Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Virginia officials doubt Fairfax County will get money for transportation projects in 2013 legislative session.
As officials sat down Tuesday to discuss priorities for the legislature’s fast-approaching 2013 session, the county’s widely publicized road funding woes—a $3 billion need for road projects and improvements over the next decade—took center stage. The county faces a $300 million per year funding shortfall for the next 10 years. But nobody is quite sure where the money will come from. And at Tuesday's joint meeting of county supervisors and representatives from the Virginia State Senate and General Assembly, tidings were grim. “I honestly don’t expect a transportation bill to pass this session,” Del. Vivian Watts (D-39th) said. The Commonwealth’s Secondary Road Program, from which the county used to get $29 million annually, is dry. The …
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Online Department of Transportation survey seeks resident input on transportation options
Residents have two more days to weigh in on the future of transportation in Fairfax County. The 2050 Countywide Transit Network Study, launched last month by the department of transportation to determine how public transit system expansion plans can best meet the county’s goals for long-term economic growth, will close to the public Aug. 10. "An objective of the study is to develop an inter-connected rapid transit system network that gets people where they need to go that connects with transit in Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun and Prince William [counties]," said Tom Burke, a senior transportation planner in the county’s DOT, at a public meeting in Fairfax last month. The 25-question online survey asks questions ranging from what makes …
Friday, June 29, 2012
Work scheduled 10 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday; fourth lane will close for 30-minute increments throughout the night
Drivers should expect delays on I-66 West near its intersection with I-495 Friday night as the Virginia Department of Transportation removes an old overhead box girder as part of the 495 HOT LANES project. Between 10 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, VDOT will close three lanes of I-66 west at I-495, and drivers will be limited to a single lane. After midnight, VDOT said in a release, the fourth lane will close for up to 30 minutes at a time throughout the night; from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m., there will be a one hour temporary stoppage. The exit from I-495 south to I-66 West, Exit 49, will also be closed. Crews will be directing drivers to continue to exit 52B, Little River Turnpike (Route 236) east and follow signs to I-495 north to take Exit 49A…
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
With third straight year of zero funding for program, cyclists say some transportation improvements are threatened; county to look toward Arlington for model
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors formally adopted a $6.7 billion budget Tuesday morning, a spending plan which put aside more money for human services, schools and employee pay but, for the third consecutive year, not bicycle programs. Although the county funds a full-time bicycle coordinator in its transportation department, the bicycle program has gone without funding since fiscal year 2011, according to Fairfax County staff reports provided to supervisors this year. The county's formal bike program was launched in 2006 as the Comprehensive Bicycle Initiative. Early projects included developing the county's first bike route map, retrofitting connector buses, and adding bike racks to county park and ride lots. The program received…
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Between 9 p.m. Friday and sometime Sunday afternoon, drivers will have to seek alternate route
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
A repaving project will shut down the intersection of Lee Highway (Route 29) and Gallows Road in Merrifield this weekend. The intersection will be closed off to traffic from 9 p.m. Friday until mid-afternoon Sunday so crews can complete the project, part of a larger reconstruction of the area. Drivers will not be able to cross the intersection, according to an alert from Fairfax County sent on Wednesday afternoon. Those traveling in and around Vienna, Dunn Loring, Merrifield and Falls Church should use alternate routes; signs will point drivers to detours around the intersection, using Prosperity Avenue, Gallows Road, Providence Forest Drive, Hartland Road, Lee Highway and Porter Road. Customers won't lose access to businesses along Lee …
Monday, February 27, 2012
Things could get a little bumpy.
Although this winter hasn't been nearly as hard on area roadways as winters past, many residents are dodging potholes on secondary roads in their neighborhoods. Clearly, Northern Virginia's secondary roadways need ongoing maintenance, but Virginia Department of Transportation maintenance funds have run dry. Local lawmakers are frustrated over the problem, and some are wrestling with the ramifications of taking the responsibility from the state. "Some secondary roads in [Fairfax] County haven't gotten attention in 15 years, and we have a huge system of roadways," said Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland (D). "When are those people in Richmond going to adequately fund transportation funding in Northern Virginia before it's …
Bob Bruhns
12:39 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
It might help if someone would look at the double price of the Dulles Rail - Silver Line project. We are throwing money away on that project to the tune of $2.5 billion to $3 Billion of overcharge, and then we are paying finance costs on the money we have to borrow to PAY for that overcharge. Nobody seems to care because the game is really about grabbing that money, not stopping the robbery. The … more ›