The Vienna Town Council authorized funds for two sidewalk improvement projects last week, paving the way for the town to create a more integrated sidewalk network.
First, the council voted unanimously on March 22 to approve an additional $61,000 for the town’s Park Street NE sidewalk project, which will close an approximately 850-foot gap between Ayr Hill Avenue and Albea Court NE with five-foot-wide concrete sidewalks, including curb and gutters.
In the works since at least 2016, the project’s total estimated cost of $855,104 is being funded by a Virginia Department of Transportation transportation alternatives grant. The grant requires a 20% local match, which Vienna is providing through its Northern Virginia Transportation Authority funds.
The additional $61,000 is needed to pay a contracted construction management firm Whitman, Requardt & Associates for right-of-way services. The project will require 10 temporary property acquisitions to accommodate construction, according to a scope-of-work document from the town.
Vienna Director of Public Works Mike Gallagher says the town previously expected to be able to handle the right-of-way process on its own or with “limited consultant help.”
“For town and state projects, we’re very fortunate in the town. The citizens and adjoining property owners routinely sign temporary easements if it’s necessary,” Town Attorney Steven Briglia said. “Most times, we just use right-of-way agreements so it’s not recorded and a cloud on their title.”
However, this project requires more formal right-of-way agreements, even though the takes aren’t permanent, because the VDOT grant includes federal funding. That means it has to adhere to the “complicated and time-consuming” process set by the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act, Vienna town staff say.
Gallagher assured the town council that the public works department will not need any more money for the Park Street sidewalk project, stating that the new funding request is likely for more than they will actually need.
“I know that the project is budgeted higher than what we projected the cost to be, so there’s sufficient funds,” he said.
The Vienna Town Council also approved a $1.4 million construction contract for a project to replace an existing asphalt trail on Old Courthouse Road with approximately 500 linear feet of concrete sidewalk, closing a gap between Gosnell Road and Pine Valley Drive.
The project will also add curbs and gutters with drainage improvements to eliminate a ditch alongside the roadway.
The contract went to Sagres Construction, which submitted a bid of roughly $1.2 million, the lowest amount out of the six vendors that responded to the town’s invitation to bid. The approved funding includes a 10% contingency.
Initiated in 2013, the Old Courthouse project is divided into two phases since a portion of the road extends outside of town limits into Fairfax County. The Vienna Town Council approved an agreement with the county to get $2.3 million for construction funding in January 2019.
The Town of Vienna has prioritized filling in gaps in its sidewalks to improve the town’s walkability. A gift from the late Councilmember Maud Robinson enabled the town to establish a dedicated fund for sidewalk construction, though the Park Street and Old Courthouse projects don’t qualify since they are getting funding from elsewhere.
The town council also voted in February to require developers of single-lot properties to construct a sidewalk regardless of whether sidewalks exist on adjacent lots.
Map via Google Maps
The trajectory of COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County is starting to trend upward again after a roughly two-month decline.
The Fairfax Health District, which also includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, reported 154 new cases today (Monday), bringing the total to 72,111 cases over the course of the pandemic. The district has now recorded 3,752 hospitalizations and 1,066 deaths due to the novel coronavirus.
Now at 174.4 cases per day, the county’s weekly average has hovered around 160 to 170 cases since hitting a low for 2021 of 133.6 cases on March 15. That mark followed a two-month-long drop from an all-time high seven-day average of 696.7 cases on Jan. 17.
Fairfax County still has yet to return to the relative lull in the pandemic that came last summer, when the county had weekly averages of 40 to 50 cases.
The county’s plateauing case levels aligns closely with what is happening statewide. Virginia is currently averaging 1,506 cases over the past seven days, and like in Fairfax County, cases have been slightly but clearly increasing since mid-March, a potentially worrying sign as the Commonwealth prepares to further loosen public health restrictions.
Effective April 1, Virginia will increase the number of people permitted at both indoor and outdoor social gatherings and recreational sporting events, while removing caps on the number of attendees at entertainment and amusement venues, though a 30% capacity limit will remain in place.
Gov. Ralph Northam cited rising COVID-19 vaccination rates when announcing those changes on March 23, reporting that approximately one in four Virginians had received at least one dose of vaccine at that point.
While the upward trend in cases might be cause for concern, the pace of vaccinations continues to accelerate in Fairfax County as well.
