June 2019 Design
The Nutley Street Interchange, which is being rebuilt to widen I-66, has been redesigned again. You can see the design as of February here. The new design is meant to
- Provide safer, more efficient travel for vehicles entering and exiting I-66 East and West
- Improve safety for vehicles and pedestrians traveling on Nutley Street
- Connect the new grade-separated shared-use path with planned bicycle and pedestrian improvements around the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail station and a shared-use path being built into the Town of Vienna.
The new design is only slightly different from the standpoint of cyclists. The biggest change is that on the northwest side of the Nutley Street bridge the Nutley Street trail is wedge shaped instead of balloon shaped, creating a 300 degree turn that will force cyclists to slow down more. I can't believe that they can't slope the trail from the bridge over I-66 to the underpass below the ramp in a more direct line on that side. Maybe the right option is to go straight over the ramp and then have the trail slope down to ground level on both sides (like in the image at bottom). Oh well.
Early 2019 design
The other changes are with the route of the I-66 trail on the northeast side and the Nutley Street Trail on the southeast side. In both cases the route has been shifted, but not in a way that matters much. It also moves the sidewalk on the south end.
A new design alternative has been proposed for this interchange and will be discussed at a community information meeting on June 5, 2019, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at James Madison High School, 2500 James Madison Drive, Vienna. In addition to traffic flow improvements when complete, this new design will reduce construction impacts for drivers and project neighbors.
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