Gallows Road study advances
Fairfax County Department of Transportation planners updated the community on a revised version of the Gallows Road Study on Sept. 17.
FCDOT’s recommended “preferred alternative” is based on easing traffic flow for vehicles. The same number of lanes would be maintained for most sections of the Gallows Road corridor, which extends from Tysons to Annandale.
FCDOT had previously asked for feedback on three alternatives.
The responses from a community survey favored the vehicle-focused alternative. An active-transportation alternative – focusing on walking and biking – came in second, while the transit option was a distant third.
The entire Gallows Road upgrade is expected to take 15 to 20 years to complete, although some short and middle-term improvements could be done sooner.
The southern segment – from I-495 to Columbia Pike plus the section of Annandale Road from Gallows Road to Little River Turnpike – would have narrower travel lanes to make room for wider sidewalks separated from the roadway by buffers.
The widths of travel lanes, buffers, and sidewalks would vary, depending on the amount of space available.
The preferred option for the southern segment of Gallows Road includes these configurations:
- From the beltway to Woodburn Elementary School and Hummer Road to the Gallows Road split – Two travel lanes in each direction.
- From Woodburn ES to Hummer Road – One travel lane in each direction and a turn line in the middle.
- From Brookcrest Place to Thornton Street – The through/left and right configuration would be retained, then would transition to a two-lane road with no turn lanes east of Brookcrest Place. This segment would allow for street parking.
- From Thornton Drive to Columbia Pike – One lane in each direction plus parking on one side of the street.
- Annandale Road from Gallows Road to Little River Turnpike – One travel lane in each direction and a turn lane in the middle.
Proposed short and intermediate-term improvements for the southern segment include new traffic lights at Aston Street and Hemlock Drive and a reduction from four to three lanes between Hemlock Drive and Hummer Road.
The Gallows Road study also calls for a pedestrian/bicyclist bridge over the beltway. After considering six locations, FCDOT narrowed them down to three: just south of Route 50, just north of Route 50, and just north of Route 29.
A final report on the study is expected to come out this fall. The next steps call for changes in the county’s Comprehensive Plan and a search for funding sources.
The lanes on Gallows from the proposed lights at the streets near Woodburn School to Hummer Road would be REDUCED, not narrowed. The proposal is to eliminate one lane, make the middle lane left turn only, and restrict through traffic to one lane in each direction. Likewise, Annandale Road from the Central Business District to Gallows Road would be confined to one through lane. Mailbox postal vans, and buses would continue to stop. Traffic will back up at the chokepoints, likely extending from the beltway exit to Annandale/Hummer Road and into the CBD and Gallows/Columbia Pike. Frustrated motorist will cut through neighborhood streets. This creates unsafe conditions because these adjoining primitive roads have no sidewalks, and are narrow, winding, and many have steep ditches for water drainage. Gallows and Annandale Roads now have sidewalks so they are safer than the surrounding roadways. While wide pedestrian and bike paths are desireable in the abstract, they clearly should not be the priority when vehicular lanes have to be sacrificed. The safety of those who reside on and those who have no choice but walking on the unimproved adjacent roads should be the priority. There are a number of reasons related to demographics and topography of this particular neighborhood that account for the fact that current bike lanes are not utilized. What makes sense for other segments of Gallows Road from Tysons to Route 50 should not be imposed in the older residential Annandale section where there is insufficient right-of-way. This is not being advocated to improve the lives of residents. Rather, it is an experiment with the dubious theory that people will abandon cars and instead bike and walk if only they had 8 foot wide landscapped paths.
As a driver, I like the preferred alternative because it makes my commute easier, while making neighborhoods more livable – by adding left turn lanes, medians, and adequate sidewalks.
Gallows is a dangerous road cutting right through the heart of neighborhoods and the Woodburn Elementary attendance area.
There should be turn lanes and traffic signals at this school. They will improve traffic as well as student safety.
You insinuate that Annandale residents don’t need pedestrian or bicycle facilities because of “demographics.” Can you please explain your thinking, Susan?
