NE Vienna Traffic Problems in the News.
Old Courthouse Road Residents Debate Calming Measures
by BRIAN TROMPETER
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Vienna resident Morgan Hanzlik remembers the day one of her children accidently let a basketball roll onto Old Courthouse Road.She and her son were preparing to retrieve the ball when a silver minivan zoomed by and flattened it.
The driver “never hit the brakes,” Hanzlik said. “She didn't even see [the ball]. It was totally a learning lesson for our family.”
Northeast Vienna residents, upset by vehicle accidents and speeding in their cut-through neighborhoods, pressed local officials on Sept. 30 for traffic-calming measures on Old Courthouse and Creek Crossing roads.
Cris Janoski, a committee leader with Citizens for Traffic Calming on Old Courthouse Road, said the community is united in its desire to make that street and Creek Crossing Road safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
The neighborhood has seen much population turnover in recent years, its older residents being replaced by families with children, she said.
Traffic on Old Courthouse Road has gone up about fourfold since Edson Leigh Tennyson conducted a traffic study in Vienna in the mid-1990s, Janoski said. The street has had 13 accidents since August 2007, including two in the town of Vienna, she said.
Traffic volume on the street also was boosted when Old Courthouse Road was designated a detour during the recent Beulah Road reconstruction project, neighborhood residents said. Drivers came to appreciate Old Courthouse Road and continue to use it, despite Beulah Road's reopening, they said.One northeast Vienna resident said drivers seem to have adapted to previous traffic-calming measures.
“The speed bumps helped in the beginning,” the man said, “but now they go over them faster and faster and faster.”
Some neighbors said Creek Crossing Road's popularity as a commuter route makes it nearly impossible to get out of their driveways.
Don Ostrander, a traffic engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), told the residents that agency officials review police reports regarding road safety and take monthly field trips with Fairfax County police.
Traffic volume on Old Courthouse Road tends to increase from west to east, Ostrander said. The road's generous width - up to 47 feet in some places - provides drivers with “an opportunity to do some things,” he said.
VDOT officials require nearby neighbors to sign off before placing physical obstacles such as speed humps in front of their houses, Ostrander said. Agency officials would like to narrow the street's width by painting parking areas along some sections of the road, he said.
William Harrell, director of Fairfax County's Residential Traffic Administration Program, told residents that county officials do not like to install blinking school signs on streets that already have posted speed limits of 25 mph.
However, Harrell said painting the speed limit on the road surface was an excellent idea, and that county officials could ask for legislation authorizing additional $200 fines for speeding in those residential areas.
But not everyone agreed with the traffic-calming measures being suggested. Vienna resident Tony Dziepak said he was against additional speed humps and stop signs in those neighborhoods.
“You should be able to use the road at its legally posted speed limit and not be impeded by artificial measures,” he said.
The meeting, held at Westbriar Elementary School, was moderated by Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill), who warned residents that projected budget shortfalls might delay traffic-calming measures in the short term.
“There is not a lot of money on the table right now, but you can plan for what comes forward,” Hudgins said.
Comments
This is the inevitable result of the town channeling so much traffic onto Old Courthouse in an effort to protect other streets. If traffic were allowed to disperse onto more streets it would somewhat improve the traffic on this one street, not to mention, shorten the trip for numerous drivers.
Posted by: anne smith | October 3, 2008 08:41 PM
With 47' you could get two 10.5 to 11' driving lanes, 2 4-5' bike lanes, and two 7-8' parking lanes. If bike lanes are possible, it would help slow down traffic and provide a safer area for bikes traveling from Tysons to Vienna at the same time. The bike lanes might even take some cars off the street.
Posted by: Smart Growth Advocate | October 3, 2008 10:09 PM
So when you people purchased these homes on
Old Courthouse Rd what were you thinking........... "the traffic would stay the same or get better and it was safe for kids to play in the front yard of these homes"?
Did you think the house cost less than others because the sellers were nice?
Now you want to impose those awful bumps on everyone.
I hate them and there tough on cars and cause back-ups to occur, increased airborne emissions, noise and disrupt the flow of traffic.
Well Mayor McSpeedbump doesn’t have a say in Fairfax. Two is all your should get, and let them stay in Vienna.
Posted by: FTTvienna | October 4, 2008 05:10 PM
I agree wtih the comments. Old Courthouse Road is ideal for a bike lane. I would prefer they not go nutty with the speed bumps, but they probably will.
I agree with Tony Dziepak as quoted. The posted speed limit is there. Let the police enforce the posted speed limit. I've never seen a cop on Old Courthouse and I'm on it all the time.
We actually looked at a home on Old Courthouse when we were in the market. Wouldn't buy it for the reason the last poster pointed out: the traffic just isn't going to get any better. I'd expect to lose a lot of soccer balls under the wheels of minivans.
In general, Vienna is getting run down and crummy. People stop loving a place that is nothing but a stopover from other people's homes to their jobs. Vienna is becoming a by-pass and not a town.
I'm still fuming a bit over the suggestion that Windover Avenue doesn't need sidewalks on that other thread. If there is nothing historic about it but a few dying trees, then give people a safe place to walk! And fix the drainage while you are at it. During a good rain, *a river runs through it* and right onto the neighbors.
Posted by: Chick | October 6, 2008 08:32 AM