A new pedestrian bridge is slated for installation this weekend over Wiehle Avenue at the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.

The installation will prompt the closure of Wiehle Avenue from midnight to 5 a.m. this Saturday (April 13).

The bridge replaces an at-grade crossing at the trail over Wiehle Avenue. Traffic will be detoured to Sunset Hills Road, Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron Avenue.

“The bridge will make it safer for walkers, bikers and drivers moving through this area,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn wrote in an email to constituents.

The project kicked off with a groundbreaking in March 2023. The bridge will be delivered in several sections and assembled in the parking lot along the north side of the existing business facilities. Assembly began in early April.

Here’s a breakdown of the planned detours:

Road Closure Hours: 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., Saturday April 13, 2024. Weather backup: 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., Sunday April 14, 2024.

A transportation management plan will be implemented for the total closure of Wiehle Avenue traffic during the bridge installation. Click here to see the Transportation Management Plan.

Police control will be provided at the intersection of Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue as well as at the intersection of Roger Bacon Drive and Wiehle Avenue.

Traffic from Wiehle Avenue will be detoured to Sunset Hills Road, Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron Avenue.

All necessary traffic control signs for the detour will be installed prior to the road closure.

Appropriate signs will be installed for the closure of the sidewalk along Wiehle Avenue within the work area.

• The crosswalk and curb ramps at the intersection Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue will be kept open.

Paving and re-striping season has descended upon Fairfax County once again, ushering in a series of public meetings later this month on proposed projects that include bicycle lanes and improved crosswalks.

Hundreds of miles of roadway will be repaved and re-striped by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) as part of the program throughout the state.

“VDOT and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) use this program as an opportunity to increase driver, bicyclist and pedestrian safety with road and crosswalk improvements while minimizing the financial investment in restriping work,” FCDOT says on its website.

The first meeting kicks off next Monday (April 8) at 7 p.m. for the Franconia and Mount Vernon districts.

In the Franconia District, bicycle lanes on Oakwood Road between Van Dorn Street and Crown Royal Drive are proposed, along with crosswalk improvements at Terrapin Place and at the Crown Royal Drive and Founders Hill Place intersection.

The Mount Vernon District is slated for:

• Bike lanes on Laurel Crest Drive between Silverbrook Road and Douglas Fir Drive
• Bike lanes on Old Mount Vernon Road between Drews Court and Maryland Street
• Crosswalk improvements at Laurel Crest Drive and Paper Birch Drive

The Hunter Mill District’s meeting on April 9 will focus on Center Harbor Road in Reston, where bicycle lanes are proposed between Wiehle Avenue and Reston Parkway, and crosswalk improvements proposed at the Sundial Road intersection.

The Providence District meeting is set for April 10, with bike lanes proposed on Anderson Road between Birdwood Avenue and Magarity Road. A Capital Bikeshare station is also proposed near the intersection of Anderson Road and Dartford Drive.

Meetings for the Braddock, Mason and Springfield Districts are slated for April 11. Braddock is expected to have the following projects:

• Bike lanes on Heming Avenue between Heming Place and Braddock Road
• Crosswalk improvements at Heming Avenue and Hogarth Street
• Crosswalk improvements on Heming Ave at Elgar Street and Axton Street

Springfield is only slated for one road restriping that would add crosswalk improvements on Center Road and Garden Road.

The Sully District has the most proposed changes, which will be discussed at a meeting on April 23 at 7 p.m.:

• Bike lanes on Walney Road between Westfields Boulevard and Westmore Street
• Bike lanes on Field Encampment Road between Golden Oaks Lane and Centrewood Drive
• Crosswalk improvements on Field Encampment Road at Cider Barrel Circle and St. Germain Drive
• Crosswalk improvements at Compton Village Drive and Bradenton Drive

Paving begins in the spring and concludes in November. Exact dates for each project will be available 10 days before work is expected to begin.

Work hours are usually limited to outside of rush hours, although residents can expect work vehicles in their neighborhood during the project.

Links for each web meeting are available on FCDOT’s website, along with dial-in information.

When Andrea Brubaker entered the Fairfax County Courthouse on Feb. 27, she expected to see a trial with witnesses testifying and evidence presented against the driver who had crashed into her son, killing him, almost one-and-a-half years earlier.

Instead, she watched the driver leave the courtroom after a brief talk with a judge through his son, who translated, to pay a $50 fine for failing to yield on a left turn.

Recalling that morning a couple of days later, Brubaker told FFXnow that she was “saddened by the outcome” and “shocked” by what she saw as a “lack of attention” paid to the case by the prosecutor.

