Tysons Corner has long been the most difficult biking region in Northern Virginia. Between the chaos that is rush hour, the roads that create an un-ordered mesh of pseudo highways, and the drivers who are frustrated and unfocused the area doesn’t just have a reputation for being dangerous to bike riders, but a history. A combination of high speeds, poor lighting, hilly terrain, and lack of independent facilities makes a simple one mile ride an intimidating pulse check that shouldn’t be attempted by amateur bikers.
The next several years will mean massive changes to this environment, but before many of the comprehensive plan’s concepts can be implemented the Silver Line will be up and running and difficult to access for many residents of Tysons. It might be hard to imagine but there are people who live here, including myself. It may also be hard to imagine but there are some roads in Tysons which aren’t like Route 7 or Route 123 and could be retrofitted to be viable bike routes with almost no construction or Right of Way expansions. The key is that Fairfax County has to want it, not just give lip service to the idea of a transportation sustainable Tysons.
A glaring example? Westpark Drive is the residential main street of Tysons Corner. Nearly 10,000 residents live within a 3 block range along Westpark, a number that will only grow as Ovation Apartments by Clark is completed next year. Unfortunately, Westpark Drive is one of the poorest planned roads I have ever come across. For no reason, other than they could, the speed limit jumps from 35 mph to 45 mph… this in a neighborhood where children stand only feet back from the street where their school bus picks them up. What is keeping Fairfax from simply removing the dangerous 45mph speed limit? It doesn’t cost a single cent. In fact they could change the speed to 25mph and there wouldn’t be a single impact to the near absent traffic.
What else? The lane widths are not just 12′ they are actually 12’6″ with an extra lane in the middle doing nothing but causing confusion as a shared left turn lane. For the amount of traffic that is seen on Westpark Drive there is no reason this couldn’t be a road with 11′ lanes, a 6′ median and 5′ bike lanes on each side of the road.
No construction needed, just some repainting, something that we the new 7 to 9 cent residential taxpayers in Tysons should be demanding of Fairfax to be done TODAY not tomorrow.
Bike access and pedestrian improvements are the easiest and cheapest facilities to construct. They are so cheap that out of the multi-billion dollar budget for Tysons Corner over the next 40 years, bike and pedestrian improvements constitute under 3% of the needed funds. More importantly they constitute the easiest to implement solution and the most beneficial transportation improvement to residents and metro riders. With less than $200,000 all of Westpark Drive could become a cyclist haven, but what it takes is a willingness on the part of Fairfax County to stand up to those who oppose any reduction in vehicle prioritization.
So which will it be Fairfax County? 45 mile per hour pseudo highways or the beginning of tangible urban improvements to Tysons?