Last May, VDOT announced a batch of changes to the I-66 Outside the Beltway Project that made several changes to the accompanying trail - mostly for the worse. In the fall, they announced more changes.
WTOP has the report on the Nutley Street change, but I can't find the source for it or any mention of it on the official website. The changes
include a taller, 4-foot concrete barrier separating the new bike path from the highway, and a potential overhaul of initial plans for the Nutley Street interchange near the Vienna Metro.
The new Nutley interchange will change the how the bike trail gets through there as well. In the 2017 design - itself a big change from the 2016 one - the trail went under the interchange to move through it in a relatively straight line before a complicated connection to Virginia Center Blvd on the west side. A trail also went north-south along Nutley, moving from the west side to the middle and then back again, but in a relatively straight line. In the drawing below, north is inexplicably on the right side.
The new design adds trail distance to both routes, reducing their utility.
The I-66 trail will now go around the intersection, pushing north for several blocks to some unseen crossing point before coming back south again to continue on the route of I-66.
The Nutley Street path is now on the east side at the south end. Users will make a 270 degree loop before crossing over I-66 and then a ~300 degree loop on the other side before connecting to the main trail. It appears that it removes both at-grade crossings on the Nutley sidepath, but I'm not sure. I don't see this as an improvement from the standpoint of a trail user. Basically they're making trail users go far out of their way to make the project cheaper. It may even be that users will now cross Nutley at-grade on the north side, limiting the safety benefits of the grade-separated crossings elsewhere.
The private companies building the lanes, Express Mobility Partners, had proposed a design like this in their bid as a cost-saving measure, but VDOT had some concerns that new designs attempt to address.
The higher, 50 inch tall barrier however, is good news.
In related news, FABB is hosting Susan Shaw, the VDOT Project Manager for Transform I-66 Outside the Beltway, and Fairfax County DOT representatives who will share the latest details on trail alignment and access points, barrier design, and construction timing. This is a great opportunity to get any questions you have about the I-66 Trail answered. The event is scheduled for Wednesday night
7:30-9:00 pm
Providence District Office and Community Center
3001 Vaden Drive, Fairfax
Comments