Fairfax County DOT recently presented the results of a traffic mitigation study conducted by Cambridge Systematics (at the July 26 Reston Task Force meeting). According to the Fairfax Times article Reston rail panel focuses gaze on traffic mitigation, "Discussion focused on possible improvements to five intersections: Wiehle Avenue and Sunrise Valley Drive; Wiehle Avenue and Sunset Hills Road; Reston Parkway and Sunrise Valley Drive; Reston Parkway and Sunset Hills; and Fairfax County Parkway and Sunrise Valley.". .
Click here for the rest of this FABB blog post.
The planned improvements call for several "free turn lanes" where motorists can turn right without stopping. An example is the southbound lane on Wiehle Ave at the the Sunrise Valley Dr intersection. Motorists rarely stop for pedestrians at this location, which is a adjacent to the future rail station entrance. A second free turn lane for westbound Sunrise Valley Dr traffic is being recommended at this intersection. If implemented it would be nearly impossible for pedestrians and cyclists who are on the adjacent sidepath to cross Wiehle Ave. These are definitely not improvements for pedestrians and cyclists (emphasis added).
A similar treatment is proposed for the Wiehle Ave/Sunset Hills intersection . . . .
For almost as long as the Reston Task Force (RTF) has been in existence, the substance of its talks has largely ignored or given lip service to the notion of reducing dependence on the automobile in the three transit-oriented development (TOD) station areas. The single significant exception to this thinking has been the work done by the RTF's Planning Principles Sub-Committee.
The road improvements suggested by the County's Department of Transportation above are necessitated largely because the County's Department of Planning and Zoning insists on focusing new development plans on commercial rather than residential development in Reston's TOD areas despite the tremendous imbalance between residential and commercial development that already exists there.
This line of thinking continues despite the fact that RCA's Reston 2020 Committee has provided both substantial research evidence that more residential development will reduce auto use, and an alternative residential-intensive proposal that would obviate the need for "free turns" and other major road expansion projects because people would walk and bike to Metro in these areas in far greater proportions. We share FABB's frustration with the course of the Task Force's discussion, yet we remain hopeful that the County will do a second traffic analysis study using Reston 2020's or a similar residential intensive proposal for testing purposes. We believe the results will show the merits of greater residential development.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments are welcome and encouraged as long as they are relevant, constructive, and decent.