Seven Corners pedestrian bridge improvements would discourage loitering and vandalism
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| One of the stairwells at the pedestrian bridge in Seven Corners. |
Fairfax County is considering several options for
retrofitting the pedestrian bridge over Arlington Boulevard in Seven Corners to
minimize problems with littering, vandalism, and loitering.
The project would replace the non-structural concrete panels
on the two stairwells with more visually open materials. The objective is to
remove hiding places on the stairwells and thus discourage anti-social
behavior.
Laura Baker, from the Community Revitalization Section of
the county’s Department of Planning and Development, described the project at a
recent meeting of the Bailey’s Crossroads/7 Corners Revitalization Corporation.
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| The stairwell offers plenty of places to hide. |
Three design options are under consideration.
One proposal calls for replacing the concrete panels with mostly open, perforated metal screens manufactured by Hendrick Architectural.
Related story: Litter and human waste mar Route 50 pedestrian bridge
Other options call for replacing the concrete panels with
black safety fencing or with fencing of a different color at each of the three
levels.
The Virginia Department of Transportation owns the
pedestrian bridge, so VDOT would have to approve the design.
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| Examples of screens that could replace the concrete panels. [Hendrick Architectural] |
The project would cost $200,000 to $250,000 and would be
funded from the county’s Public Works and Environmental Services budget.
If the project is approved next month, it could be completed
over the next year or two.
LOL – yeah these new panels will solve all of the problems with having massive projects in the Willston/Patrick Henry apartments. Super smart way to use our budget. We need to level the entire zone and start over.
Put the money towards more policing to root out the MS13 filth that lives in that area.
Ms-13 majority of them are in Woodbridge and Mannases !!! Few roaches here in falls church
Well, they certainly have buried some bodies along the Holmes Run trail. So they are active in the Bailey's area.
The first time I saw that closed in design, I thought that there is no way I would go up and down those stairs at night. Too many places to hide. Guess I was right.
I have walked that bridge, it smells like a urinal riddled with bags of poop. Not sure this bridge was necessary other than building a bridge to Gross's section 8 paradise. Now that Gross is funding Holly Hazard's CNN commercials, one can only expect more hazardous bridges to nowhere ahead.
This isn’t a bridge to nowhere, it connects the residential area of Westover to Seven Corners. Most people don’t like driving when they live a mile from where they’re going. Try walking across 50 without the overpass.
Why couldn't they have just designed and built it right the first time?
Hahaha now this is the perennial question in Fairfax County. They seem legitimately surprised that we are almost at 2 million people. Honestly, we are pushing the limits of our infrastructure due to disinvestment, squandering, and dragging our feet.
We will spend a quarter million on redesigning a 100 foot pedestrian bridge but can't make any financial commitments to actually improving public transportation. Not to mention the pedestrian bridge itself is a product of the shitty, auto-centric planning of Fairfax County. Just a half-baked solution to the compounding problem of mobility here.
Because, like a lot of things in this area, it was likely designed by people who don't live here and/or really don't care. But yes–by all means, let's invite more strangers in to violate/ignore/reinterpret zoning codes and continue trying to over-develop our tiny little town. Let's waste effort and money trying to turn it into something else it can never be instead of accurately assessing what's already here and trying to make THAT better.
Would someone please let the residents have a say, instead of all those closed-door deals and end-runs? Some of us are tired of finding out about the "opportunity" to speak out AFTER the fact.
–kda
I agree with Anonymous 11:54, this Board of Supervisors' revitalization program is to destroy what's there and build as many apartments as possible in a tiny area with no mass transportation. For the 7 Corners/Bailey's Crossroads area they want to destroy it instead of just cleaning it up and making it more attractive. Our county leaders spend all their time pointing fingers at somebody else saying it's their responsibility not mine and nothing gets done. For the pedestrian bridge Penny points her finger at VDOT and the police. The police point their finger at VDOT and nothing gets done. All the problems with the bridge have been documented for years and until it's so bad they can't ignore it only then does the county throw a lot of money at the problem but because nobody follows up other problems will emerge. We need leaders who will take responsibility and follow-through.
And doesn't it say a lot that the person responsible for "all" the revitalization in Annandale is now running the entire Planning & Development Department at the County? She did such a wonderful job here she's gotten this great promotion. And she sits on the GMU Real Estate Board where she gets to schmooze with all the developers whose applications she gets paid to review. Promoting incompetence. And we have Supervisors now whose background is school board in charge of land use… what could go wrong there? But the public NEVER gets a chance to say what they want. This system is backwards. The public should be involved on the front end, not after the decisions have been made as it is now. The Comprehensive Plan should be more robust and followed with actual things that residents want, not what the developers will do.
Your right Anonymous 12:37, the developers run the county government — Barbara Byron is just one of the county officials in their pockets. Whatever developers want they get. The pesky public is just a nuisance to them.
As usual, the comments here are guaranteed to always have undertones of racism and classism. Good thing you all can hide anonymously but obviously MS13 isn't the only "filth" we have to clean up around here.
Typical liberal with their head in the sand….pretend that MS13 gang members are upstanding citizens, cry "racism", and then pat yourself on the back for being so woke. So glad that you're so much smarter and better than everyone else.