Douglas Stewart wanted to know about the sidewalks. In some parts of Fairfax County, Stewart explained, the roads force people to use their cars and discourage pedestrians. "It’s hard to cross the street," he said.
Stewart was one of about 10 people who came to a March 12 meeting at the Fairfax County Government Center. The meeting was one of a series that Fairfax officials is conducting as it explores revisions to its Countywide Transportation Plan.
The plan under consideration does not deal with specific crosswalks, explained Leonard Wolfenstein of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, but it might be able to look at the issue more globally and include a new policy in the plan. "We’re moving to having crosswalks on all four legs of an intersection," Wolfenstein said.
The Countywide Transportation Plan is a facet of the county’s Comprehensive Plan which explains how the county’s network of roads, buses, railways and trails are designed to allow people to get from one place to another. The Comprehensive Plan guides land-use decisions on a broad level. The Transportation Plan also works on a broad level by setting priorities and goals for how best to allow people to move around the county. It also designates some intersections, roads and other transportation facilities for improvement. The last wholesale revision of the plan took place in 1991.
Since then, Wolfenstein said, some spot revisions have resulted of specific amendments to the plan. "Mostly, these changes have been the result of more localized studies," he said.
Additionally, some major goals of that 1991 plan — the construction of the Fairfax County Parkway, the widening of Route 123 and Braddock Road, and the improvements to the Springfield Interchange — have either been completed or are nearing completion.
As a result, the overall plan is being updated, and this series of meetings is a step in that process. "It’s the first step in identifying long-range need," Wolfenstein said. The new plan will be designed to anticipate what the need for transportation will be in 2030 and then begin working toward improving facilities to meet the forecast.
ONE FACTOR driving the need for a review is the explosive growth in the county’s employment sector, said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-At-Large). Last year, the county added 25,000 new jobs, he said, due largely to the expansion of the federal government which has been gobbling up office space.
"Northern Virginia has disproportionately benefited from that expansion," Connolly said. In addition, the county’s population growth has increased the number of motorists on the road.
Much of this growth has resulted in a change of the flow of traffic over the past 25 years. In the past, Connolly said, county residents largely drove into, and back out of Washington, D.C. for work. Residents are increasing living and working in the Fairfax County, and residents of farther-out suburbs are finding work in Fairfax. "Loudoun and Prince William are becoming bedroom communities to Fairfax County," Connolly said.
As a result, commuters are no longer just driving along Interstates 66 or 395 to go to employment centers in Washington, and are using other parts of the county’s road network more heavily.
Lewis Grimm, a consultant working with the county on the transportation plan review, explained that the population of Fairfax County is expected to grow by 15 percent and job growth is predicted to increase by 28 percent over the next 25 years. However, that growth is expected to be concentrated in Tysons Corner, and the more western regions of the county. "Not all parts of the county are going to grow at the same rate," Grimm said.
Planners will study projected growth, and then see how it compares to the existing network of transportation facilities. When the sets of data don’t match up, planners will then be able to determine what kinds of improvements are needed, and where they are needed, to help with traffic.
BUT BEYOND the projections, county planners want to hear ideas from citizens. Some who attended the March 12 public meeting had specific suggestions about transportation.
Wade Smith of McLean brought up the idea of incorporating non-motorized transportation into the plan. "We are starting to get the trail plan," said Smith, referring to a proposed countywide network of hiking and biking trails. "I think the biggest problem is that it is very fragmented." Smith, the Dranseville representative on the Fairfax County Non-Motorized Trail Committee, called for additional funding to help complete sidewalks and connect trails.
Supervisor Linda Smyth (D- Providence) pointed out that $5 million of the transportation bond approved by voters last November is set aside for pedestrian improvements. Charlie Strunk of the county’s Department of Transportation, said that there were also pedestrian improvements included in other parts of the bond which will bring the total to about $12 million.
Smyth further said that when the county identifies a certain area for sidewalks, they find that sometimes the neighbors are uncooperative. "Not everybody wants sidewalks," Smyth said.
This initial round of meetings is over, but planners are soliciting comments from residents until the end of May. They plan on having another round of public meetings before sending a final plan to the Fairfax County Planning Commission, which will make its own recommendations. From there it will go to the Board of Supervisors for a final decision. "Our target is for that to occur by the end of this calendar year," Wolfenstein said.