One of the hottest issues in Reston right now is the
Wiehle Metro station and its impact on traffic on our streets. As you know, RCA has been out front on this issue. We
prepared a paper highlighting the challenges we face in ensuring access to the station and
made recommendations
to help the situation. Our most important recommendations concerned
the bus service. Getting people to the Wiehle station by bus is key to
reducing congestion around the station and maximizing our investment in
the Silver Line.
RCA is proud to speak up for the community, but we also want to give
our citizens a chance to speak for themselves. With that in mind, we
arranged a
community forum
on Monday night, at which Fairfax County Department of Transportation
staffers presented their plans for Fairfax Connector bus service in
Reston once the station opens, and heard the community’s comments on how
the plan could be made better. For those of you who couldn’t make it,
I’ll tell you what happened.
FCDOT has already held two community meetings in Reston to talk about
the bus service. But I heard concerns from some at those meetings that
too little time was spent discussing the plans for Reston, so we asked
for a Reston-focused presentation. Community interest in the subject
remains high; about 40 people showed up to our meeting to listen and to
be heard.
Supervisor Hudgins
was one of those in attendance, and she began the meeting with a few
remarks. She thanked the transit staff for their work and for holding
numerous meetings. Then she thanked RCA for our report on the Wiehle
access issues, and mentioned that her office was preparing a formal
response, which I look forward to receiving. She then provided a brief
history of changes to Reston’s
Master Plan to prepare for the coming of Metro, beginning over a decade ago.
She said there is a clear need to make the station areas more
walkable, and acknowledged that the needed improvements are “not all in
place.” She stressed that there will be challenges during the 5 years
that Reston is at the end of the Silver Line. Her goal is to get as
many heading to the Wiehle Station out of their cars as possible. She
said that Reston welcomes transit and always has – our community started
that way, continues that way today, and Supervisor Hudgins wants it
that way in the future.
Her acknowledgement of the challenges seems to be a shift from her
prior statements
that traffic won’t be any worse after the station opens than it is now.
RCA welcomes the evolution in her thinking. And I appreciate that she
came to our “house” to discuss our report and acknowledge the work yet
to be done.
We then turned the presentation over to the County staff, who
provided an overview of the service changes, with a special focus on
what’s coming to Reston. Senior planner Paul Mounier, who led the
presentation, noted that he enjoys coming to Reston, because we’re
always interested in more bus service, whereas some other communities
aren’t sure they want it at all.
The route changes should be familiar to those who have attended prior
presentations: Most of Reston’s routes will be similar to what we
already have, only the routes that currently go to West Falls Church
will terminate at Wiehle instead. There will be frequent service
between Reston Town Center and the station; they are aiming for
10-minute headways during peak periods. The new routes will provide
service to Franklin Farms and Dulles Discovery, which had previously
been unserved. There will be a new circulator bus running along Sunrise
Valley and Sunset Hills designed to ferry people along the Toll Road
corridor to the station. For a more detailed view of the proposed
changes, you can check out the
County’s website.
The floor was then opened up for comments, and our citizens had
plenty to say. One citizen noted that the proposed local service through
Reston (Route 551, 553, and 557) cuts off too early in the evening,
which makes it hard for commuters who might have to work late. The
transit folks said they heard the concern and would address it. Other
riders protested the proposed canceling of the 595 and 597, which
currently connect Reston to the Pentagon and Crystal City. The staff
explained that those routes are expensive to maintain, and the Metro now
will connect Reston with those areas. However, they said they’d
continue to consider it.
Several comments reflected RCA’s recommendations in our Wiehle
station report. Several commenters noted the issues regarding access to
the station from the south, and asked if the buses could drop people
near the south-side escalators. The County staff said they wish they
could, but there are no drop-off spots to the south now except for the
bus bays coming off the Toll Road. Another commenter asked how the
buses will maintain the promised headways if they’re sitting in gridlock
around the station. Paul Mounier noted that they were building extra
recovery time into each route – 20 to 25% more than normal – so that the
buses can encounter congestion and still meet their schedules.
The County staff also mentioned some neat technological advances that
could help commuters. They are testing an intelligent transportation
system, which would allow the extension of green lights at an
intersection when a bus is approaching. (This is similar to the
technology used by emergency vehicles, although the buses won’t be able
to turn red lights green.) FCDOT is also hoping to work with Google
Maps or other apps to provide route and schedule information to your
smartphone. The data is in place, the staff says; they need to work out
some agreements.
All in all, it was a great session, and a great opportunity for
Restonians to learn what’s coming and to make suggestions for
improvement. RCA isn’t done yet, either; our Reston 20/20 Committee is
preparing a report with specific suggestions on the bus service, which
should be public in the next couple of weeks. The Silver Line and
access to the station present complex challenges, and it’s important to
get them right. RCA is on the case, and we’re going to keep working for
our citizens and make sure that we reach the right solutions for
Reston.
