The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) hopes over time to convert the well-used Metrobus Route 28A to serve as the foundation of its Envision Route 7 BRT (bus-rapid transit) line.
The effort will move people along a 14-mile corridor between Spring Hill Metro station in Tysons and Alexandria’s Mark Center and will be comparable to Metroway, a Metrobus BRT system that transports riders between Arlington and Alexandria using a mix of regular and dedicated lanes, NVTC director of programs and policy Allan Fye said June 18 at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Transportation Committee meeting.
“You don’t have to do it all up-front with one big project,” Fye said of dedicated bus lanes. Envision Route 7 BRT can be tweaked and adjusted over time, he said.
Officials gradually hope to implement measures that will make the BRT buses run faster and more regularly along crowded Route 7.
Dedicated bus/right-turn lanes will not be possible everywhere, so project backers aim to widen some intersections to allow buses to swing to the right and use priority signalization to slingshot ahead of stopped vehicles traveling in the same direction. This method is called “queue jumping.”
“We’re putting moving people, not cars, first,” Fye said.
Officials at the meeting did not provide a timeline for Envision Route 7’s implementation. The region has $518 million worth of capital-improvement projects in the works that will support the BRT route:
• Fairfax County will widen Route 7 between Route 123 and Interstate 495 ($80 million), build BRT supportive infrastructure ($175 million) and perform Seven Corners ring-road improvements ($133 million).
• The city of Falls Church will prioritize traffic signals along the route ($1.4 million), build a Smart City project near the West Falls Church Metro station ($10 million) and implement the North Washington Street multimodal transportation project ($22.5 million).
• Arlington County will make $709,000 worth of traffic-signal upgrades and expand bus bays ($12.7 million) along its portion of the route. The city of Alexandria will implement $20.4 million worth of intersection upgrades and construct the West End Transitway BRT project ($62.2 million).
NVTC’s role will be to “put the puzzle pieces in the right place,” Fye said.
The commission will work closely throughout the process with the Virginia Department of Transportation, which owns much of the route’s right-of-way, he said.
“The One,” Fairfax County’s BRT project along Route 1 in Mount Vernon, will provide valuable lessons for Envision Route 7, said Supervisor Jimmy Bierman (D-Dranesville).
Regional coordination will be key if the BRT route is to work seamlessly, added Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D).
“People who travel along Route 7 don’t care what county they’re in,” McKay said. “The timing of the planning efforts and compressing them is very important.”
Most of the Route 7 riders will travel between various points along the BRT line and not go its entire length, Fye said. It takes 80 to 90 minutes for buses to travel the whole route and about two hours during peak periods, he said.
Such a ponderously long journey would deter people from using the system, said Supervisor Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield), who urged implementation of express routes along portions of the line that could accommodate them.
“We need to be creative,” he said.
