FABB Blog

 

Interactive map of Fairfax County transportation projects

Fairfax County just released a new interactive map tool that shows the locations of funded and unfunded transportation projects. With passage of the new state transportation bill HB2313, Fairfax County has $1.255 billion to spend on new local and regional transportation projects. No maintenance funds were included, so no trail maintenance can be done using the funds.

The list of the projects shown on the interactive maps, unfunded and funded transportation projects, including bicycle and pedestrian projects, was released in September. The unfunded project list will be used for deciding how to spend that $1.3 billion thru FY2020.

We're evaluating the lists to determine what bike projects are included. We want to compare those projects identified during the bicycle master plan process with the unfunded project list. It's not easy. The initial unfunded list that was released last month lumps bicycle and pedestrian projects together with very little descriptive information. A narrow concrete sidewalk is very different from a 8-10 foot asphalt trail, and yet it's impossible to distinguish between the two in most cases.

An updated list was released yesterday at the Hunter Mill Transportation Advisory Committee meeting. That list is not yet available online. It contains more descriptive information about each project that in most cases identifies it as either pedestrian or bicycle. However, the projects are still all labeled as Pedestrian/Bicycle. We've asked that sidewalks be labelled Pedestrian, that trails be labelled Pedestrian/Bicycle, and bike lanes and other bike-specific projects be labeled Bicycle. It's not clear whether the list will be changed.

As part of the Countywide Dialogue on Transportation, four public meetings are planned to allow residents to weigh in on the project lists. You're encouraged to attend the meetings and speak out for funding of bike projects. If an important project is not included on the list, ask that it be added (and please tell us about it as well). We'll post more info before the first meeting.

Here is the list of meetings:

Labels: countywide dialogue on transportation

posted by Bruce Wright at 3:21 PM permalink