The Fairfax County Health Department got 55,470 doses from the Virginia Department of Health during the week of March 22-28, the largest supply yet.
Last week, several Northern Virginia leaders urged the state to increase the region’s allocation of vaccine to match its capacity, which will further expand today with the opening of a mass vaccination site run by Inova Health Systems to serve Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria.
Inova's new mass vaccine site opens today in the City of Alexandria- This is a new option for Fairfax County residents in addition to our 150 others . Remember, to get in the vaccine queue, please register with the Fairfax County Health Department: https://t.co/sej7N0M4To pic.twitter.com/81qyHQwQLE
— Jeff McKay (@JeffreyCMcKay) March 29, 2021
According to its vaccine data dashboard, the county health department is now making appointments for people who registered on March 16. As of 10 a.m. today, the county has whittled its waitlist down to 37,837 individuals — 11% of the 350,429 people who have registered since the COVID-19 vaccines became available in December.
VDH data indicates that 296,241 people in Fairfax County have gotten at least one vaccine dose, and 151,223 of them have been fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received both shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Virginia has now administered more than 3.5 million vaccine doses. 1.2 million people — 15% of the state’s population — have been fully vaccinated.
Like the state as a whole, Fairfax County hopes to open registration for vaccine appointments to all adults by May 1, and after expanding eligibility to additional phase 1b priority groups, the health department anticipates reaching phase 1c by mid-April.
Images via CDC on Unsplash, VDH
Fairfax County police are investigating a fatal crash in Merrifield that happened early this morning (Monday).
The crash occurred at the intersection of Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) and Javier Road. It involved a single vehicle with one occupant, a man who was taken to the hospital, where he later died, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Police closed westbound Arlington Boulevard between Javier Road and Williams Drive so that detectives from FCPD’s crash reconstruction unit could investigate the incident.
The investigation remains ongoing, but Arlington Boulevard reopened around 8:22 a.m.
Detectives continue to investigate this crash. Arlington Blvd is now open. Follow our blog, https://t.co/PBMfNnRMp0 for further updates. https://t.co/bMQgQ23xvQ
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 29, 2021
Police Arrest D.C. Resident for Attempted Robbery in Tysons — There was an attempted robbery in the 1600 block of International Drive around 11:30 a.m. on March 23. According to the police report, a man “approached the victim, displayed a knife and demanded property before walking away. Responding officers arrested the man, Jason Stokes, 38, of Washington, D.C. and charged him with robbery.” [Fairfax County Police Department]
Vienna Delegate Joins Other State Legislators to Create AAPI Caucus — Del. Mark Keam (D-Vienna) is among several Virginia lawmakers to join the General Assembly’s newly formed Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus. The group’s creation was announced on Friday (March 26) to coincide with a national #StopAsianHate Day of healing and action in response to the March 16 shootings that killed eight people, including six Asian women, in Georgia. [DCist]
Peak Bloom for Cherry Blossoms Comes Early — The National Park Service declared yesterday (Sunday) that the cherry trees around D.C.’s Tidal Basin have hit peak bloom, a week earlier than initially anticipated. The agency attributes the early bloom to “well above average” temperatures for the region over the past week. [National Park Service/Twitter]
Tysons is Key to Region’s Economic Recovery, PenFed CEO Says — “As we look to the coming year, we must support a return to offices, continue to diversify our community and prioritize the recovery of Tysons’s hospitality sector, which has suffered the most during the pandemic. We must continue investing in factors that increase livability, like parks and walking paths, and we must incentivize new retail, new businesses and new residents.” [Washington Business Journal]
Photo by Joanne Liebig
A girl reported that she was harassed and followed by an older man outside the Dunkin Donuts at 314 Maple Avenue West on March 17, the Vienna Police Department says in its round-up of highlights from the week of March 19-25.
According to the report, the incident occurred at 3:15 p.m. when the “female juvenile reported that she was harassed by an older man in the Dunkin Donuts’ parking lot.”
“When the juvenile observed that the man appeared to be waiting for her to exit the store, she requested an employee escort her to her vehicle,” the VPD said. “As the juvenile drove away, the man appeared to follow her for several blocks.”
The report classifies the incident as a “suspicious event.”
This past week also saw Vienna police officers respond to a reported assault at Chick-fil-A (538 Maple Avenue West) at 1:45 p.m. yesterday (Thursday).
