Ask GGW: Why is it so hard to walk to the Air & Space Museum at Dulles?

If you’re not traveling by car, it’s pretty tough to get to the the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the National Air and Space Museum located at Dulles Airport.

Reader Lew wants to know why there isn’t a better way to access the museum.

Is this the only Smithsonian museum that has no pedestrian access? Will there be any coordination once the Silver Line gets to Dulles for tourists to easily get to Udvar-Hazy?

Simply put, the museum is in a very pedestrian-unfriendly place next to airports and highways. There probably wasn’t a “no pedestrians” decision, but it’s likely that since there weren’t any zoning rules requiring pedestrian accommodations, pedestrians weren’t much of a priority.

Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB), an organization of cycling enthusiasts and advocates that helps produce the Fairfax County Bicycle Route Map, sponsored a number of bicycle rides to the museum in the spring of 2012. After the ride, FABB noted a lack of pedestrian and bike facilities on Air and Space Museum Parkway as well as a lack of bike facilities at the museum itself.

Cars currently have to pay $15 to park at the museum, though there’s no charge for admission.

As more residential construction increases in the area over the next few years, a better case can be made for improvements to Air and Space Museum Parkway and Route 28 to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists to access the museum.

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