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"Many here think the current commonwealth admin, and VDOT in general, have a bias against transit." And likewise, it seems to me that you have a bias for transit. We all have some level of bias. Mine is to to act conservatively on density that depends on transit. I think that bias is held by most members of the Planning Commission and the BoS. Also, FC DOT has on a number of occasions indicated that transit results may or may not be as good as they estimated in the TIA. When making decisions on density, it's better to be conservative on transit and then, if we get better results than projected, make additional allowances on density than to grant more density now on transit hopes only to find out results are not as good. We cannot take away density easily.

"Rush plus just began less than 2 weeks ago. Don't you think its wise for them to review the results before committing to an operating plan for the silver line?"

Absolutely not, IMO. Both Loudoun and Fairfax Counties are making important decisions soon that depend on the Silver Line's capacity. We need WMATA's best estimate now, with the recognition things might change. I submit both counties might make different decisions if there are only 5 Silver Line trains per hour than if there were 10. Indeed, Chairman Bulova told the Fairfax Federation that she is concerned that she doesn't know the Silver Line's capacity yet.

Route 7 needs widening and has for years. The 1994 Tysons Comp Plan assumed widening. Widening is supported by VDOT, FC DOT, nine Fairfax Supervisors, the Planning Commission, the Tysons Partnership, the Great Falls Citizens Association, the Reston Citizens Association, the town of Vienna, the McLean Citizens Association, several local chambers of commerce, and various legislators. There is no organized opposition. If half of these groups felt differently, I might bet on your argument prevailing.

Most, if not all, supporters would add that Route 7 should be widened west of Tysons even if Tysons were not being redeveloped. Having a four lane road connected with eight lanes on one end and six lanes on the other end doesn't make sense. Foust says there are 65,000 vehicles on Route 7 west of Tysons every day. It needs six lanes - and did 10 years ago.

I agree with you that a widened Route 7 takes traffic off the DTR. But it also directs more traffic to and from Tysons. The biggest complaint of McLean, Vienna and Great Falls residents is cut through traffic. The engineers believe a wider Route 7 will keep more traffic on it.

by tmtfairfax on Jun 28, 2012 2:17 pm • link • report