The weekly highlights report describes the incident as follows:
An employee reported that a woman parked her vehicle in the drive-thru line, walked into the restaurant, and began acting disorderly. When the employee asked her to leave, she crawled out the drive-thru window, kicking the manager, and throwing food at a customer. The woman got back into her vehicle, drove onto Maple Avenue, parked her car on the roadway, and began trying to climb into a delivery truck that was stopped in traffic. The woman got back into her vehicle and fled the area before officers arrived.
In a particularly oddball occurrence, a resident on the 600 block of Hine Street SE told the VPD at 2:59 p.m. on Tuesday (March 23) “that he had a cannonball that he wanted to dispose of.”
“The resident found the cannonball while gardening in his yard several years ago,” the police report says.
Vienna officers were accompanied by an explosive ordinance disposal team from the Fairfax County Police Department when they responded to the request. The cannonball was handed off to the county team for destruction.
Image via Google Maps
The Virginia Department of Transportation’s period for public comments on proposed pedestrian and bicycle improvements around the Vienna Metro station will close on Monday (March 29).
VDOT held a virtual public information meeting on March 18 to discuss its plans, which are being developed in conjunction with efforts to construct a network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities along Interstate 66 as part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project.
The I-66 parallel trail network will cover 11 miles between Gallows Road in Dunn Loring and Centreville, connecting existing regional trails — including the Washington & Old Dominion Trail — and adding new pedestrian bridges over I-66, according to Andrew Beacher, VDOT’s preliminary engineering manager for Fairfax and Arlington counties.
“The Vienna Metro bicycle and pedestrian improvements project is a key portion of that larger network that’s going to be implemented in the coming years,” Beacher said. “…It is an extensive planned network that we hope will ultimately serve the community well.”
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation told Tysons Reporter in February that the Vienna Metro portion of the project is being implemented separately, rather than as I-66 is widened, because the trail has to deviate from the interstate “for engineering reasons and for access-to-the-community reasons.”
Divided into three segments between Blake Lane and the Vienna Metro surface parking lot, improvements currently being considered include:
- The addition of a 10-foot-wide shared-use path on Sutton Road
- Removal of one eastbound through lane on Country Creek Road and Virginia Center Boulevard, which would create room for a road diet and two-way cycle track and sidewalk on the south side of the road
- The construction of a new 10-foot-wide shared-use-path on Virginia Center Boulevard close to the westbound I-66 ramp adjacent to the parking lot
- The installation of new pavement markings and signs
- Upgraded crosswalks, traffic signal optimization, and other intersection changes
In addition, two new bus stops will be added on Sutton Road “to provide convenient access to Oakton High School faculty, staff, and students,” and six existing stops on Country Creek Road will be relocated to align with the proposed new crosswalk locations, FCDOT project coordinator Caijun Luo said during the March 18 meeting.
At Fairfax County’s request, VDOT is also looking at possible interim solutions to bridge the anticipated gap between the completion of the Transform I-66 improvements in late 2022 and the conclusion of the Vienna Metro project, which is not expected to finish construction until spring 2025.
State transportation planners have proposed restriping Country Creek Road and Virginia Center Boulevard to create a two-way, 10-foot-wide cycle track with a buffer of concrete or flex posts to separate bicyclists from drivers.
According to VDOT project manager Zamir Mirza, it will be harder to implement temporary measures on Sutton Road due to variations in road width, especially approaching the curve near the southern entrances of Oakton High School.
“We are considering design options for this segment, including removing parking on the northwest side of the site for the bicyclists,” Mirza said. “We may need to consider widening the existing sidewalk also, or have a combination of the two options.”
Mirza added that the project website will be updated when VDOT finishes studying the proposed interim options for Sutton Road.
The Vienna Metro improvements project has a total estimated cost of $9.4 million.
A public hearing on the project design will be held this summer before getting approved in the fall. VDOT plans to begin right-of-way acquisitions and utility relocations in the spring of 2022, and construction is expected to begin in summer 2024.
Community members can submit comments to [email protected] or by mail to VDOT’s Northern Virginia District office. VDOT also has a survey to gather feedback.
Image via VDOT
A Fairfax County Public Schools student reported being targeted by anti-Asian slurs and other kinds of harassment during an encounter at Longfellow Middle School in McLean earlier this week, FCPS confirmed to Tysons Reporter.
