Wednesday, April 23, 2014
VDOT Six Year Improvement Program hearings Thursday evening
Northern Virginia District
Thursday, April 24, 2014, 6pm
VDOT Northern Virginia District Office
4975 Alliance Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
Labels: commonwealth transportation board, six year plan, vdot
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
VDOT Six Year Plan public hearing is tonight
VDOT is holding a public hearing tonight starting at 6 p.m. at VDOT headquarters to take comments on the Six Year Improvement Program. The program includes road, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian projects in the Northern Virginia District. Search the online database to see a list of all projects in Fairfax County. You can also narrow the search using keywords.
We urge cyclists to attend the meeting to learn about bicycle projects that are included in the plan, and to speak out in favor of dedicated funding for bicycle projects in Fairfax. The Fairfax County Bicycle Master Plan was recently completed and funds are needed to implement the many recommendations included in the plan, most of which are located on VDOT-controlled roads.
Details about the meeting:
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
VDOT Northern Virginia District Office
4975 Alliance Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
6 - 7 p.m. – Open house displays and general discussion
7 p.m. – Moderated public meeting
We plan to also make comments about specific projects on the list:VDOT Northern Virginia District Office
4975 Alliance Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
6 - 7 p.m. – Open house displays and general discussion
7 p.m. – Moderated public meeting
- Connect ped/bike facilities on the HOT lanes bridges to nearby bicycle and pedestrian routes. The safety of the at-grade crossings on these bridges needs to be improved. (104005)
- Strongly support the Tysons and Reston projects that improve pedestrian and bicycle access to Silver Line stations. For Tysons, Reston, and all other transit-oriented, mixed use areas to be successful residents and employees need multiple transportation options. Bicycles provide one of the best first and last mile solutions. (100469, 100470)
- Expedite RMAG bicycle and pedestrian improvements to more closely align them with station opening. Ensure that any road improvements do not have a negative impact on bicycle and pedestrian access. (100470)
- Support grade-separated bicycle and pedestrian crossings of the Dulles Toll Road as part of the Route 7 bridge project. The crossing is a critical non-motorized link for connecting residents to the new Spring Hill Metro station. (82135)
Labels: six year plan, vdot
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
VDOT Six Year Improvement Program hearing on Wed.
To see the list of projects included in the program, visit the online Six Year Improvement Program searchable database. Cyclists are encouraged to attend the hearing and speak out about the importance of bicycle projects.
Labels: six year plan, vdot
Friday, May 3, 2013
A look at the Commonwealth Transportation Board members
The 17-member Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) is appointed by the governor. They set the "administrative policies for Virginia's transportation system. The CTB allocates highway funding to specific projects, locates routes and provides funding for airports, seaports and public transportation. When FABB ask for funding from VDOT for bicycle projects, those hearings are held before the CTB. The CTB updates the VDOT Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP) every year. "The CTB allocates funds for the first fiscal year of the SYIP but the remaining five years are estimates of future allocations." See a summary of this decision-making process in the first part of this presentation.The Tysons Corner recently published "Commonwealth Transportation Board: Who Are They?" a look at the members of the Board:
The CTB is similar to a board of directors for a college, possessing no ability to enact policy or make final budget decisions, but capable of guiding the conversation, acting as go-betweens in the process from public need to master plan to construction. At least that is the intended purpose.
Over the past decade there has been growing discontent from the public that transportation needs are not being adequately met. Some projects which face local opposition are strong armed through politically, while others that enjoy near universal approval (such as a comprehensive plan for the Safe Routes to School project) are ignored or otherwise unfunded.
So who are these appointed members who are meant to make our transportation network work better? And why is Virginia’s transportation network, specifically Northern Virginia’s, continuously ranked below average or near the bottom even though our spending per capita on transportation (at approximately $4 billion per year) is consistently at the top.
Gary Garczynsky
Mr. Garczynsky isn’t just from the home building and real estate industry, he’s a hall of famer. As Northern Virginia’s representative on the CTB he has been silent on popular small scale transit solutions such as Light Rail in Arlington, bus route expansion, or urban development. That might be because when you develop over 6000 houses and serve as president of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association AND president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia, you often find yourself out pushing the fringes of the existing development zones. Which might explain why he is such a vocal proponent of the Outer Beltway, a project that will benefit less than 0.3% of the Northern Virginia population, while using up over $1 billion dollars of much needed funds. The project will come very close to his offices in Woodbridge (a town on the cross roads of the Prince William Parkway and I-95).
