Sleepy Hollow sidewalk project revised
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation has made some revisions to the proposed Sleepy Hollow Road Walkway Project.
When first announced earlier this year, the sidewalk proposal led to a groundswell of opposition among residents who had complained about losing part of their front yards and mature trees and the potential for declining property values. Some homeowners still have “Don’t bulldoze our yards”
signs on their front lawns.
signs on their front lawns.
An Oct. 4 email to residents from project manager Mark VanZandt says FCDOT received comments
from 102 households and that “the design team has made several revisions to the project scope of work as a result of the public feedback received.”
The changes aren’t all in response to opponents of the project. “People who supported the project had good suggestions, too,” VanZandt says.
The email outlines the following changes:
- The width of the walkway in the vicinity of Dearborn Drive and Valley Brook Drive will be reduced from eight feet to six feet. The proposed grass buffer width will be reduced from four to two feet. In addition, the sidewalk will be moved into the existing parking lane to limit impacts to private property, reduce tree loss, and limit the use of retaining walls.
- A sidewalk will be added south of Malbrook Drive to tie-in with the sidewalk proposed by the developers planning to build homes on the Glavis property.
- Between Marlo Drive and the Congressional School entrance, the parking lane will be removed and the travel lanes will be narrowed to allow the proposed sidewalk to be shifted toward the roadway. This change was made to limit impacts to private property and minimize tree loss. There will be no change to the traffic pattern in this area, only lane width adjustments.
- Additional pedestrian crossing points will be proposed at the Congressional School entrance and Carolyn Drive.
- The width of the sidewalk between Holmes Run Road and Aspen Lane will be reduced from seven feet to six feet.
Before these changes, the estimated cost of the project was $5.975 million, including design, land acquisition, utilities relocation, and construction. That estimate will change as a result of the revisions.
Design activities are expected to continue through the end of the year. “We’re going to reach out to the community again after the plans have been updated,” Van Zandt says. There will be another community meeting in winter 2019.
Construction wouldn’t start until late 2021, he says, but “there are so many things that could nfluence that date between now and then.”
VanZandt has asked homeowners to contact him if they have specific drainage concerns related to the project. The design team will schedule site reviews with affected homeowners to review those issues in the coming weeks.
Can we PLEASE not spend precious and scarce transportation improvement dollars on a community that doesn’t even WANT a sidewalk? Me, and many of my neighbors, would LOVE a sidewalk along the busy road that abuts our homes.
Now let me get this: FCDOT is narrowing the roadway — already narrowed by the parking/bike lanes — in oder to put in a sidewalk. What next? One-way traffic on alternate days of the week?