County holds first meetings on BRT, says early feedback on project is key

(Fairfax County image)

Bus Rapid Transit is an integral part of Fairfax County’s vision for the future of Richmond Highway, as laid out in the Embark Richmond Highway plan. But like much of the ambitious plan to reshape the Route 1 corridor, it won’t be built overnight. 

So while the first phase of construction is years away, the wheels of the BRT project are already in motion, and county transportation officials held two community meetings this week to give an update on the project and ask for feedback.

Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay stressed the importance of the BRT linking the Huntington Metro to Fort Belvoir in his opening remarks at Wednesday’s meeting at Mount Vernon High School, and urged the public to stay involved with the project — a sentiment echoed by county staff throughout the meeting.

“I’ve never worked on a project that wasn’t made better by active public involvement,” said Doug Miller of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT). “What we really are looking for tonight is feedback from you all as to what you think about the project, what’s important.”

Embark and BRT were approved by the board of supervisors last month, but preparation has been going on behind the scenes, including working with the Federal Transportation Administration, county transportation officials said at the meeting. The BRT project is dependent on FTA funding through the New Starts program. The county has not applied for funding from the FTA yet; an environmental impact study and design work will need to be worked out first. The county timeline has those processes being completed at the end of 2019. 

Click to enlarge (Fairfax County image)

The county also applied for funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) in December, ranking the BRT project second among the county’s priorities after the Route 1 widening project. NVTA funding took a big hit this week, however, when the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill to fund Metro by using money previously set aside for transportation projects in Northern Virginia.

BRT is planned to have a total of nine stations, running from the Huntington Metro station to Fort Belvoir. Most of the stops will be in a series of community business centers (CBCs) envisioned by Embark. The CBCs, which will feature high-density, mixed-use developments, will be located in Penn Daw, Beacon Hill/Groveton, Hybla Valley/Gum Springs, South County, and Woodlawn. Buses will run down the center of Route 1 in two lanes, and then cut down North Kings Highway to the Metro station. 

Construction on the project is scheduled to begin in 2023, and will have two phases: One from Huntington to Hybla Valley, and the second from Hybla Valley to Fort Belvoir, which is slated to start in 2025. The entire project is projected to be completed by early 2029.

Community members asked about various topics during the question-and-answer portion of Wednesday’s meeting, including about impacts the system will have on neighborhoods and apartment complexes near the highway, whether parking will be added near the BRT stations, and whether weekend traffic on Route 1 has been factored into how BRT will reduce congestion.

County officials said no parking facilities will be built near the stations, and that officials will study whether zoned parking will be needed on streets near the station. They also said that Saturday traffic has not been looked at yet.

County officials also said that a citizens advisory group (CAG) has been formed, and will meet regularly with planners to give feedback on the project. Those meetings are open to the public, although a schedule has not been announced yet.

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck’s office said the following people would be in the CAG:

• Sonja Caison
• Walter Clarke
• Marcia Crockett
• Earl Flanagan
• Carlos Heard
• Peter Jimenez
• Dick Knapp
• Cathy Ledec
• Bruce Leonard
• Rodney Lusk
• James Migliaccio
• Mary Paden
• Mattie Palmore
• Philip Sun

Some attendees at Wednesday’s meeting  also questioned whether the ridership levels are high enough for BRT, but FCDOT Director Tom Biesiadny noted that the Route 1 corridor already has the highest levels of bus ridership in the county. McKay also said he’s optimistic about ridership levels due to the already high number of people taking the bus on Route 1, and the appeal it will hold for those who might not use the bus now.

“If anywhere you can make BRT work, it’s where you already have the largest captive audience of bus riders in the county,” McKay said. “This is meant to build ridership on the highway, to take on future growth.”

McKay said afterward that his main concerns about the BRT project were related to FTA funding. The unpredictable nature of recent federal government budgets., and the possibility of funding cuts for the FTA, worry him as much as the state’s recent NVTA cuts, if not more.

“This project is going to rely heavily on FTA funding,” McKay said.

Erika Christ contributed to this story.