VDOT to install new bike lanes, crosswalks on key Hybla Valley roads

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) plans to start repaving and restriping Lockheed Boulevard, Fordson Road and several neighboring streets in Hybla Valley in late April, according to a VDOT spokesperson. The restriping will include the addition of standard bike lanes to both Lockheed and Fordson, as well as the installation of a couple new pedestrian crosswalks on Fordson.

The new bike lanes on Lockheed — to be created by narrowing the travel lanes in each direction and expanding a section of pavement near the Huntley Meadows Park entrance — will run from the park to Fordson Road, said VDOT senior communications specialist Mike Murphy. They will be standard bike lanes located adjacent to vehicle travel lanes, except for two segments in front of properties where there will be sharrows — or a shared lane for both bikes and vehicles.

Last spring, at a community meeting held by VDOT and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) on the “2022 Paving Plan and Proposed Striping Modifications,” the agencies had proposed adding bike lanes between Harrison Lane, located near the park entrance, and Richmond Highway. Once the Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit system is up and running, the Route 1 corridor will feature two-way protected bike lanes on both sides of the road.

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Some cycling proponents feel strongly that the new Lockheed bike lanes should extend to Richmond Highway instead of end at Fordson.

The Lockheed bike lanes “should connect with the future cycle tracks that will be put in as part of [Richmond Highway] Embark,” said Jeff Gauger, vice president of the Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB).

FABB, along with a coalition of other organizations like Fairfax Families for Safe Streets, had previously urged FCDOT and VDOT to install protected bike lanes — physically separated from vehicular traffic — along Lockheed Boulevard, but an FCDOT staff member said last April they were not feasible under the repaving and restriping program due to the significant capital investment and construction required.

Two months later, at a supplemental Repaving Information Meeting held for Lee [now Franconia] District in June 2022, FCDOT and VDOT representatives informed attendees that a unique opportunity had arisen to add two more striping modifications for roads under the 2022 Paving Plan. One of them was on Fordson Road. Besides proposing the narrowing of travel lanes in each direction to create standard bike lanes along Fordson, the transportation agencies proposed new pedestrian crosswalks at Cyrene Boulevard and at the McDonald’s entrance across from Mount Vernon Plaza shopping center.

Those bike lanes and crosswalks will be implemented this spring, according to VDOT. Staff members from VDOT have a meeting with Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk’s team March 31 to go over the paving and restriping plans.

VDOT's 2023 paving plan shows several areas around Richmond Highway that are scheduled to be resurfaced. (Credit: VDOT)

As of March 28, VDOT has updated its Northern Virginia Paving Program web page to reflect the 2023 paving season. A glance at the interactive map shows that scheduled paving projects include two separate sections of Richmond Highway between Jeff Todd Way and Belford Drive; part of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway near Grist Mill Park and an adjacent neighborhood; Mount Vernon Highway; Parkers Lane and part of Collingwood Road; roads in the Wellington community; the northern section of Fort Hunt Road; numerous roads in Penn Daw and Jefferson Manor; and part of Lorton Road.