The Fairfax County Police Department says a juvenile reported to an officer on Tuesday (March 23) that he was confronted by “several other juveniles” while attempting to use a recreational field at Longfellow around 6:20 p.m. on March 22.
According to police, the individual said that the people who confronted him “made derogatory remarks relating to his race and natural origin. The juvenile also mentioned the group spat near him.”
The student was not injured or assaulted, but the incident is under investigation by the school resource officer assigned to Longfellow Middle School. The FCPD says it is also “working collaboratively with our partners in FCPS to ensure that all students are treated fairly and with respect.”
While the incident took place on Longfellow grounds, the victim does not attend that school, according to FCPS spokesperson Helen Lloyd.
“The student involved was not a student at Longfellow Middle School, nor were any of the alleged perpetrators,” Lloyd said. “This incident took place out of school hours and is still being investigated, including whether the alleged perpetrators were FCPS students.”
FCPS acknowledged the ongoing investigation in a letter to the McLean community from Longfellow Principal Jim Patrick and McLean High School Principal Ellen Reilly. The letter, which was provided to Tysons Reporter by FCPS, states that the slurs reportedly directed at the student were anti-Asian.
“We stand with our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students, staff and community and unequivocally denounce racism and discrimination of all kinds and to condemn all acts of hate,” Patrick and Reilly said in their letter. “We are committed to ensuring safe spaces for all of our students and interrupting any experience that would cause pain and trauma as a result of racialized (or other identity based) violence.”
The reported incident occurred on the same day that public officials and community members gathered in Annandale for a vigil to mourn the eight people — including six Asian women — who were shot and killed in the Atlanta area on March 17, a tragedy that put a spotlight on the racism that people of Asian descent experience in the U.S.
The Pew Research Center found last summer that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic fueled an uptick in discrimination against Asian Americans.
In a report released on March 16, the advocacy coalition Stop AAPI Hate said since March 2020, it has recorded 3,795 hate incidents — ranging from verbal harassment and shunning to physical assaults — including 140 incidents in the D.C. area.
When it met on March 18, the Fairfax County School Board unanimously supported a resolution condemning violence and discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans. The county board of supervisors followed suit on Tuesday (March 23).
FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand issued a statement last week saying that the school system “condemns all acts of violence” while acknowledging the “misinformation and xenophobic language that have led to aggression toward, harassment, and exclusion of our students and families from AAPI communities.”
“It is our responsibility to ensure that all people are treated with dignity and humanity in our schools,” Brabrand said. “These behaviors are more than being unkind and will not be tolerated. Our success and well-being as a school division depends upon us standing united against any acts of violence and hatred committed against any person or group within our community.”
FCPS says that anyone with information related to the incident at Longfellow Middle School should contact their school principal or Fairfax County police.
Photo via Google Maps
Wind Advisory in Effect Today — A wind advisory will be in effect today for the D.C. area, including Fairfax County, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Winds could reach speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour with gusts up to 50 miles per hour. Gusts could blow around unsecured objects and result in fallen tree limbs or power disruptions. [National Weather Service, Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management/Twitter]
Northam Plans to Speed Up Marijuana Legalization — “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to ask the legislature to legalize the adult possession of an ounce or less of marijuana beginning on July 1, according to several sources with knowledge of the administration’s ongoing discussions with lawmakers. Lawmakers passed legislation last month that wouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2024.” [VPM]
Falls Church Narrows Down Possible New School Names — Committees tasked with selecting new names for the city’s elementary and high schools will present five recommendations each to the Falls Church City School Board by April 9. The groups have whittled hundreds of suggestions down to 18 options for the high school and 53 for the middle school. The school board will make the final decisions on May 13. [Falls Church News-Press]
Greater Washington Partnership Envisions Regional Train System — “An alliance of the Washington area’s top chief executives is pushing for Maryland and Virginia commuter trains to cross jurisdictions to provide service that would be more frequent and more interconnected…It could be achieved within a quarter-century, said the group, which has rallied support from transit advocates, the region’s passenger railroads and public- and private-sector groups.” [The Washington Post]
Satellite Telecommunications Company Moves Into Tysons — SpaceLink announced earlier this week that it has established a headquarters office in Tysons. The company, which also operates in Silicon Valley and Huntsville, Alabama, is developing a “network of satellites in medium Earth orbit that will provide secure, continuous, high-bandwidth communications between its clients’ low Earth orbit spacecraft and the ground.” [Virginia Business]
Fairfax County Sees Dip in Unemployment Rate — Fairfax County’s jobless rate dropped almost half a percent between December 2020 and January 2021, according to data from the Virginia Employment Commission. However, unemployment rates throughout Northern Virginia are still more than double pre-pandemic numbers. [Sun Gazette]
(Updated at 5:30 p.m.) Framebridge is officially open for business at the Mosaic District in Merrifield.
