The search is on for ways to reduce speeding and boost safety for pedestrians and bicyclists on Shreve Road/Virginia Route 703, in Falls Church, Virginia, a major travel corridor connecting Lee Highway and Leesburg Pike.
The nearly two-mile stretch of roadway is home to Shrevewood Elementary School, and it’s intersected by the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and several neighborhood intersections.
At a Wednesday night virtual public meeting, Virginia’s Department of Transportation detailed some possible changes to the roadway.
“Our study team [studied] the entire length of the corridor and identified opportunity areas to develop recommendations,” said Amelia Martin, an engineer with Kittelson & Associates, consultants to VDOT.
Martin said eight locations have been targeted for possible safety improvements.
The ideas for changes range from the simple to the complex. Simple would be optical speed bars, which are road markings.
“Optical speed bars, a kind of retro-reflective pavement marking, could be done to visually narrow the roadway to slow down going into the curve,” Martin said.
More robust and expensive changes would be roundabouts, mini-roundabouts and a chicane — a curve designed into a road to slow traffic.
The planning study suggests the possibility of adding two roundabouts at the intersections in front of Shrevewood Elementary.
“Our team looked at reconfiguring the intersections to add roundabouts, which can be helpful for controlling speeds in and out of the roundabout,” Martin said.
The $100,000 study, which began in March, is scheduled to conclude in December, and the community is being asked for its input by Oct. 19.
Comments can be emailed to MeetingComments@vdot.Virginia.gov or in writing to the following address:
VDOT Project Engineer Amir Shahpar
VDOT’s Northern Virginia District
4975 Alliance Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030.
The purpose of the study is to develop proposed improvements that localities can then pursue.
There are no construction dates and no funding sources identified yet for any of the changes.
