Ian's blog

I have been keeping my eyes open about this issue. I even went to the VDOT six year plan hearings at the Fairfax County Building to hear what was being said. I would have stood up and presented my support for improving both bike lanes and side walks over i495 except I was recovering from a cold and I had more or less lost my voice. I did meet Bruce from FAAB who posted an excellent summary of the event. If you have only ever driven along route 7 as it passes over i495 you might not appreciate just what a daunting task it is to either walk or bike across that bridge. For the walkers there is no side walk. if you are lucky the ground is dry and you are not walking in mud but you have to cross two lanes of fast moving cars. For the bikers you have to be 2 lanes out in fast moving traffic to avoid being sucked onto i495. While living in the area I would take the bus the 3 miles to work rather than biking on route 7 over i495. Currently VDOT is looking at creating additional HOT lanes on the beltway, in order to do this need they to rework every bridge and every interchange the HOT lanes pass. So this is a unique opportunity to improve the biking and pedestrian access across those bridges. I just read that McLean Citizens Association has put their support behind the issue and would like to add my support. Tyson Corner is trying to convert itself into a pedestrian friendly zone, but unless they can do something to bridge the major roads in the area Tysons will only ever be a car destination and a metro stop at the mall.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.