The custom framing company opened its doors for the first time today at 11 a.m. Located in Suite 165 at 2910 District Ave, this is Framebridge’s sixth store overall and its first in Virginia, though a Clarendon location is slated to open later this spring.
A Union Market store in downtown D.C. is also in the works, according to the company’s website.
Based in D.C., Framebridge launched in 2014 as an entirely online retail startup but began expanding into brick-and-mortar stores with its locations in D.C. and Bethesda, Md., in 2019.
Founder and CEO Susan Tynan says she wanted to stay true to the company’s “neighborhood concept” by expanding in the D.C. area.
“The Mosaic District was an obvious choice because we have a lot of existing online customers nearby, but we can also reach new customers shopping at all of the other great restaurants and stores in the center,” Tynan said. “We love the community of brands and organizations in Mosaic, and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
She adds that the first item they had framed in the Mosaic store was a souvenir from the Washington Nationals’ 2019 World Series championship.
To celebrate its arrival in Merrifield, Framebridge is offering to frame “mementos from customers’ personal achievements” for free if they book a 30-minute session with a design consultant, a spokesperson says. The offer lasts through April 11.
The store says walk-in customers are welcome, but the number of patrons allowed inside at one time is being limited to ensure adequate social distancing as part of its COVID-19 safety protocols. Masks are required for both customers and employees.
Hand sanitizer is being provided in the store. Employees also clean their work stations, surfaces, and devices after every consultation and undergo health screenings when they arrive each day, according to Framebridge.
Photo courtesy Framebridge
The Tysons telecommunications startup Omnispace is working with Lockheed Martin to develop a 5G network that will utilize both satellites and existing land-based cell towers to provide wireless service around the world.
The two companies announced on Tuesday (March 23) that they have entered into a “strategic interest agreement” to cooperate on turning Omnispace’s vision of a hybrid global communications network into a reality.
“The proposed global 5G standards-based non-terrestrial network (NTN) would offer commercial, enterprise and government devices ubiquitous communications worldwide,” Omnispace said in the press release. “This type of network has the potential to redefine mobile communications, benefiting users requiring true mobility, regardless of environment or location.”
Brian Pemberton, Omnispace’s vice president of sales and marketing, says Lockheed Martin was one of several companies that the startup approached while looking for possible satellite suppliers, but as the discussions continued, they saw potential for a more ambitious partnership.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., with an office in Dunn Loring, Lockheed Martin is an aerospace and technology company that primarily works as a government contractor for the U.S. military and various federal agencies. In contrast, Omnispace has a more commercial bent, focusing on individual consumers and businesses.
The new agreement commits the companies to combining their different perspectives and resources to support a shared goal.
“We had a very common vision…around the value and utility that a global 5G network can provide,” Pemberton said. “So, our conversations evolved rather quickly from one of vendor-supplier to much more of a collaborative approach.”
The actual launch of a working 5G network in space remains mostly theoretical right now.
Pemberton says Omnispace is aiming for a 2023 timeframe for when it hopes to initially deploy a 5G platform. That would align with when he expects prototype mobile devices to become available as international standards for how 5G devices and networks will interact with each other are established.
However, the need for a more efficient and expansive wireless communications system has become increasingly apparent over the past year, as the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many activities — from school and office work to grocery shopping and social gatherings — into the digital realm.
According to Pemberton, the global wireless network envisioned by Omnispace could help eliminate dead zones and provide more resiliency, since satellites would not be affected by terrain or natural disasters like service providers on land.
As an example of how the technology could be applied, he cites the challenges presented by worldwide COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Reliable, continuous wireless coverage could enhance government and medical providers’ ability to track shipments and monitor environmental conditions to ensure the vaccines are stored properly, he argues.
“That’s just one microcosm that obviously resonates with a lot of people today, but you can extrapolate that to food transportation and other types of goods and just think about the global supply chain in general for all kinds of industries,” Pemberton said.
