Regional transportation officials brought their quest for input on ways to rejuvenate the Route 7 (King Street and Leesburg Pike) corridor to Alexandria on Tuesday (June 9).
“This, combined with other conversations, it’s really helpful,” said Vikram Sinha, a Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) senior program manager who leads the Envision Route 7 initiative.
Sinha and NVTC executive director Kate Mattice were among the staff on hand at the drop-in session, held at the Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch Library.
Listening sessions have been key components of Envision Route 7, the regional effort led by NVTC to find both short-term and permanent improvements to the 14-mile corridor between Tysons and Mark Center. Similar events in recent months have been held in Culmore and Tysons.
“We’ve got a team of folks. We are doing our best to reach out,” Mattice told ALXnow during the two-hour open house.
Nearly a dozen piecemeal improvements along the route have occurred. Now regional transit leaders are seeking to formulate — and find funding for — a plan spanning the entire corridor.
“We want to deliver something quick. A lot of folks have been waiting a long time,” Sinha told ALXnow. “There is a need for this.”
The goal is bus rapid transit, which would give priority to bus service through dedicated lanes, enhanced bus stops, more frequency and signalization optimization.
A survey of riders and the community conducted last year found increasing bus frequency was the most common desire of respondents, followed by giving buses priority in travel lanes and providing more operating hours.
Mattice said the administration of Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) has shown interest in the project.
“You’re going to start seeing some momentum,” Mattice predicted.
Metrobus’s Route F20, formerly Route 28A, runs throughout the study corridor and is among the busiest bus lines in Northern Virginia. Envision Route 7 also is looking at ways to improve and coordinate other bus services operating in the corridor, including Alexandria’s DASH, Arlington’s ART, and Fairfax Connector.
A future bus rapid transit system likely would run on a slightly different route pattern than the current F20 — at least in certain areas from Bailey’s Crossroads east into Alexandria.
According to NVTC officials:
“The BRT’s future alignment within Alexandria will be decided in [the current planning phase], with the goal of finding a simplified route for the F20 as well as leveraging the two planned high-frequency bus corridors — Envision Route 7 and West End Transitway — to enhance the customer experience.”
One funding option is the next round of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s “Smart Scale” program. Funding for improvement efforts could be available in 2028.
Seeking federal funding also is a possibility, although the Trump Administration’s actions on funding have sowed confusion and concern among transit agencies nationally.
Avoiding the use of federal funds would allow projects to skip going through a NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review, a costly and time-consuming process required when federal funds are provided.
Sinha said every community outing, such as the one in Alexandria, gives planners more to think about.
“We bring that information back” and review it, he said.