I don’t like the reduction of lanes on Annandale Road from Gallows Road to Little River Turnpike.
The ‘Preferred Alternative’ road diet on the Southern Segment between Woodburn School and the Hummer Rd intersection needs to be scrapped. The current traffic volume on Gallows Rd between Hummer and Woodburn Elementary simply cannot be squeezed into single thru lanes in each direction without huge backups. The single shared turn lane will become a de facto passing lane for each direction, with NB and SB cars essentially playing chicken with each other. And during rush hour, cars will be ditching into residential areas to shortcut the mainline volume, regardless of whatever unenforced signage gets posted to discourage this practice.
The presenters told us they could “test” the one lane configuration between Woodburn Elementary and Hummer by putting in temporary traffic flow. I disagree completely that this portion of the road should be one lane in each way with the turning lane. Please test it out before you decide to do it as a permanent measure. I think you will find the traffic back up will be intolerable and will be right at the elementary school
The voters elected the Board of Supervisors that the county government works for. That means each of you that dislike these options should reach out to your neighbors and together let the Mason Supervisor know. Otherwise, sit down, be quiet, and do as your told because that is what government and elected officials expect you to do (regardless of party). Otherwise go vote for a change.
Please do NOT make changes that will make traffic WORSE on Gallows and Annandale roads.
Great on sidewalks and buffer. I’m against anything that cuts down the number of available straight driving lanes. Traffic in this area is already tough and, with some changes anticipated in the future, it is likely only to get worse.
It’s tough enough now to get onto Gallows Road from one of the side streets especially if you need to make a left turn. Reducing the # of lanes on Gallows means a denser flow in the one lane. Just can’t imagine the full impact these revisions will have on the surrounding accessibility. Has this factor even been considered in the design of this effort?
In our Southern Segment neighborhood, the pro-road diet forces argue that the decreased lane widths and dedicated center turn lane might actually facilitate safer entry onto Gallows. I suppose the theory is that you’ll only have to cross a single thru lane (vice two lanes currently), then if your destination entry lane is traffic burdened, you’ll be able to ditch into the center turn lane and, I presume, use this lane to merge into your destination lane. Of course, you’ll have to look out for (1) legitimate left-turn traffic using the same center turn lane for its intended purpose, and (2) impatient drivers using the center turn lane to leapfrog the increased traffic density in their own NB and SB travel lanes. I mean, what could possibly go wrong in this scenario?
Plus, in addition to the current less-than-stellar sightlines for neighborhood traffic to navigate at their Gallows Rd crossings, we’ll be blessed with the addition of trees comprising the “Planted Buffer” in the current Southern Segment Preferred Plan. And on the west side of Gallows, you get to look through both the planted buffer as well as the wider sidewalks (for peds and bicycles on that side) before you can proceed to enter onto Gallows.
Sounds like they are only thinking about aesthetics instead of traffic congestion. Traffic is already bad enough on Gallows Road, taking away a lane in each direction is only going to make things worse. I do believe that a traffic light at Ashton would make it a lot safer for students to cross the street to and from the elementary school, it would also be more of a speeding deterrent than the flashing speed limit signs.
Yay, better facilities for bikes, scooters, pedestrians, school
I am in favor of anything that adds /supports sidewalks and bike lanes – these should be encouraged in almost all places . That said, the traffic lanes for cars should not be cut – there needs to be a way to support both those who are NOT protected by 2 tons of metal as well as to support traffic flow for those in vehicles – – Aesthetic considerations in this case should not dominate any decision in this area
I’m an absolute “Yes!” to protecting pedestrians with extremely well-marked crosswalks, but there is no way at all that we should have narrower roads! As Susan Jollie points out, the backups will not be restricted to Gallows and Annandale; they will affect almost all the adjacent thoroughfares, including residential streets as people try to get around the inevitable backups. We’re not talking about slowing traffic down–we’re looking at rush-hour stand-stills.
David, Gallows Road doesn’t “cut through” anything. It’s one of the oldest roads in the area, dating back to at least the 1840s. It’s one of the reasons we’re here in the first place! How foolish to fiddle with it when the people who use it every day (in my case, for decades) say “No.”
