Dear Dr. Gridlock:
Kudos to reader Mark Tipton for raising the issue of the proposed Vienna Metro mixed-use development.
Mark didn't mention that the development will also result in the loss of 650 Metro parking spaces, with no requirement that they be replaced. Thus, the county is essentially taking 650 confirmed Metro riders and turning them back to the roads (read: I-66).
This and other developments under construction or planned adjacent to the site will bring more than 10,000 residents to our neighborhood, plus the thousand more people who might work in the planned office space.
Let's do the math: The county thinks that 32 percent of the residents, and 10 percent of the workers, will take the Metro. That means an additional 4,000 people trying to ride Metro from the Vienna station (less, of course, the 650 current riders who can no longer park there).
The remainder will use automobiles for transportation. That's another 4,000 cars traveling in and out each day -- mainly on I-66. I-66 and Metro are already operating beyond capacity.
The state and the Metro board say there is no money for improvements.
How far do you think we are from meltdown?
Deborah Smith
Vienna
Not far. The county seems determined to impose more and more development on its residents regardless of the consequences to our faltering transportation network.
Remember that when the supervisors are up for reelection.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I respectfully disagree with your comments on the traffic impact of the proposed Vienna-Fairfax Metro development. Saying that a pedestrian- and transit-oriented mixed-use development will cause more traffic is to miss the forest for the trees.
Continued rapid growth in Fairfax is inevitable. The only way to accommodate it without making our traffic worse is to be smarter about how and where we build our houses, apartments, office buildings and stores.
The proposed Metro West development will get far more residents and employees in Fairfax walking and taking transit. That equals fewer cars choking the roads.
I live in Fairfax and respect some of the concerns that residents have expressed about the scale and density of this development. But we can't just wring our hands and wish development would go somewhere else. If we do, it will go somewhere else, and make our roads even worse.
Douglas Stewart
Fairfax
If a movie theater is filled to capacity, should the proprietors keep admitting more people just because they want in? Soon, no one will be able to see the movie.
I would like to hear from Orange Line riders about the conditions of their commute (including Arlington Orange Line commuters).
Do you think we can add thousands of passengers from multiple high-rise residential buildings at the Vienna station?
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
