall said at a March 11 meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
The City of Fairfax will have to look for other funding means to add a new sidewalk after it missed out on potential financing from the regional Transportation Planning Board.
The city had applied for $3.25 million in funding to construct a sidewalk on Norman Avenue between the Chain Bridge Road Service Road and Hill Street. The funding would have covered a significant part of the project’s $10.8 million estimated cost.
Fairfax County Public Schools resumed regular classes on Monday (Feb. 9) for the first time since a double whammy of snow and ice hit the D.C. region in late January, but many students still encounter blocked sidewalks and intersections on the way to their school or bus stop.
That was the case earlier this week in the Franklin Farm neighborhood near Herndon, where sidewalks around a school bus stop at Old Dairy Road and Tyburn Tree Court remained stubbornly covered in ice.
Lower-income Fairfax County residents rely more on their own vehicles to get to and from work, and are less likely to be able to telework throughout the week, than those at the top of the income spectrum.
Though not necessarily surprising, the data from the 164-page 2025 State of the Commute report recently issued by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) does have public policy implications.
Post-pandemic commuting trends appear to be stabilizing in the D.C. region, with workers spending more days at the office, but remote work remains prevalent.
“We seem to be approaching a much more settled ‘new normal,'” Dan Sheehan, transportation operations program director for the Transportation Planning Board (TPB) said at a Jan. 21 meeting, where staff unveiled the new State of the Commute report.
Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk wrapped up a year as chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) with a call for continued regional collaboration.
“Regionalism isn’t something that’s easy,” Lusk said in valedictory remarks at COG’s meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 14). During the meeting, he passed the gavel to Reuben Collins II of the Charles County Board of Commissioners, who will chair the body for 2026.
Leaders from across the D.C. region voted on Wednesday (Jan. 14) to ask Congress and the Trump administration to bring back predictability when it comes to funding homelessness response services at the local level.
“These programs provide critical support to thousands of our neighbors,” said Christine Hong, who chairs the Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
Fairfax County saw no year-over-year change, but across the D.C. region overall, deaths connected to impaired driving were down 26% from 2023 to 2024, according to new data.
The recently released annual “How Safe Are Our Roads? Report” by the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments recorded 74 fatalities connected to alcohol- and/or drug-related vehicle incidents last year — 100 fewer deaths than in the previous year and below the five-year average of 90.
It wasn’t unanimous, but the leaders of Virginia’s largest locality have gone on record supporting a regional plan for funding to sustain Metro into the future.
With a 8-1 vote on Dec. 9, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors backed the DMV Moves initiative started by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to identify dedicated funding options for the rail and bus transit system.
With a recently awarded grant, Fairfax County can begin designing protected bicycle facilities along Sunrise Valley Drive near the Innovation Center Metro station, the latest effort to make the roadway more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists.
At its Nov. 19 meeting, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) unanimously approved $84,000 for the Sunrise Valley Drive Protected Bicycle Infrastructure project as part of its fiscal year 2026-2027 Transit Within Reach program.