“Overall, I was disappointed that there was not a trial so that a courtroom, a judge, myself, and others could hear the facts of this case,” Brubaker said. “I had assumed at a minimum, that he would be found guilty of the two driving infractions he was charged with, but for some reason, the prosecutor decided against it. The defendant did not offer any remorse or explanation to the court, nor was it asked for by the court.”

Brubaker’s son, Andrew Dearing, died on Oct. 25, 2022 after the driver of a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee crashed into him while he was riding his 2018 Yamaha MT07 motorcycle on West Ox Road in Fair Oaks, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

In an initial news release, police said a preliminary investigation indicated that the motorcyclist had “proceeded straight through” the Ox Hill Road intersection and struck the Jeep, which then hit a pedestrian signal and collided with a 2013 Lexus GS350 sedan.

However, almost a month later, the FCPD announced that its detectives had charged the Jeep driver on Nov. 18 with two traffic violations: failing to yield on a left turn and failing to obey a traffic signal.

“Detectives determined [the driver], 79, of Fairfax was driving in the northbound turn lane on West Ox Road waiting to turn left onto Ox Hill Road,” the FCPD said. “[He] did not yield to the operator of a 2018 Yamaha MT07 motorcycle traveling southbound on West Ox Road resulting in the crash.”

Dearing was thrown from the motorcycle, which got totaled, according to a police crash report. He died that evening in a hospital at 27 years old.

The charges, explained

Brubaker says she was surprised to not see more serious charges, but according to the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the crash didn’t involve the kind of negligent or reckless behavior needed to meet Virginia’s standards for involuntary manslaughter or reckless driving.

In Virginia, involuntary manslaughter applies to fatal crashes where someone was driving under the influence, and reckless driving involves behavior careless enough “to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person.” Examples include speeding, driving in the wrong lane, driving with faulty brakes or passing another vehicle when the driver’s view is obstructed by a hill or curve.

According to the police crash report, the driver in this case didn’t have the right-of-way, and both his and Dearing’s vision may have been obscured by stopped cars. But the crash didn’t involve any health issues, distractions or intoxication. Read More

Fairfax County police officers issued almost 5,700 citations and warnings during the first phase of their year-long “Road Shark” safety campaign, the department announced this morning (Wednesday).

A collaboration with the Virginia State Police, the initiative aims to crack down on aggressive and unsafe driving by increasing patrols in high-crash areas and promoting education about traffic laws and responsible driving behavior.

“Our dedicated officers and Virginia State Troopers play a pivotal role in the effectiveness of this campaign aimed at curbing the presence of reckless drivers in Fairfax County,” the Fairfax County Police Department said.

The first wave of this year’s campaign took place during the week of March 17-23. Some drivers were caught speeding over 100 mph, including in a 35-mph zone in at least one case, according to the FCPD.

The 5,695 warnings and citations issued exceeded the 3,786 violations recorded in the first wave of last year’s “Road Shark” campaign, which launched around the same time in response to a surge of pedestrian fatalities in 2022.

Like last year’s effort, the 2024 campaign will consist of four week-long waves. The second one will begin on April 22, the FCPD says.

Photo via FCPD

The Town of Herndon is working on the development of a roadway safety action plan that aligns its priorities with federal and state programs.

The action plan, which would run from this year through at least 2028, will use crash data to identify locations that need to be addressed and open up additional funding for transportation improvement projects.

“One of the challenges with the data is there is a lot of it,” Mike Shindledecker, a transportation engineer for Herndon, said at a town council work session on March 19.

He noted that comparisons to the Federal Highway Administration and Virginia Department of Transportation programs should take into account that the Town of Herndon lacks freeways and highways. Its highest speed limit is 35 mph, significantly lower than that of the state.

Problematic hotspots in the town include Elden Street, pinpoints along Herndon Parkway and gateway intersections, he told the council.

Shindledecker also noted that the town’s fatality rate is “trending far better than other similar jurisdictions and far better than the state as a whole.”

A five-year comparison shows that the town had more crashes between 2018 and 2022 that resulted in serious injuries and non-visible injuries than other small towns and cities in Virginia and the state as a whole. Serious injuries stand at 8% compared to the statewide average of 5% and the 3% average in towns of similar sizes.

In Herndon, 53% of crashes led to non-visible injuries compared to 19% in towns of comparable size and 8% in the state.

