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October 02, 2008
NE Vienna Traffic Problems in the News. Comments (4)
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.
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.
Continue reading "NE Vienna Traffic Problems in the News." »
August 09, 2008
Church Street Hubbub. Comments (6)
There was quite an array of ambulances and fire engines at 5:30pm on Church Street. Does anyone know what happened?
July 18, 2008
Could Even A Partial Tunnel Work? Comments (5)
A comment from regular poster, Wyltn, regarding opening up Abbotsford:
Tearing houses down and realigning roads is just the price the town, county and the state have to pay for their mistakes. I am surprised we haven't been offered a better idea other than tunneling under the length of Maple Avenue.
A idea was floated years ago to build a partial tunnel from about Center Street to Park Street. This would create a walking plaza across Maple Avenue near the public library, bike trail and, now, the Town Green. This would definitely solve the Maple Avenue and bike trail mess and improve the safety/sound on the Town Green.
July 07, 2008
Can We Really Call This Traffic Calming if Nothing is Ever Calmed? Comments (53)
How about the "Committee for Never, Ever Implementing One Good Idea to Help Vienna's Traffic."
Here are a few of our ideas:
- Get rid of all "Do Not Enter" signs for town residents. If a Town of Vienna resident wants to drive on Country Club Drive at 4:30pm on Wednesday afternoon, they should absolutely be allowed. This dumbness has gone on long enough.
- Open Abbotsford, at the very least , from Lawyers Road to Route 7. Life would be better for every one.
- Open up Cherry Street by the Community Center to Spring Street - why is this street blocked?
- Make some of the turn lanes in the middle of Maple Avenue islands. People just whiz down the turning lanes for blocks.
- Actually use the police to enforce blocked intersections on Maple Avenue during rush hour. Stop having police just sit at Courthouse/Locust to check for expired stickers.
About UsThe Transportation Safety Commission provides criteria, a program, and a procedure in considering, evaluating, and implementing requests for the installation of traffic calming measures on residential streets in the Town of Vienna. The Town has complete responsibility for traffic management activities for all streets within the Town limits. The five program goals seek to address the following:
1. Enhance and preserve the quality of life and neighborhood livability.
2. Create a safe and attractive street system by enhancing the safety and efficiency of streets within the Town of Vienna.
3. Promote pedestrian, cycle, and transit use.
4. Incorporate the preferences and requirements of the people using the area (residing, working, or playing) along the street or at intersections.
5. Help reduce the negative effects of motor vehicles on the environment.
Objectives include the following:
1. Achieve slower speeds for motor vehicles.
2. Reduce collision frequency and severity.
3. Improve the safety and the perception of safety for non-motorized users of the streets.
4. Reduce cut-through motor vehicle traffic. (HV note: Actually this idea is being challenged by many communities. Keeping all traffic clogged on one main artery is stupid. Eliminating cul-de-sacs and building communities with streets that connect helps keep people on side roads who do not ordinarily need to be stuck on the main drag. i.e. driving to a friend's house across town)
5. Reduce need for police enforcement.
Principles of the plan:
1. Traffic calming planning will be community based and supported, by the Town administration and staff.
2. Traffic calming measures must directly affect driver behavior and improve the safety of all users of the street (e.g., children, elderly, handicapped, pedestrians, and cyclists).
3. Traffic calming measures will be considered when ever petitioned by Town residents as specified in the full Citizen's Guide to Traffic Calming in Vienna (click this link), available here in Adobe Acrobat.
4. Traffic calming measures will be considered on new streets and/or when existing streets are considered for major reconstruction or repair.
June 29, 2008
Aw, Man, the Town is "Disheartened" Comments (2)
HistoricVienna.com is very disheartened to know that the Mayor and Town Council are very disheartened. Do you think Supervisor Hudgins is very disheartened, too?! How will anyone sleep tonight with such heavy hearts. Sigh ....
July 2008 Newsletter: Study Needed on Impact of Tysons Traffic
The Town Council has asked Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a comprehensive traffic study of specific intersections in Vienna that will be affected by the redevelopment of Tysons Corner.
Council is encouraged that money has been identified for this purpose but is very disheartened to know the actual study will not be completed until after the Tysons Land Use Task Force makes its recommendations.
In order for such a massive and dense plan to work, transportation in the surrounding areas must be an integral part of the entire plan. Citizens are encouraged to contact the Board of Supervisors and ask
them to address the impact on Vienna.
June 25, 2008
Vienna's Streets are Deadly. We All Know It and Nothing Is Being Done. Comments (14)
Cars striking pedestrians and bikers are now commonplace in Vienna. Vienna residents must not stand for this blatant disregard of safety. Town of Vienna politicians better start listening. No serious measures are being proposed. Everything is a silly, cosmetic, feel-good stop gap ("More speedbumps! Wheeeeee!")
Bicyclist hit crossing Church StreetVienna - Oakton
Source: Fairfax County Times
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25 2008A car struck a bicyclist trying to cross Church Street, N.E., in Vienna on the morning of June 23. According to Vienna Police, the cyclist was traveling on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail. Traffic in both directions on Church Street had come to a stop where it intersects with the trail, and the cyclist began to cross the street in a crosswalk. A car traveling eastbound on Church Street passed a stopped vehicle on the right side, then struck the cyclist, police said. The bicyclist was thrown from his bike onto the hood of the striking vehicle but was not seriously injured, police said. The driver, Edward Fitzgerald, 43, of Leafcrest Lane in Fairfax, was charged with failure to yield the right of way.
June 18, 2008
Church Street on LSD Comments (2)
Has anyone seen the traffic calming measures now in place on Church Street between East Street and Beulah Road? Can someone take some pictures? It is quite possibly the craziest thing ever done in this Town. It looks like a curvy racetrack for Formula One racing. It is off the wall in terms of function and appearance.
