A ‘road diet’ would make Annandale Road safer, FCDOT says
Reconfiguring Annandale Road to reduce the number of travel lanes and add bike lanes will lead to reduced speeding, fewer crashes, and a more comfortable experience for pedestrians and bicyclists, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation reports.
Transportation planner Hannah Cacner explained FCDOT’s proposal for a “road diet” between Little River Turnpike and Gallows Road at virtual community meeting on Sept. 23.
Under that plan, the four travel lanes on that section of Annandale Road would be reduced to three. There would be one lane in each direction, a center turn lane, and bike lanes in both directions.
If Mason Supervisor Andres Jimenez gives the project a green light, the restriping would be done in conjunction with VDOT’s annual repaving program in summer 2025.
The seven people who commented on the proposal at the meeting all said they supported it. Several people called for more bike lanes on other roads in Annandale.
Annandale Road is a hotspot for accidents. In 2022, a pedestrian was killed by a hit-and-run driver in the 4200 block.
According to FCDOT, adding left-turn lanes would reduce three types of crashes:
- rear-end crashes, by providing a safe space to wait for a gap to turn
- angled crashes, as drivers turn across one lane instead of two, and
- side-swipe crashes, by eliminating passing around stropped left-turning drivers.
Related story: ‘Road diet’ proposed for Annandale Road
The bike lanes would reduce traffic stress for bicyclists and encourage more people to bike, Cacner said. Those lanes would connect to bike lanes on Ravensworth Road, Gallows Road, Maple Place, and Markham Street and improve connections among residential areas, central Annandale, and local parks.
Adding bike lanes would extend the distance between the sidewalk and vehicles from three feet to 8-10 feet, Cacner said, which would create a buffer for pedestrians.
FCDOT reports traffic actually declined on Annandale Road in recent years – from an average of 16,000 cars per day in 2019 to 13,850 in 2022.
Pedestrians crossing the street would be able to stop in the middle of the road to wait for a gap in traffic. Pedestrian refuge islands and additional crosswalks could be added in the future but are not part of the road diet proposal.
A traffic study showed that a road diet would add a slight traffic delay at key intersections.
At the Annandale Road/Markham Street intersection, there would be a 2.5-second delay during the morning peak hour and a 4.8-second delay at the p.m. peak hour.
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The delay at the Annandale Road/Maple Place intersection would be 0.8 seconds during the a.m. peak hour and 1.5 seconds at the p.m. peak hour.
Traffic delays at the Little River Turnpike/Annandale Road intersection would increase by 1 second during the morning and 2.4 seconds during the evening rush.
At the Annandale Road/Annanwood Court intersection, one southbound travel lane would become a left-turn lane.
That would lead to a decreased delay for all lanes at that intersection – 5.6 seconds during the a.m. peak hour and 8.6 seconds during the p.m. peak hour.
Whenever FCDOT comes up with a plan to make roads more accessible for pedestrians and bicyclists, “we get feedback from people who say they never see anyone walking or biking on that road,” Cacner said. “The hope is that, by making the road safer and more comfortable, people would be encouraged to walk or bike.”
FCDOT is accepting comments on the road diet proposal through Oct. 11. Submit feedback here.
Sure, put bike lanes where no one uses them. I never see people biking on the section of Annandale road that goes to 50. I drive it multiple times a week, different times of day. Just going to causing more traffic. They don’t use them in Arlington where I grew up and it just created even more traffic. Pointless and wasted our tax paying money.
How about FCDOT trimming bushes obstructing corner turn sight lines throughout the county instead of this nonsense. How about fixing pot holes…How about …well…you get the point….Fairfax government getting more useless everyday…
Whenever FCDOT comes up with a plan to make roads more accessible for pedestrians and bicyclists, “we get feedback from people who say they never see anyone walking or biking on that road,” Cacner said. — The reason that we say it is that we look at all the other roads that have been changed, and we don’t see that many bikes on them (because they are not there). I know the BoS hopes against hope that one day we will all bike everywhere, but that is not going to happen.
This stupid idea is supposed to cut down speeds. Of course it will. If you narrowed the road to just over the width of a car, it would cut down speeds also. What it will do is make rush hour and some other hours a nightmare. Telling us that we will only be impact drivers one second is the most ridiculous and outlandish statement that I have read in years.