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Thanks to everyone for the lively discussion and thoughtful comments on this issue. We at SFDC struggle every day with the identity/branding of the corridor and have become increasingly convinced that the best way forward is to focus on making unique places along the way and discouraging people from thinking about Richmond Highway as a corridor.

As I mentioned in the article (and many of you reinforced) there has been no better placemaking tool in this region than the names of Metro stations. Something about seeing the iconic vertical white letters on the square bronze column lends permanence to the place name. I suppose that's why the effort to name the Silver Line stations drew so much attention on GGW and why I, for one, am pleased to see the final list of names be less corporate/political and more focused on creating places than the preliminary list.

The more I write about Richmond Highway issues (and the more people respond to my thoughts) the more I realize that the transit network has to improve in order for the corridor to experience more than incremental change. As a point of information, Fairfax County and VDOT have long been working off of the planning assumption that Richmond Highway will eventually have a 146-foot wide right-of-way along its entire length, allowing for three travel lanes and a transit lane in each direction, plus bike/ped facilities and landscaping. The idea is to assume that transit will be at grade for now (either BRT or LRT) so it will need a dedicated lane in each direction. I am not convinced of the wisdom of having such an enormous ROW. In fact, the ongoing battle over widening the segment of Route 1 through Fort Belvoir has pretty much come about due to the extra-wide ROW being acquired.

If the powers that be decide to extend the current heavy rail system down Richmond Highway, an underground tunnel is obviously the best way to promote high-density, nodal development. While the construction would certainly be far more expensive than at-grade tracks, there would be no need for the potentially even more expensive (and politically messy) acquisition of miles of right-of-way along an increasingly valuable corridor.

Regardless of what happens transit-wise, SFDC is encouraged by the vocal commitment from Del. Surovell, Sen. Puller and county Supervisors Hyland and McKay to expanding transit service. SFDC fully supports their efforts, and we look forward to the day when Penn Daw, Hybla Valley, Woodlawn, and Accotink can take their places on the Metro map.

by David Versel on Jun 27, 2012 12:05 pm • link • report