Gary Garczynsky
Mr. Garczynsky isn’t just from the home building and real estate industry, he’s a hall of famer. As Northern Virginia’s representative on the CTB he has been silent on popular small scale transit solutions such as Light Rail in Arlington, bus route expansion, or urban development. That might be because when you develop over 6000 houses and serve as president of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association AND president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia, you often find yourself out pushing the fringes of the existing development zones. Which might explain why he is such a vocal proponent of the Outer Beltway, a project that will benefit less than 0.3% of the Northern Virginia population, while using up over $1 billion dollars of much needed funds. The project will come very close to his offices in Woodbridge (a town on the cross roads of the Prince William Parkway and I-95).Labels: commonwealth transportation board, six year plan, vdot
Friday, November 9, 2012
VDOT Six-Year Improvement Program public hearing on Tues. Nov 13
This is an opportunity to let the CTB know that bicycling is an important part of Virginia's transportation system. Accommodations for bicyclists should be included in all VDOT projects. When new projects are planned, they should not make conditions worse for bicyclists.
VDOT has a policy for integration bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. Most new road projects in Fairfax include some bicycle accommodations. However, most large road projects have a negative impact on bicycling and walking. It's important that cyclists speak out in favor of creating a bicycle-friendly Fairfax.
See the Six Year Improvement Program database to find projects in Fairfax.
On that same night is the Transit Network Study public meeting in Vienna. A second meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Springfield.
Labels: commonwealth transportation board, six year plan, vdot
Monday, October 29, 2012
VDOT and Vienna Trans. Comm. meetings postponed
The VDOT Six Year Program meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 6pm is postponed to a date TBD. See the VDOT website for new dates (as soon as they are determined).The Vienna Transportation Safety Commission public meeting on W&OD Trail Safety that was also scheduled on Tuesday is postponed as well, date TBD. We will post the new date on this blog and on the FABB Events page.
Labels: six year plan, town of vienna, vdot, W and OD Trail
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Virginia Transportation Plan public hearing wrap-up
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| Fionnuala Quinn testifies before CTB |
More than half of the speakers wanted better bicycle, pedestrian, and transit solutions. Roger Deitrick and David Dixon of the Sierra Club testified as did Fionnuala Quinn and myself from FABB, Pat Turner of BikeLoudoun, and Jenifer Madden of the Tysons Metrorail Station Access Management team. Chairman Bulova, Supervisor McKay and several other speakers stressed the need to fund Tysons access projects, including those in the Tysons Bicycle Master Plan.
Folks from the car lobby once again advocated for the sprawl-inducing outer beltway. With our current system badly in need of maintenance funds they and their developer supporters want to build a new north south highway to feed new development in Loudoun County. Carol Welty of the Washington Airports Task Force even advocated for a 6-8 lane freeway circling Dulles airport. Bob Chase of Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance has been the biggest booster of the outer beltway, including a new crossing of the Potomac into Montgomery Co.
See our complete testimony on the Six-Year Improvement Program.
See also Greater Greater Washington's excellent summary of the CTB's reversal of having connected neighborhood streets that was the subject several speaker's comments last night: Virginia turns back toward the 1950s by weakening road connection standards, neglecting populated areas.
Update: See coverage of the meeting in Vienna Patch: NOVA Weighs In On Allocation of VDOT Transportation Funds.
Labels: commonwealth transportation board, six year plan, Tysons, vdot
Monday, October 24, 2011
VDOT Multimodal Transportation Investments hearing
This is a chance to tell the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) how you think they should be spending our transportation dollars. The car lobby will be there to promote spending more money on the "I-66 corridor (inside and outside the Beltway), the Bi-County and Tri-County Parkways, [widening] Routes 1, 7, 9 and 15, as well as new Potomac River bridges."
We'll be asking for more funds to improve bike conditions in Northern Virginia, including funding the recommendations of the Tysons Bicycle Master Plan, improved maintenance, implementing the Bicycle Policy Plan, and providing bike facilities on major roads that cyclists are forced to use since our neighborhoods don't connect. It would be good for the CTB to hear from some new voices. If you can't attend the meeting, you can send comments to Six-YearProgram@VDOT.Virginia.Gov. You can see all Fairfax projects in the plan by visiting the Six-Year Plan database, selecting District: Northern Virginia and Jurisdiction: Fairfax County.
Labels: commonwealth transportation board, six year plan, vdot
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
VDOT Six-Year Plan public hearing tonight
The Commonwealth Transportation Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP or Six-Year Plan) tonight, Wednesday, May 4 at the new VDOT District Office, Potomac Conference Center, 4975 Alliance Drive, Suite 1N201, Fairfax, VA 22030 starting at 7 p.m. This is a chance for cyclists to ask for better bicycle facilities in Northern Virginia.There is bike parking at the new VDOT location. Unfortunately it's a large wave rack located across the road from the main building. (Does anyone else think the bike community should start a campaign to get ride of wave racks? Capacity is always overstated, there's only one contact point with the bike, and they are awkward to use.)
Below are draft FABB comments on the plan that we will present tonight. If you would like to make comments send them to six-yearprogram@vdot.virginia.gov.
