Lincolnia task force reviews transportation improvement options

Traffic on N. Beauregard Street near Little River Turnpike.

The community task force charged with making recommendations on the redevelopment of Lincolnia has called for Fairfax County planners to study two alternatives for improving traffic flow around the intersection of N. Beauregard Street and Little River Turnpike.

Traffic congestion is one of the major impediments to the revitalization of Lincolnia. As a result, a transportation plan will be a key part of the proposed amendment to the Lincolnia section of the county’s Comprehensive Plan.

The Lincolnia Planning District Study Task Force, made up of residents and property owners, has been working for more than a year on recommendations to guide county planners. In March, the Board of Supervisors approved a recommendation by the task force to designate the area centering on the N. Beauregard Street and Little River Turnpike intersection as a “community business center” (CBC), which would encourage mixed-use development in a coordinated way.

At the task force’s June 12 meeting, the group reviewed five alternatives for better controlling traffic around that intersection presented by Leonard Wolfenstein of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT).

The task force came to a consensus calling for the county to conduct a further study analyzing the feasibility, pros, and cons of these two options:

Alternative 1: Full grid – Oasis extension as two-lane street – A new two-lane road would connect N. Beauregard Street to Oasis Drive through the Plaza at Landmark. There would be a new street grid on both sides of Little River Turnpike. The curved section of N. Beauregard behind Total Wine would be eliminated. Lincolnia Road would be fully connected behind the shopping center.

Alternative 3: Full grid – Oasis extension with one-way pairs – A new road connecting N. Beauregard to Oasis would be one way northbound. N. Beauregard would be one way southbound. The curve at N. Beauregard and Lincolnia would be removed, along with the Lincolnia slip ramp. There would also be a new street grid on both sides of Little River Turnpike.

A preliminary assessment by FCDOT found both options would be costly and disruptive, Wolfstein said.

Alternative 1 would not do much to control traffic, he said, but it would improve connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists, improve access to bus stops, and would fit within the objectives established for revitalizing the Lincolnia CBC.

Alternative 3 would improve traffic operations and pedestrian and bicycle access but only have a fair impact on bus access and advancing the objectives for revitalization. The one-way streets and heavy right/left turn movements would impede pedestrians at intersections.

The FCDOT analysis could further refine those alternatives as it carried out the study.

The owner of Landmark Plaza brought an architect to the task force meeting to present several designs on how a new grid of streets on the property could work if the shopping center is redeveloped as a town center with a mix of residential and commercial uses.

None of these changes is imminent. Task force chair Daren Shumate said the traffic improvements are at least five years away, and the redevelopment of Landmark Plaza is a 10 to 15-year plan.