Several companies in the Tysons area have earned bragging rights for their efforts to reduce vehicle trips.
The University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research announced its annual lists of the Best Workplaces for Commuters and Best Sites for Commuters on Thursday (Jan. 27), recognizing employers and urban projects across the country that promote transit, carpools, vanpools, and telework.
“Receiving this designation is a significant accomplishment,” Best Workplaces for Commuters program manager Julie Bond said in a press release. “Employers named to the list demonstrate a strong commitment to their employees by providing outstanding commuter programs, like telework, discounted transit passes, bicycle-friendly amenities, rideshare solutions, and emergency ride home programs.”
Awardees in the immediate area includes the following:
- ActioNet
- Archer Hotel Tysons
- Bart & Associates
- Citizens’ office at Fairview Park
- Cvent
- FH+H
- Hilton McLean Tysons Corner
- IronNet Cybersecurity
- KeyLogic
- KPMG
- QOMPLX
- Ross, Langan & McKendree
- Slalom
- SpinSys
- Strategic Resources, Inc.
- The Boro (Best Site)
- The MITRE Corporation
- Towers Crescent (Best Site)
- Tyson Corner Center’s Access Tysons concierge service (Best Site)
- Wells + Associates
The first Best Workplaces for Commuters list was unveiled in 2002 by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation as an outgrowth of a federal commuter choice initiative started in 1999, according to the program’s website.
The Center for Urban Transportation Research took over the program in 2007.
To get the designation, employers must meet environmentally friendly standards and pay membership dues.Â
According to its website, workplaces must meet criteria across three tiers.
To qualify, an employer must offer one primary benefit, such as employer-paid tax-free transit or vanpool passes, teleworking, bicycling or parking cash-out (enabling workers to trade free parking for its cash equivalent).
Other standards, such as supporting benefits and commitments, must also be met.
There’s flexibility for how those standards are met, though, so if a place doesn’t have bicycle racks or shower facilities, it could still fulfill the criteria with other benefits, such as bus stop amenities and an on-site business center.
The Best Sites designation is for commercial developers, shopping malls, corporate campuses, and other developments with multiple employers.
Fairfax County police are looking for the man who allegedly robbed a woman in Tysons.
“The victim was getting something out of her car when she was approached by a man who displayed a knife and took her purse and ran away,” police said.
The incident occurred around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 26) in the 8000 block of Towers Crescent Drive.
“The suspect was described as a black man, 20s, 5’9″, 160 pounds, wearing a black jacket and jeans,” police said.
Police are also investigating two house burglaries that happened on Friday (Oct. 25) in the Dranesville District.
The first burglary happened around 7:30 p.m. in the 11oo block of Orlo Drive, which is by Rocky Run, according to the police report.
The second occurred around 9:30 p.m. in the 1100 block of Savile Lane in McLean.
“Someone broke into a home and stole personal items,” police said about both incidents.
Drivers who regularly take Towers Crescent Drive might want to budget in more time now that the road has two new stop signs near Ring Road and is undergoing road work.
Currently, the road is being repaved, Ellen Kamilakis, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation, told Tysons Reporter.
Towers Crescent Drive will soon have a new traffic pattern.
“The final roadway configurations will have one lane in each direction with either left-turn lanes or two-way left turning lane in the middle,” Kamilakis said. “In addition, it will have a bike lane in each direction.”
In response to Tysons Reporter’s question about when the repaving will be finished, Kamilakis said, “It should be relatively soon as the asphalt plants don’t stay open year-round.”
Multi-way stop signs were installed on Sept. 25 at the intersection of Towers Crescent Drive and Ring Road, Kamilakis said.
With the combination of the stop signs and the work blocking a southbound lane, traffic slowed down on Towers Crescent Drive when Tysons Reporter visited yesterday morning.
Updated at 1:40 p.m. — Corrects description of MicroStrategy and lease renewal date.
MicroStrategy Inc. scored $1 million to expand in Tysons.
The Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors approved grant funding from the Commonwealth at its meeting on Tuesday (May 21).
The funds will help the company with its tenant build-out of its facility (1850 Towers Crescent Plaza) in Tysons, which could lead to 300 new jobs at the facility, according to county documents.
Last March, MicroStrategy, which provides a data analytics platform, renewed its lease for its Tysons headquarters for $150 million, keeping the company based in Northern Virginia for another 13 years, the Washington Business Journal reported.
As part of the grant, Fairfax County must provide a local match, which will be in the form of accelerating construction on the Magarity Walkway project, a roadway improvement that is already planned and funded in the county budget. The road improvement was identified by coordinating with the Fairfax County Department of Transportation.
Fairfax County competed with another jurisdiction for the expansion of MicroStrategy’s headquarters, according to county documents.
While car and metro are still the go-to for many Tyson commuters, some local establishments are working to make bicycling a little more accessible.
Towers Crescent, a sprawling four building mixed-use complex, recently added new bicycle parking and repair tools inside the parking garage on-site and on the nearby streets. Towers Crescent also created a series of bicycle maps for riders to navigate around the North Tysons area.
Bike parking & tools at Tysons. Cc @tysonspartners @BikeFairfax pic.twitter.com/y5lr15AjPe
— Ronit A Dancis (@RonitADancis) August 28, 2018
Across the broader Tysons area, Access Tysons, a collaboration between Tysons Corner Center and government partners, has put together a detailed map of bike routes throughout Tysons and a guide of where to park at the Tysons Corner Center.
