- Fairfax County’s first Open Street on Tysons Boulevard is a good start.
- Share your ideas with FCDOT to create more Open Streets.
Kudos to everyone involved in getting Fairfax County’s first Open Street for pedestrians and cyclists on a section of Tysons Boulevard in Tysons. This Open Street is scheduled to remain in place through Labor Day.
Approaching Open Street from south (Galleria Drive) on May 30 @ 9:45 am.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) is seeking public feedback and collecting data on this pilot project. Depending on this feedback and data, FCDOT is considering establishing Open Streets in at least two other locations. You can share your thoughts and suggested locations by emailing FCDOT at [email protected].
Views of beginning and early section of open street.
The Tysons Boulevard Open Street is good start, especially for creating space for recreation. We have recommendations we think will make the expansion of Open Streets better for more communities and easier for Fairfax and VDOT to deploy. Please share these and your ideas with FCDOT and your district Supervisor.
- Future open streets should provide not only a space for recreation but for access to restaurants, cafes, shops, and services.
- The open street should be longer than .5 mile and intersect with streets that connect to multiple different areas.
- The concrete barriers, while great for safety, are overdone and almost certainly added unnecessary expense to the project. Other cities and localities have closed streets with fewer and reasonably spaced barriers using cones, steel barricades, barrels, and bollards, and water-filled barriers.
- Future open streets should serve communities that lack yards and easy access to parks and trails.
Final sections of open street and map overview.
Greater numbers of people are doing more biking and walking than ever, and we know that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon. Our communities need more space now to allow our citizens to get outside and exercise and travel safely by foot or bike.
FABB also believes that the evolving needs of residents, commuters, businesses, and customers to cope with COVID-19 is a “can’t miss” opportunity for everyone involved in transportation to make our urban areas more accessible and, judging by the embrace of Open Streets around the world, more desirable, healthy, economically vital, and productive.
Let your local Fairfax County elected officials know that you support Open Streets and forward looking active transportation policies by using this Coalition for Smarter Growth site to ask for action.
