The county is still mulling ways on how to minimize the impact of the Soapstone Connector on historic areas surrounding the proposed one-mile extension between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road.
The $235 million project has been on the county’s drawing board for years. Earlier this month, the county officially approved plans to seek $75 million in Northern Virginia Transportation Authority funding for its FY2022-2027 funding program.
Prosecutor Calls for State Investigation of Traffic Stop — Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano has called on Virginia State Police to conduct an internal investigation of a potential violation of the state’s new ban on pulling people over for dark taillights. The county has dropped all charges against a Black woman who was pulled over on the Capital Beltway by a state trooper. [Associated Press/WTOP]
Metro Behind on Safety and Training Protocols — A Washington Metrorail Safety Commission audit of Metro’s signal and automatic train control system found that the transit system has failed to keep up “with preventive maintenance, lacks needed safety certifications and is not training employees on how to maintain the system’s complex equipment and machinery.” [The Washington Post]
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation is considering two design options for the Soapstone Connector.
The connector would create a new one-mile roadway between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road. A bridge would be built over the Dulles Corridor, providing an additional crossing that is critical to reducing congested areas along Wiehle Avenue.
Fairfax County officials are seeking $66.4 million in state funds for the Soapstone Connector.
The project, which would create a new one-mile roadway between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road, recently received $15 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.
A critical project to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow in Reston has received $15 million in funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority through its six-year program.
The Soapstone Connector would create a new one-mile roadway between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road. A bridge would be built over the Dulles Corridor, providing an additional crossing that is critical to reducing congested areas along Wiehle Avenue.
Fairfax County officials are seeking $69 million from Northern Virginia’s Transportation Authority to cover the cost of building the Soapstone Connector, a critical one-half-mile-long connection between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road.
The total project, which is located west of the Wiehe-Reston East Metro Station and includes a new bridge over the Dulles Corridor, is expected to cost $214 million overall. Construction is not expected to begin until 2028, according to the March 5 proposal.
County officials seek to proceed with construction of the Soapstone Connector, a major road extension between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road, amid concerns the path of the half-mile extension would disturb potentially historically significant buildings on Association Drive.
On Sept. 25, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to support the county’s proposed route for $169 million project because buildings on Association Drive are not likely eligible a historical designation on the national register. The board’s approval responds formally to a Virginia Department of Historic Resources letter that urged the county work with the Fairfax County Architectural Review Board (ARB) to determine if the buildings on Association are historically significant.
County and state officials will present the findings of an architectural survey of ten parcels on Association Drive that could be impacted by the Soapstone Connector project on July 19.
The Soapstone Connector, approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2014, would connect Sunset Hills Road and the Sunrise Valley Drive crossing over the Dulles Toll Road. The half-mile road would cut through the western side of an office park and require the removal of properties on 1904 Association Drive.
The funding request for the $169.2 million project comes roughly five years after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a hybrid design for the project, which will provide an additional overpass over the Dulles Toll Road and ease traffic on south Reston roads.
Major development in the Wiehle-Reston East area, including Comstock’s Reston Station mixed use project, is expected to generate additional traffic on area roadways.
Public Meeting on Soapstone Connector Project Wednesday — The Fairfax County Department of Transportation is holding a public hearing on the environmental assessment for the Soapstone Connector Project this Wednesday, Nov. 8 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Dogwood Elementary School, 12300 Glade Dr. in Reston. A formal presentation of the assessment will be given at 7:15 p.m. Interested residents can view the full environmental assessment report online. Residents will be allowed to make formal comments during the meeting. In addition, written comments can be submitted up to 10 days after the meeting via email to [email protected] or via mail to Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT), 4050 Legato Road, Suite 400, Fairfax, VA, 22033. [Fairfax County Government]
Young Reston Woman Featured in News Special For Athletic Accomplishments — Reston native Rose Pleskow was featured on ABC7 News this past week as a rising star in international open-water swimming, as well as running. Born with intellectual disabilities and epilepsy, Rose has never let her obstacles stop her, and she won a bronze medal in the 2011 Special Olympics World Games in Athens, Greece, in the 1500-meter dash. Next up for Rose is a college degree, she told the TV news channel. [WJLA.com]
A Fairfax County Board of Supervisors public hearing on Reston transportation projects set for Feb. 28 will address the projects’ funding plan. Questions asked about the project Tuesday prior to the board’s vote to approve the hearing, however, concerned design issues.
Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield District) raised a number of questions for Tom Biesiadny, director of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, regarding concerns he has with the plan itself.
The Soapstone connector will be an extension of Soapstone Drive that will run from Sunrise Valley Drive to Sunset Hills Road, providing Reston with a third crossing of the Dulles Toll Road and alleviating traffic on nearby major roads.
So far, though, the project, which was approved by county supervisors in 2014, has not been found to impact historic resources or wetlands, FCDOT project manager Audra Bandy said at a community meeting on Wednesday.
The Soapstone Connector will provide an additional overpass of the Dulles Toll Road with the goal of easing traffic on south Reston roads, particularly in the area of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
Just don’t look for it to be built any time soon. While a feasibility study was conducted in 2013 and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a hybrid design from among several options in April of 2014, no funding has been designated.
Fairfax County has been examining for years how best to build a Soapstone Drive connection between Sunset Hills Road and Sunrise Valley Drive.
A connector would provide an additional car and pedestrian crossing over the Dulles Toll Road, alleviating some of the traffic on Reston Parkway and Wiehle Avenues. It would also offer an additional way for pedestrians to access the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
The Supervisors’ endorsement would enable the crossing to go into the preliminary design phase, getting Reston one step closer to an additional way to cross the Dulles Toll Road and alleviate traffic.
In February, Fairfax County Transportation Department staff and the County Executive recommended that the Board of Supervisors endorse the Recommended (Hybrid) Alternative. That alternative is a combination of several alternatives for the crossing presented to citizens in 2013.
