This month we are taking a look at areas of Tysons which, with the opening of the Silver Line, may become obstacles and conditions for tragedy if Fairfax County does not pursue affordable and simple solutions immediately. Why are these existing conditions not safety concerns today?
The type of use destination that exists today for a resident of Tysons is completely different than the Silver Line. Walking a couple of blocks to the neighborhood store through less than sufficient intersection designs, during bright and sunny weekend mid-days, creates the perception that all is well. Hardly anyone does this same trip at, 6:45am on a dark January rush hour morning for instance. That changes on day 1 of the Silver Line, and Fairfax County can’t risk resident’s lives with the inaction that has defined the past 3 years since construction of the metro began.
Case in point, Gosnell Drive between portions of Old Courthouse Road and Leesburg Pike. There are approximately 225 townhomes with over 400 working age residents as well as 150 apartment units with 200 working age residents living along the west side of Gosnell Road. When the Silver Line opens, a quarter mile away, many of these residents who currently use bus service along Gosnell will likely switch to direct rail service for their commutes.
None of these residents will turn their quarter mile walk into a half mile walk in order to walk all the way to Leesburg Pike, only to cross Gosnell and then walk south along Route 7 when they could simply cross Gosnell and head through the far quicker strip mall parking lot to the pedestrian bridge.
The anxiety inducing problem is that Gosnell looks safe. If Gosnell looked like Route 7 residents would rarely, if ever, attempt to cross the massive stretches at mid-blocks. The fact that Gosnell looks like a calm, low traffic, and manageable four lane road is exactly why it is a lethal combination of danger and perceived safety.
Gosnell is curved and hilly. That creates bucolic suburban views for home owners, but it also is a recipe for poor sight distance for vehicles and pedestrians. Poor sight distance means an inability for a pedestrian to see a car, and a car to see a pedestrian. Now add in the fact that Gosnell, unlike many roads in Tysons, is light in congestion. Cars often use it as a cut through between Tysons and Vienna because of the very fact that it flows at speed. Many of these cars drive above posted speed, as commuters find themselves finally freed from the traffic beasts that ensnare most of our region.
So the County must ask itself, is it willing to put at risk the lives of hundreds of residents in order to provide a quick shortcut for commuters? Gosnell is not a safe road for pedestrians to cross, regardless of the pair of painted crosswalks (out of 4 blocks, and 4 pairs) available.
- The county needs to create an all encompassing strategy to provide sufficient crosswalks, so that residents don’t have to walk 3 blocks out of their way instead of heading straight for their destination.
- The county needs to provide proper signage, including warning systems to slow drivers.
- The county needs to provide adequate lighting along Gosnell, which the current absence of, reduces sight distance even further.
- The county needs to provide a new stop light, or at a minimum a stop sign, at the intersection of Ragland Road and Gosnell Road which will reduce the induction of short-cutters coming off of the vehicular friendly Route 7 and Route 123.
The improvements above are not being delayed because of a lack of money. The total costs would be on the order of $50,000 without the street light. Considering Supervisor Hudgins recently asked the Board to consider over two million dollars in bus funds to Reston, to serve routes that run parallel to the Silver Line, I doubt $50,000 is an unreasonable amount of funds.
Proper striping and signage are the easiest urban improvements to make, and yet these have yet to be addressed. The only thing more dangerous for residents than living in a suburban office park on steroids is camouflaging that sprawl design to appear more urban through shallow ribbon cutting improvements only.
Adding a new crosswalk improvement will be unlikely to draw much media attention. Adding a stop sign might be enough to get a dozen angry calls from commuters. But sitting on our hands and waiting for the inevitable accident is a recipe for derailing the basic fundamentals of this massive transition.