Watching old masonry construction demolished always provides a good show, but if you missed the demolition at Commons of McLean last week you’ve missed your chance. Crews took advantage of the good weather the past few weeks to not only demolish a large portion of the apartment complex (part of which is still occupied) but also began lowering the site elevation.
What is still a sizeable hill today will be leveled to street level so that the future twin tower building will relate more closely to Anderson Road. All of that dirt means a lot of dump trucks; most mornings you can find them queued on Anderson from the work site all the way back to the near by Safeway. This has become a common sight for nearby residents, after nearly a year of site excavation at the new Garfield parcel across the street. Unfortunately it looks like atleast another 6 months of serious truck traffic before construction activity somewhat diminishes to concrete and materials delivery only.
All of that truck traffic has torn apart the road and pedestrian infrastructure along Anderson Road and Chain Bridge Road, making it tantalizing, but dangerous, for residents near by to make the 1/2 mile walk to the McLean Station metro. VDOT will be coming through this summer to re-stripe many intersections, and add more visible cross walks, but the lack of proper lighting and pedestrian friendly sidewalks will mean tough walks for pedestrians in adverse weather conditions or at night. It’s going to take more pressure and vocal residents to keep VDOT and local officials on task for providing the necessary improvements. Nearly a year after metro began operations in Tysons there remain some pedestrian deserts that could be fixed with more attention from planners and officials.
