At a June 10 meeting of the Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Executive Committee, Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) officials presented the findings from their public survey on potential design modifications to the future BRT system.
The survey, conducted from May 3-31, 2022, was designed to get community feedback on FCDOT’s recommendations for potential turn lane reductions at 13 intersections along Richmond Highway. The recommendations had been presented to community members at a public meeting at the Community Center in Lee District on May 3.
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According to FCDOT’s survey findings, a total of 430 survey responses were submitted by community members, with approximately 200 to 250 people responding to each question about specific intersections. By far the most survey respondents (126) were from the 22306 zip code, while no responses were reported from the 22060 (Fort Belvoir) zip code.
For each potential intersection change mentioned in the survey, respondents were asked if they agreed, didn’t agree or had no opinion about FCDOT’s original recommendation, as well as if they wanted to provide comments. FCDOT said they found the survey responses generally supported the staff’s recommendations.
One of the survey questions that elicited a more divided response was regarding the potential removal of the dedicated right turn lane along northbound Richmond Highway at Beacon Hill Road. While 49% of the 252 respondents agreed with FCDOT’s recommendation to proceed with removal, 41% did not.
In the end, a resolution adopted by the BRT Executive Committee supported the northbound right turn lane’s removal. The resolution noted, however, that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is still evaluating the intersection of southbound Richmond Highway at Beacon Hill and that VDOT will return to the Executive Committee with its final findings. Originally, FCDOT had recommended against removing the right turn lane at that intersection.
The June 10 resolution adopted by the BRT Executive Committee officially enables FCDOT to move forward with updating a dozen intersection designs in the BRT design plan.
FCDOT expects its BRT project design to be 90% complete by March 2023.