SIX-YEAR IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM COMMENTS
Bruce Wright, Chairman, Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling
May 4, 2011
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Six Year Plan. We all know that maintenance of our roads and trails continues to be a problem. It's embarrassing how poorly our roads are maintained, with crumbling pavement and unswept debris that is a hazard to motorists and bicyclists, and vegetation blocking sight distance in many places. Bicyclists are affected more than most road users by these unsafe road hazards. When we hit a pothole, crack in the pavement, or debris we suffer much greater consequences than a motorist in a heavy vehicle.
The FFX Co Parkway trail has never been repaved. It has grass growing in cracks and has no wayfinding signage in several places where the trail diverges from the parkway. Our group has asked that the trail be signed for the past 5 years without success.
VDOT’s number one priority should be to repair and maintain our existing roads and trails. Maintenance crews are not to blame; they are likely just as frustrated as the rest of us. They need adequate funds to get their job done.
In many areas, VDOT is not adhering to their bike/ped policy which states that bike lanes and paved shoulders will be repaired, replaced and cleared of debris and snow and ice. It also states that shared use paths in the department right-of-way will be maintained through replacement and repair. We need a better plan to fix the billion+ in structurally deficient pavement on our roads and trails.
Crash mitigation is another way to reduce congestion without building more capacity. According to AAA, “Forty to 50 percent of all nonrecurring congestion is associated with traffic incidents.” This should be obvious after listening to morning traffic reports on congestion and crashes in our area. From my reading of the SYIP, only $3M is devoted to this work in all of VA in FY2012, and nothing in FY13-17. We need to do a better job of mitigating these crashes by devoting appropriate resources to reduce their impact on congestion.
We also hope that you will fully fund multi-modal access improvements in the Tysons area (Tysons Metrorail Access Improvement project (UPC 100469). In the SYIP only $19M of the requested $56M is being funded through 2017. Only $4M of the needed $14M for preliminary engineering in 2012 will be funded even though the Silver line Metro stations will open in 2013. In order for Metrorail to be successful, access to the stations needs to be improved for all modes. The county now has a plan for future bike facilities in Tysons and these facilities should be funded before the stations open.
We agree with Governor McDonnell who said “Virginians must begin a fundamental shift in the way we travel to take greater advantage of the transportation options available to us today.” We do need better options, and bicycle facilities are an inexpensive, sustainable way to provide some of those options.
And finally, to repeat comments from last year, it's time VDOT hired a bike coordinator and finalized the State Bicycle Policy Plan. It's inexcusable that the coordinator position has been vacant for nearly a year and a half.
Labels: six year plan, vdot
Thursday, April 28, 2011
VDOT Six-Year Plan public hearing May 4
The Commonwealth Transportation Board will hold a public hearing on the proposed Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP or Six-Year Plan). The meeting is Wednesday, May 4 at the new VDOT District Office, Potomac Conference Center, 4975 Alliance Drive, Suite 1N201, Fairfax, VA 22030 starting at 7 p.m. This is a chance for cyclists to ask for better bicycle facilities in Northern Virginia.Maintenance of our roads and trails continues to be a problem. It's embarrassing how poorly our roads are maintained, with crumbling pavement and unswept debris that is a hazard to motorists and bicyclists, and vegetation blocking sight distance in many places. The FFX Co Parkway trail has never been repaved. It has grass growing in cracks and has no wayfinding signage in several places where the trail diverges from the parkway. We shouldn't be widening roads and building new infrastructure unless we can repair our existing roads and trails.
According to the VDOP bike/ped policy:
Maintenance of bike lanes and paved shoulders will include repair, replacement, and clearance of debris. As these facilities are an integral part of the pavement structure, snow and ice control will be performed on these facilities.
For sidewalks, shared use paths, and bicycle paths built within department right-of-way, built to department standards, and accepted for maintenance, VDOT will maintain these bicycle and pedestrian accommodations through replacement and repair.
VDOT also needs to fully fund bicycle improvements in the Tysons area (Tysons Metrorail Access Improvement project (UPC 100469)). In the SYIP only $19M of the requested $56M is being funded through 2017. Only $4M of the needed $14M for preliminary engineering in 2012 will be funded even though the Silver line Metro stations will open in 2013. In order for Metrorail to be successful, access to the stations needs to be improved for all modes. The county now has a plan for future bike facilities in Tysons and these should be funded before the stations open.For sidewalks, shared use paths, and bicycle paths built within department right-of-way, built to department standards, and accepted for maintenance, VDOT will maintain these bicycle and pedestrian accommodations through replacement and repair.
It's also time VDOT hired a bike coordinator and finalized the State Bicycle Policy Plan. It's inexcusable that the coordinator position has been vacant for nearly a year and a half.
If you cannot attend the public hearing, please provide comments at: six-yearprogram@vdot.virginia.gov. See the public meeting schedule.
Labels: six year plan, vdot
