VDOT Seeks Input on New Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities at Vienna Metro

Updated at 3:55 p.m. on 2/19/2021 — The virtual public information meeting on the proposed Vienna Metro bicycle and pedestrian improvements has been postponed.

VDOT Northern Virginia spokesperson Kathleen Leonard says the meeting is being rescheduled for late spring, but the project team has not determined an exact date yet, since elements of the project are still being refined.

Earlier: The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold a virtual community meeting next Wednesday (Feb. 24) to discuss a proposal to improve the safety and accessibility of the Vienna Metro station for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The project site is located to the area north of I-66 between Blake Lane and the turn-off into the Metro station’s surface parking lot. It will focus on Sutton Road between Blake Lane and Country Creek Road, as well as a roughly half-mile stretch of Country Creek Road as it turns into Virginia Center Boulevard.

According to VDOT’s project page, the improvements currently being considered include:

• Shared-use paths along Blake Lane and Sutton Road from the I-66 bridge to Country Creek Road
• A two-way cycle track with adjacent sidewalk along Country Creek Road/Virginia Center Boulevard from Sutton Road to the Metro North Parking Lot entrance
• A road diet along Country Creek Road/Virginia Center Boulevard from Sutton Road to the Metro North Parking Lot entrance
• A realignment of the I-66 westbound ramp to Country Creek Road
• Traffic signal modifications at the intersections of Sutton Road and Blake Lane, Country Creek Road and the ramp from westbound I-66, and Country Creek Road and Vaden Drive
• The installation of new pavement markings and signs

The upcoming meeting marks the start of a public comment period that will conclude on Mar. 8, though A public hearing on the project design is not expected to take place until this summer. Under VDOT’s current schedule, the right-of-way acqusition process would start in the spring of 2022, with construction not getting underway until fall 2024.

The estimated total cost of the project is $6.5 million, though VDOT says that could change as the design is further developed.

According to Chris Wells, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation’s Active Transportation Program manager, the proposed Vienna Metro improvements stem from VDOT’s plans to construct a trail along I-66 as part of its Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which is adding express lanes on the highway between Gainesville and I-495 in Dunn Loring.

While most of the trail will be built as I-66 is widened, this particular segment has to separate from the interstate “for engineering reasons and for access-to-the-community reasons,” Wells says.

Next week’s virtual information meeting will start at 7 p.m. A link to register for the meeting and a brief survey for community members to share their thoughts on the project can be found on the VDOT website.

If inclement weather prompts a cancellation, the meeting will be rescheduled to Mar. 8.

Image via VDOT