It’s been a long and frustrating wait for the lofty goals of a new Tysons to come to fruition, but in 2015 the most populated part of Tysons might start seeing real substantial changes for pedestrian and bike improvements. 2015 is a scheduled repaving year for most of Tysons which provides FCDOT (with guidance from local residents, the Tysons Partnership, and hopefully our website) an opportunity to repaint crosswalks, road lanes, and future bike infrastructure to meet the comprehensive plans priorities.
Next Monday FCDOT will hold a meeting at Westbriar Elementary to discuss the planned changes. As a side note, I do wish they would try holding more of these Tysons meetings in Tysons itself, but I understand Vienna is the real population center of Tysons.
The plans have substantial changes planned for Jones Branch Drive, which becomes Spring Hill Road after International Drive. The entire stretch of the road from Westpark Drive (in front of the new Nouvelle Apartments) all the way to Route 7 will see some kind of improvement to provide for bikes. Most of Jones Branch Drive will see the addition of a bike climbing lane along the north side of the road where steep grades make it difficult for bikes to keep up with traffic. The rest of “Spring Hill” Road will see sharrows and a small section of lane diet near First Stage Theater.
Tyco Road will see a full road diet from Spring Hill to Route 7, in front of the currently under construction Elan Tysons West. Most of Greensboro Drive, near the parklet, will see a road diet. Lastly, Westbranch Drive will also see a road diet.
There will be other changes implemented at intersections and roads in Tysons with the repaving. One question that remains is why Westpark Drive has no lane diets planned, and why it remains a 45mph road, considering it is more logical to implement a bike lane than Jones Branch Drive. Hopefully someone at VDOT will get back to me some day about why the road must remain that speed with a response better than “Because it needs to stay 45 mph”.