It’s not the pedestrian solution to walkability most North Tysons residents have been hoping for, but it is a start at least. The Ovation apartment park (and walkway) connecting Park Crest with sidewalks along Westpark Drive is complete and looking pretty good. Benches, water features, a winding path as well as a curved stair case have changed the muddy grass slope into a quiet alcove for residents, even on a rainy day.
Of course it’s not all sunshine and lollipops, the park and walkway point to a more serious concern in Tysons. Even when these projects are completed and meeting their obligations (and in this case exceeding them) for pedestrian connectivity and aesthetics, the state and county are letting residents down by ignoring their own. At the top of this pedestrian improvement, two of the most annoying and longest lasting sidewalk gaps in Tysons.
How County and State officials, who are the only ones who can create improvements in the public roads in these sections, have allowed these gaps to go on now for over a decade after the original construction began at Park Crest is beyond explanation. I understand that putting in a sidewalk to then have it demo’d out by a more substantial project from redevelopment sounds like a waste of money, but on the other hand we are talking about several years passing in the meantime. All of this in a dense neighborhood that the County says they want to be more walkable, and then is astonished when people criticize existing walkability.
This very solid step forward in connectivity is a good start, but without even a semblance of a coherent public sidewalk network to tie into, it will likely go underused and with limited utility.
