Fairfax County has secured all the funding it needs to design a future widening of Route 7 from Route 123 to I-495 in Tysons.
The Tysons Transportation Service District Advisory Board approved allocating up to $7.8 million from the district’s tax revenues to the Route 7 project last month, a move recommended by Fairfax County Department of Transportation staff.
The vote during the March 22 meeting was almost unanimous, but one member of the board said they couldn’t support putting more money to widening a road.
Road paving and striping season has arrived.
The Fairfax County and Virginia transportation departments will hold multiple public meetings this month on proposed pedestrian crossing and road changes for 2022.
The changes include narrowing several roads to an 11-foot standard and upgrading crosswalks. Bicycle lanes are also slated for several areas across the county.
The most significant change appears to be in Sully District, where bicycle lanes — potentially buffered — have been proposed where possible on Braddock Road between Belle Pond Drive and Sully Station Drive.
Drivers who use Nutley Street near the Vienna Metro station will need to adjust to yet another new traffic pattern, starting tomorrow (Wednesday).
A new, temporary ramp to I-66 West is expected to open, bringing with it new turn lanes and a new traffic signal for both northbound and southbound drivers.
“This temporary traffic change is anticipated to be in place through July 2022 while construction of the redesigned Nutley Street and I-66 Interchange continues as part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway Project,” Virginia Department of Transportation said in a news release on Friday (April 8).
Fairfax County’s budget season is in full swing.
The Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings at 3 p.m. today through Thursday (April 12-14), giving residents, community groups, and other stakeholders an opportunity to highlight their concerns and priorities for the spending plan that will take effect on July 1.
About half of the county’s general fund spending goes to Fairfax County Public Schools, which allocates the money based on its own adopted budget. The rest goes to county services, such as the fire and police departments, parks and libraries, public transportation, and more.
Johnny Depp Fans Wait at Courthouse — “Fans who stood outside the main entrance of the Fairfax County Courthouse with the hopes of glimpsing actor Johnny Depp as he appeared for the first day of his defamation trial were disappointed. The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star skipped the crowds and entered the courthouse through another door.” [Patch]
Sen. Mark Warner Visits for Affordable Housing Talk — “Every community needs access to affordable housing. Glad to deliver funding to Fairfax County today to create up to 250 affordable housing units and talk to local leaders about how we can further support their initiatives at a federal level.” [Mark Warner/Twitter]
Trees Cut Down for Mount Vernon Bicycle Trail Project — “Construction to improve and link the Mount Vernon Bike Trail along the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway is in its early stages and to clear the way, a significant number of trees have been cut down along the road. According to the project team, there is no plan to replant additional trees when the project is completed, a county spokesperson said.” [The Connection]
Tysons Real Estate Leaders Explore Nats Sale — The Lerner family, which is behind the Tysons II development master plan, has hired an investment bank to explore potential investment partners for the Washington Nationals, The Washington Post reported. Mark Lerner, the baseball club’s managing principal owner, called the move “exploratory” with “no set timetable or expectation of a specific outcome.” [Patch]
County Unemployment Rate Declines — “Inflation may be eating away at their earnings, but a larger share of Fairfax County residents had jobs in February than a month before, according to new federal data…The county’s unemployment rate for the shortest month of the year stood at 2.5 percent, down from 2.9 percent a month before.” [Sun Gazette]
Local LGBTQ+ Advocates Worried About New Law — “Under a new law, Virginia school districts must notify parents whenever instructional materials include sexually explicit content and must provide parents alternative, non-explicit materials if requested…FCPS Pride said the bill ‘creates an adversarial relationship between teachers and parents or guardians.'” [The Washington Post]
Public Safety Workers Honored in Reston — “Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce officials on March 31 honored police, fire-and-rescue and Sheriff’s Office employees for their outstanding acts of public protection. More than 600 people attended the 44th annual Fairfax County Valor Awards, held at the Hyatt Regency Reston.” [Sun Gazette/Inside NoVA]
Herndon Plans Town-Wide Clean-Up — “The annual spring clean-up, an opportunity for residents to place large or bulky items curbside for pickup, takes place April 27-29. Pickup is on your trash day only.” [Town of Herndon]
It’s Tuesday — Partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 72 and low of 53. Sunrise at 6:37 am and sunset at 7:44 pm. [Weather.gov]
A 19-year-old Falls Church resident and an unidentified 17-year-old have been charged with murder after a shooting in West Falls Church last fall led to the death of 73-year-old Nelson Alexander Sr., Fairfax County police announced today (Monday).
Timothy Kashawn Bradshaw Robinson served as the “getaway driver” in a “botched robbery” at a Wells Fargo walk-up ATM in the 2900 block of Annandale Road, according to Fairfax County Police Department officials.
The Fairfax County Police Department is asking for the public’s help as it continues to train officers for how to handle potentially dangerous situations on the road.
The county’s Emergency Vehicle Operations Center, located in Chantilly south of the Dulles airport, is looking for used-vehicle donations for training exercises and driving simulations on its 1.1-mile roadway.
The facility is where officers get required training to perform the precision immobilization technique (PIT), a controversial maneuver for stopping high-speed vehicles that Fairfax County police have been using since 1988.
Fairfax County’s COVID-19 transmission level is still well below where it was this past winter, but a rise in cases that was barely perceptible a week ago has started to solidify into a more concrete trend.
The Fairfax Health District, which includes Fairfax and Falls Church cities, is averaging 167 cases a day for the past week. That’s the highest weekly average since Feb. 18 (169 cases) and more than twice this year’s low point of 77 cases on March 22, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
A pair of streets linking Vienna and Dunn Loring could be altered to make room for bicycle lanes as part of an annual paving and restriping program.
The Fairfax County and Virginia transportation departments have proposed narrowing the travel and parking lanes on Cottage Street and Wolf Trap Road so bicycle lanes can be added “where possible.”
The focus of the Cottage Street project would be 1.1-mile stretch between Gallows Road and Cedar Lane. On Wolf Trap, the bicycle lanes could be added from Gallows to where the road dead-ends and turns into a bicycle path through Heritage Resource Park.
A truck is leaking fuel onto I-495, prompting a closure of two southbound lanes under the George Washington Memorial Parkway in McLean.
Two right lanes on the I-495 Outer Loop are currently blocked, as crews work to plug the leak and contain the spilled fuel, according to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.