“The entire Gallows Road upgrade is expected to take 15 to 20 years to complete”, seriously? The mixing bowl took 8 years and that had actual engineering challenges to compete with. As far as the changes themselves, I can see where some are needed, others I am skeptical about. So I don’t want to get into that, but the timeline here is highly questionable. The most important change is essentially line painting, and can be done in less than a year.
This is a Horrible idea!
Traffic already gets backed up between the 495 bridge and Hummer Rd during peak travel times.
There are already sidewalks in place and rarely are there anyone walking on them.
The smarter thing to do would be put a traffic light at the intersection were the Elementary school is.
And put the lane separators like they use on the 495 express lanes down several sections of Gallows to force people making left turns into the neighborhood to only be able to do it where it is safe.
The smarter thing w
Gallows Rd between Woodburn and 495 road is already very congested and backed-up at commuting hours. It doesn’t make sense to me to lose a lane and make things that much worse.
The area between Brookcrest and Thornton has a similar problem, backing up from the light at Columbia Pike during rush hour.
I am very supportive of whatever can be done to accommodate pedestrian sidewalks and bike lanes.
I do not support reducing lanes in Gallow Roads between the Beltway and Annandale/Hummer. There is a lot of traffic and congestion as it is now. Adding bicycles lanes is not necessary hardly see bicycles on the area. A big choke point is at the intersection of Gallows for drivers to get into the Beltway and another at intersection of Gallows and Annandale/Hummer Road. The side walk in Gallows is sufficient however if people or county keep the grass cut ir remove tree limbs it helps to walk on the side walk.
Reducing lanes to make sidewalks wider when they are already wide enough for two people is ridiculous. Making pedestrian crosswalks better is a good idea. The BoS pretends to listen to people and then does what it wants to. I looked at their survey. The first question only gave their five choices and asked you to prioritize them. You could not get past that question to see if there was anywhere that you could actually speak against the proposal. Again, only lip service is given to oppostion.
1) Wayne dr needs a stoplight since there is also a school down that road…it can be synced with the light at gallows/Annandale split to prevent additional delays. It’s almost impossible to turn left during rush hour….idk how the busses do it.
2) The right turn lane onto 495 needs to be extended – this is what contributes to a lot of the backup in the mornings. They should get rid of the tiny little turn lane and just make the right lane a right turn only. We also need a green right arrow when the 495 traffic is coming onto gallows…no one ever goes straight across so just make it a left only option so we can keep traffic flowing. This has always seemed so obvious to me and such an easy/cheap fix….
I don’t like the idea of losing travel lanes but in the spirit of compromising I think one lane from the gallows split to LRT could be doable. But reducing lanes from hummer to 495 should definitely be avoided. The lights at Aston and Woodburn are a good idea but they need to be synced….
The road diet initiative between LRT and the Gallows Rd. split was proposed (https://annandaletoday.com/road-diet-proposed-for-annandale-road/), public opinion appears to approve the concept (https://engage.fairfaxcounty.gov/w31622), and repaving (https://annandaletoday.com/vdot-announces-repaving-plans/) is now occurring on this stretch. I suppose we’ll see, in very short order, if the road diet gets implemented when the lane markings show up.
Please don’t reduce the number of traffic lanes between Columbia Pike and the 495 entrance. Gallows Road is already backed up in the morning with school buses, Metro buses and commuters going to the beltway or Tysons. Gallows Road is also inundated in the mid to late afternoon as those same buses and commuters drop off and return home. As it is, Lincolnshire street is a major cut through from both Gallows & Annandale Roads with speeders who narrowly miss the young children who ride their bikes in the streets due to lack of sidewalks. The sidewalks where they exist are wide enough. As it is, making a left hand turn onto Gallows Road from the Holmes Run pool is already a diffiucult challenge in the summer. The lights at the Hummer/ Gallows/ Annandale intersection and the 495 intersection are not coordinated and taking a left turn from the side streets onto Gallows can be a very long wait and often risky.
Please stop with the supposed “improvements”