Wednesday: What’s the Future Hold for Hunter Mill Road?

Will Hunter Mill Road change from a country road into a more significant — and efficient — traffic artery?

Find out the Fairfax County Department of Transportation’s (FCDOT) progress on that at a community meeting on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 7 p.m., at the North County Government Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive, Reston).

Fairfax County has been studying traffic mitigation options on Hunter Mill from Sunrise Valley Drive to the Colvin Run Bridge for several years.

There is heavy congestion during morning and evening peak hours. The congestion is heavily concentrated at the intersections of Sunset Hills Road and the westbound Dulles Toll Road ramps at Hunter Mill Road.

Says Fairfax County:

These two intersections are closely spaced and constrained by the existing bridge. The number of vehicles using Hunter Mill Road is forecasted to increase in the future.

With the opening of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, new development anticipated in Reston, and an increase in background traffic associated with development elsewhere in the region, vehicular traffic is expected to increase in this area. This study will look at alternatives to mitigate the existing and future conditions to ensure traffic can move efficiently through the intersections.

Meanwhile, the county suggested last winter that the best place to build a septic dumping station was on Fairfax County Park Authority land that is on the much-congested route. It is estimated sewage haulers would make 22 trips a day on the two-lane road, which features a 25-mph speed limit and a one-lane bridge.

After a community outcry, the county is looking at other alternatives before moving forward in that spot.

Here’s what’s happened in the process so far:

During the first half of 2015, FCDOT conducted the Hunter Mill Road and Sunset Hills Road Study to evaluate operational issues on Hunter Mill Road between Sunrise Valley Drive and Colvin Run.

In July of 2015, FCDOT deferred the Hunter Mill Road Study at the request of the community in order to allow for new capacity analysis methodologies for roundabouts to be adopted by the Transportation Research Board in January 2016 at their annual meeting.

FCDOT is now ready to restart the Hunter Mill Road Study and apply these new methodologies to the developed alternatives, and any newly developed alternatives. The project reboot will also provide an opportunity to integrate comments heard at the last public meeting into an expanded scope of work.

At community meetings last year, residents said they did not want Wiehle Avenue traffic diverted onto Hunter Mill. They also said Hunter Mill should keep the same character, but the county should look at roundabouts as a traffic mitigation option.

See the presentation below to look at community feedback, road-widening options and other considerations.