However, crashes that only involve property damage were lower (34%) than in other towns (60%) and the state (67%). Crashes involving injuries were also relatively lower — 5% compared with 18% in other small towns and 19% in the state.

The roadway safety plan will be developed with community input and identify key corridors for focused study. Once problem areas are identified, the town will develop new “technology-driven solutions,” according to the town staff presentation.

The plan will help the town establish a planning structure for transportation projects and safety analyses while also emphasizing engagement and collaboration, equity and transparency.

The action plan will be completed in 2026, followed by an implementation plan in 2027.

(Updated at 9:40 a.m. on 3/26/2024) A federal funding boost is coming to help improve pedestrian and bicycle facilities on the Town of Herndon’s main through street and more than a dozen other sites around Northern Virginia.

At its meeting last Thursday (March 21), the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) approved $19.5 million through the federal Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program for 15 non-highway transportation projects in the state.

Five of the projects to receive funds are in Fairfax County or its towns, led by $2.5 million for a plan to improve the safety, accessibility and walkability of Elden Street.

According to a Town of Herndon presentation, the project includes new ADA ramps and crosswalks, a widened sidewalk that moves around existing barriers, and a grass buffer. Spanning 0.3 miles between Center Street and Ferndale Avenue, the improvements will be in close proximity to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, Herndon Middle School and St. Joseph’s School.

Over in the Town of Vienna, the Locust Street Trail project will get $1.3 million to facilitate the replacement of an existing sidewalk within a 10-foot-wide shared-use path. The project will also address drainage issues that “frequently make the existing path unusable for extended periods,” per a news release from the TPB.

The funding approved for Fairfax County will go to three different Safe Routes to Schools projects, including $140,000 for Shrevewood Elementary School in Idylwood. Developed in response to a fatal crash in 2019, the project will add three new crosswalks with a sidewalk or a shared use path connection.

“In addition to making it safer to walk or bike to school, this project will expand safe access for kids to the W&OD Trail, a key link in the National Capital Trail Network,” the TPB’s summary said.

The project has received another $1 million through other Transporation Alternatives Set-Aside funding, fulfilling the county’s full request, according to the board.

A Safe Routes to Schools program for Lake Braddock Elementary School in Annandale got around $356,000 to improve pedestrian safety and connectivity across the road and school entrance. It includes ADA ramps, new crosswalks and new pedestrian refuge islands.

More broadly, the school system’s overall SRTS program will get $276,000 to educate students on safe walking and bicycling.

“The project will develop maps with suggested safe routes, safety education, bike rodeos, walk and bike to school days, monthly challenges with rewards, build a bike give a bike programs, and the development of park and walk programs for students who live beyond the walking zone,” the press release said.

Two projects in Fairfax City also got funding from the Federal Highway Administration program:

Fern Street Neighborhood Connection, City of Fairfax: $285,119

Utilizing city property, this project will connect commercial and residential areas lacking a paved ADA-accessible pathway. The project prioritizes bikes and pedestrians by building a trail instead of a road extension and supports small area plan recommendations by initiating a pedestrian priority corridor and providing links to potential mixed-use redevelopments.

Chain Bridge Road Shared Use Path, City of Fairfax: $2,098,314

This project will provide a safer and higher quality bike and pedestrian facility along Chain Bridge Road, a busy arterial that feeds into I-66. The project will build a shared-use path between existing trails, including a connection to the National Capital Trail Network’s Custis/I-66 Trail. The project serves an Equity Emphasis area.

The total amount of approved funding from the Transportation Alternatives set-aside program has been corrected from $195 million to $19.5 million.

The Virginia General Assembly passed a measure three years ago allowing local governments to decrease roadway speed limits in their localities to as low as 15 mph. But recently, lawmakers found that the Virginia Department of Transportation denied seven of eight speed limit decrease requests, because, by state law, only the Commissioner of Highways can authorize changes on state-maintained roads.

Earlier this month, legislation advanced that would expand a locality’s speed-reducing authority to roadways within a business or residence district, including state-owned highways.

The number of requests represent a small fraction of the local governments in Virginia, including the 190 towns and 39 independent cities in the commonwealth, according to data from the U.S. Census. For the localities that are seeking to reduce speeding, though, the limits of the 2021 legislation are a challenge.

“Everybody can concede that there’s an issue here, but we have very little authority to do anything about it,” said Mayor Roger Vance, who represents the Town of Hillsboro, which was denied their request to lower the local speed limit to 20 mph last year.

The 2021 legislation did not extend localities’ speed reducing power to state-owned highways, which typically run through some towns like Middleburg and Hillsboro.

