- FABB is asking local McLean and Tysons area riders to remind FCDOT that congestion reduction plans need to include active transportation options.
- Take the FCDOT Survey by July 8 deadline.
Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) efforts to develop plans to correct the terrible rush hour congestion on and around Route 123 between Tysons and McLean have met significant local resistance. To address this, FCDOT has developed new proposals and released a survey for gathering public reaction and comment.
The survey seeks input on a mix of five new concepts or previous concepts:
- Concept 3, which includes restricted left turns from Balls Hill Road to Lewinsville Road, is being re-considered to help simplify Balls Hill/Lewinsville intersection conflicts and spacing issues with Dolley Madison/Lewinsville intersection.
- Concept 4, which includes restricted left turns from Dolley Madison Boulevard to Old Dominion Drive, is being re-considered to remove the bottleneck and help more efficient eastbound through movement operations.
- New concepts 7 and 8 together accommodate westbound queues at the intersection of Dolley Madison Boulevard and Lewinsville Road/Great Falls Street without impacting upstream intersections.
Sadly, all of the proposals are basically car-centric/create more lanes approaches. None seem likely to reduce rush hour congestion significantly and, worse, the engineering probably will incentivize speeding and illegal turns during non-rush hour periods.
FABB encourages local McLean and Tysons area riders to ask FCDOT to include active transportation options in the proposals. Adding more and better walking and biking infrastructure in that corridor might at least get some local drivers out their cars for short trips into McLean and Tysons during rush hours.
Also, Lewinsville Road/Great Falls Street is a primary route to the W&OD Trail and connections throughout the county from this area. When the 495Next shared-use trail is complete, even more bike traffic will be able to come from areas north of Dolley Madison to Lewinsville Road and then into McLean and Tysons. FCDOT should be using the corridor study to plan the needed connections to provide a first-class active transportation option for the area.
To submit feedback and comments such as the ones above, please take the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CF9LRJB.
The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete and will be open through Friday, July 8, 2022.
For study information, meeting recordings, and concept maps, you can visit the Dolley Madison Corridor Study webpage.
Don’t wait! Take the survey today and ask for better bicycling in Fairfax County!