As proposed, the new bill would require local governments to conduct engineering and traffic studies as part of any effort to change the speed limit, post “lawfully placed” signs showing the reduced speed limit and notify the commissioner of the change.

The bill nearly failed in the Senate in February after Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears split a tie vote, but it was reconsidered successfully and sent to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for approval.

Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond, the legislation’s sponsor, said she is working with the governor’s administration to ensure Youngkin signs her bill into law, but it could require an amendment.

Representatives from the Virginia Municipal League and Virginia Association of Counties, representing local governments in the commonwealth, said their members supported this bill.

“We firmly believe that this enhanced authority serves as an invaluable addition to our existing toolkit for implementing crucial safety measures,” said James Hutzler, government relations associate for VACO, in a statement. “With this legislation in place, counties will be empowered to take proactive steps towards safeguarding the well-being of our communities.” Read More

Local and state police are on the prowl once again for dangerous driving behaviors.

The Fairfax County Police Department and Virginia State Police announced yesterday (Monday) that they have launched a “Road Shark” enforcement and education campaign for a second year with the goal of reducing aggressive driving and crashes.

Phased out for a time after getting introduced in 1999, the initiative was revived last year in response to a surge in pedestrian fatalities in 2022. With the campaign, officers issued nearly 25,000 citations and warnings during four week-long “waves” involving increased visibility and enforcement of traffic laws, particularly in locations with frequent crashes or safety issues.

The FCPD says the first “Road Shark” campaign helped the county make “significant strides in promoting safer roads.”

“Through the efforts of our officers, partners, and engaged drivers, we saw a remarkable decrease in traffic incidents and a notable improvement in overall road safety last year,” the police department said.

According to state data, the total number of crashes in Fairfax County went up in 2023, as did the number of injuries, but fatalities dropped to 42 after soaring to 66 in 2022 — the most since Virginia’s Traffic Records Electronic Data System (TREDS) launched in 2010. Ten of the people killed in crashes last year were pedestrians compared to 32 in 2022.

Less than three full months into 2024, however, the county’s death toll has already reached nine for people killed in vehicles — most recently, in a head-on collision on Fairfax County Parkway — and five for pedestrians, two of them on Richmond Highway, two on I-495 and one on Buckman Road in Mount Vernon.

The I-495 and Buckman Road fatal crashes all occurred in the morning of March 10.

Like last year, this year’s “Road Shark” campaign will combine enforcement with education, all based on data collected by police, according to the FCPD:

• High Visibility Enforcement (HiVE): FCPD officers will be strategically conduct enforcement and education areas all over the county to deter unsafe driving behaviors. Officers will be looking for an array of traffic violations including aggressive driving, excessive speeding, driving under the influence, school zone violations, distracted driving, and others. A recent NHTSA synthesis of studies concluded that high-visibility enforcement efforts such as these reduced crashes and improved safety outcomes in study locations.
• Community Engagement and Education: FCPD encourages all community members to play an active role in road safety by adhering to traffic laws, promoting responsible driving behavior, and reporting any concerns to local law enforcement. Road Shark 2024 will involve community engagement, communication, and education to help educate our residents on safe driving practices and raise awareness about the importance of road safety.
• Data-Informed Decision Making: Fairfax County police officers, along with Virginia State troopers, will utilize data-informed enforcement strategies and operations that target areas with high crash concentrations to reduce crashes. This allows us to identify trends, address specific areas of concern, and implement effective strategies to best address road safety issues.

“The Road Shark campaign will once again bring together law enforcement, community organizations, and community members to address and mitigate traffic safety challenges,” the FCPD said. “Through increased patrols, targeted enforcement, and educational outreach, the FCPD aims to create a safer and more secure environment for all road users.”

Design work is slated to begin this spring on a new shared-use path on Shreve Road just outside Falls Church City’s boundaries.

The Falls Church City Council approved an agreement on Monday (Feb. 12) to work with Fairfax County and provide funds for the project, which will add a 10-foot-wide path for bicyclists and pedestrians from the Route 7 (Leesburg Pike/West Broad Street) intersection to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail.

Other improvements will include a 6-foot-wide planting strip along Shreve Road, a crosswalk near the intersection of Shreve and Gordon Road intersection, benches near the W&OD Trail entrance, and stormwater management and drainage, Falls Church staff said in a report to the council.

Because the site is outside city limits, the county will be responsible for the project’s design and construction under the agreement.

“The concept is pretty simple and it’s pretty well-defined in the grant agreement, so we don’t think there’s going to be some curveball,” City Manager Wyatt Shields said at a Feb. 5 council work session. “…We’ve been working quite well with Fairfax County staff on this, so we feel very confident that we’re going to get what we want.”

The “West Falls Church Access to Transit and Multimodal Connectivity” project, as it’s formally known, is part of a larger effort by both the county and the city to add pedestrian and bicycle facilities connecting the W&OD Trail, the West Falls Church Metro station and Falls Church’s West End.

This component also “addresses a safety need” after a pedestrian was killed by a truck driver at the Shreve Road and Hickory Street intersection in 2019, according to a summary from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, which awarded $6.9 million to the city in 2020 to fund the project.

According to the staff report, Falls Church is also coordinating with the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation on the design of planned improvements around the Haycock Road side of the West Broad Street intersection.

Farther east on Haycock Road, a shared-use trail will be built over I-66 by developers in conjunction with a transformation of the West Falls Church Metro station’s parking lots into a mixed-use neighborhood.

Development has also been approved at Virginia Tech’s West Falls Church campus and is under construction on the city’s former high school site.

The Shreve Road project agreement still needs to be approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to take action on April 16, according to Falls Church staff.

Per the staff report, the project is expected to be in design from this spring into fall 2025, putting it on track to begin construction in the fall of 2026 and finish in spring or summer 2027.

The Virginia State Police will be quick to call foul on any drivers behaving poorly on I-66 before, during and after the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers’ big game this Sunday (Feb. 11).

With many sports fans planning visits to their local bar or stocking up on snacks and drinks for at-home Super Bowl parties, state troopers from the Fairfax and Culpepper divisions will have an increased presence in the 76-mile-long I-66 corridor throughout the weekend.

Dubbed “Operation Diss-rupt,” the traffic enforcement and safety initiative will take place from Saturday to Monday (Feb. 10-12) and focus on distracted and impaired driving, speeding and seat belt use, the VSP announced yesterday (Thursday).

“The weekend of the Super Bowl is an excellent time to ‘tackle’ bad driving behaviors,” VSP Bureau of Field Operations Director Lt. Col. Matt Hanley said. “Additional state troopers will be on patrol along the entire I-66 corridor to enhance highway safety for all motorists. We ask Virginians to ‘DISS-rupt’ risky driving behaviors by focusing on the roads and by designating a sober driver, especially if your Super Bowl celebration includes alcohol.”

According to the VSP, its troopers charged 23 drivers with driving while intoxicated during last year’s Super Bowl Sunday.

Preliminary data shows that 839 people died in traffic crashes on Virginia roads last year, state police said. In Fairfax County, 15 people were killed in crashes involving alcohol in 2023, and there have already been 45 such crashes, including one fatality, recorded this year, according to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles data.

After the county saw an uptick in traffic-related deaths in 2022, especially among pedestrians, the Fairfax County Police Department conducted a “Road Shark” campaign last spring and summer to address speeding, phone usage and other unsafe driving behaviors. The campaign resulted in almost 25,000 citations and warnings to drivers.

This weekend’s I-66 crackdown will the VSP’s second “Operation Diss-rupt” campaign after the agency similarly stepped up patrols of I-95 on Jan. 10-11.

“State Troopers cited 120 drivers for reckless driving, 117 drivers for speeding, 33 drivers for violating Virginia’s ‘Hands Free’ law, and 25 drivers and passengers for seatbelt violations (one improperly restrained child),” the VSP said in a press release. “There were no fatal crashes along the interstate during the enforcement period.”

Setting a goal of reducing crashes in general by 10% this calendar year, the VSP says it hopes to see no fatal crashes while the operation is in effect this weekend, advising drivers to follow basic traffic laws:

• Ditch Distractions: Virginia has a “Hands-Free” law that prohibits a driver from holding a handheld personal communications device while driving. GPS and making phone calls are still legal, as long as the device is mounted and/or not in your hands.
• Never Drive Impaired: Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is illegal in Virginia. Even buzzed driving is drunk driving. Always designate a sober driver or use public transportation or a ride-hailing service.
• Comply with Speed Limits: Posted speed limits on Virginia interstates never exceed 70 mph. So, neither should your speed. Speed-related crashes claimed 441 lives in 2022 in Virginia. Simply, drive to save lives.
• Seat Belt Safety: Virginia law requires all front seat occupants of motor vehicles be restrained, and any passenger from birth to 18 years old be properly restrained in an appropriate child safety seat or seat belt, no matter their seating position.