Chain Bridge Road/Eaton Place Intersection Improvements

The existing turn left from Chain Bridge Rd going south onto Eaton Place has very poor visibility of the Chain Bridge Rd north traffic on the other side. Due to the sight lines, the trees and the vehicles waiting in the northbound Chain Bridge Rd left turn lane to turn onto Assembly or Oak block visibility of cars going north straight through the intersection. This makes unprotected left turns somewhat difficult, and is partly responsible for recent motorcyclist death.

The proposed changes shift the left turn lanes in a way that should provide much better visibility, even aside from reducing the number of conflict points.

We live on Assembly Drive. We agree absolutely that there need to be changes to the intersection. Our only disagreement is that we cannot go straight across and have access to Eaton Place. The majority of our trips from home are traveled on Eaton Place as we frequent businesses between our house and Fairfax Circle. This is a big concern.

South Street Comments
1. Upfront I don’t have access to the studies about this project but.

A. Because we can should we?
B. Traffic loading in FC 123 and University corridors is characterized by Commute and not commute.
C. The project provides no traffic foot or motor vehicle during not commute times. However, local transiting traffic will experience another annoying south to north traffic pertabation transiting FC. Anecdote, I live behind city hall, today transiting North to access 50/66 can turn into a 20-25 minute traffic light induced stop and go effort thru the city. Adding another intersection at the noted location provides no efficiency or perceived travel improvement thru FC.
D. Commute time comments- if the reference traffic data was taken in 2020-2022 May it is seriously flawed as to both timing and vol.As of 1Sep 2022 you now have a solid stream of traffic from North St to George Mason starting after 3 o’clock, the project does absolutely nothing to mitigate this and related traffic problems.

Finally-this appears as a

LEAVE the green space barrier that currently separates Oak Place & Chain Bridge Road --no need to remove same! Leave any vestiges of trees--The City has a penchant for allowing them to be "chopped down"-planners should re-visit site thoroughly--and re-do
"plans" accordingly. It CAN be done. Other cities do it efficiently,
with both safety and "grass & tree-related buffers" in place--why can't Fairfax?

I bike in that area often. I live near Vienna metro and work on Eaton Pl. Please provide a nice trail that allows people to travel on bikes.

I support intersection improvements with design that prioritizes bicyclists & pedestrian safety and enables easier access to I-66 trail.

1. I am a big fan of some type of bicycle connection to the 66 trail.
2. That pedestrian corner at Chain Bridge and Assembly does not seem conducive to safe biking.
3. I'm not a fan of going from 7 to 9 lanes wide on Chain Bridge.
4. Not a fan of the 2 left turn lanes onto Eaton going southbound. Is that necessary? Won't the extra turn lane being added north of there by the Moose Lodge handle some of the traffic that's turning left at that intersection and offset the need for the double turn?
5. I am glad to see that the service road at the corner of Eaton and Chain Bridge won't be there. It's super confusing and drivers don't have consistent expectations for stopping at that light. I have seen near -accidents.
6. I worry about the safety of the northbound left turn lane on Chain Bridge going straight across into southbound traffic coming the other way. I worry a driver could mistakenly end up on the wrong side of the road.

I am not sure if the engineers who designed these improvements have actually been on the ground in coming up with this design. There is a big elevation change between the road they wrongly call Oak Place and Route 123 and this is not constructable without several retaining walls. More importantly, that elevation change, which includes a berm that rises above "Oak Place" and the mature trees and vegetation are the only thing that protects our neighborhood from the traffic on 123. If they build this anyone walking, driving or living on the so-called Oak Place will be looking across 9 lanes of traffic at the Best Western and the Moose Lodge. They have to keep the median where it is and leave those trees alone.

Per an email, we found out that VDOT/Transform66 plan to bulldoze down the tree line between Rt. 123 and the Chain Bridge Frontage road to make a shared use path that doesn’t even benefit those living nearby, including the Cobbdale neighborhood. No mention of tree survey and they’re using five year old noise studies for this. They’ve added three proposed lanes of traffic on top of the six existing lanes, going SB on RT. 123. This exposes many homes with EVEN MORE noise, air and light pollution deep into Cobbdale and neighborhoods southwest. EASTY SOLUTIONS: 1) The shared-use path can easily be added to the Chain Bridge frontage road for a fraction of the price, or 2) actually be more useful, on the East side of Rt. 123 along the Best Western side, so it can easily hook up with the George Snyder Trail and on out to 66 when it crosses back over to the west side (where it is beneficial to west side residents). Where this proposed path would start (at the intersection of Rt. 123 and the Eaton Place light), doesn’t even help the Cobbdale neighborhood, as it would be easier to ride your bike/walk along the road north to the future 66 path, vs riding/walking south to the light to catch the path, only to go back north. Additionally, the trees you currently see between the North and South bound lanes of Rt. 123? They’re gone in the proposals, too. We’ve already lost at least one tree in the median just south of the Eaton Place intersection and EVERY tree along Eaton to make the sidewalk on the south side of that road. At least that sidewalk gets you to the new shopping center. The shared-use path is of value, but so many options to consider over bulldozing down much needed screening for residents.

I live on Assembly drive and the problem is NOT the traffic lights but drivers not following posted stop here on red indications prior to approaching intersections. Drivers coming from Norman Ave on Chain Bridge road constantly move up to the signal making hard to enter Assembly. If the traffic change continues, will people exiting Assembly drive will only be able to make a right turn. That's ridiculous and a waste of gas to loop around than going straight thru on Eaton where the new shopping center is.

One of the biggest concerns I have is the removal and destruction of the green barrier that currently separate Chain Bridge Road from Oak Place. There are a multitude of community, environmental, economic, health, and safety concerns the destruction of this space, which will be discussed at the meeting. The negative impacts of destroying the green space far outweigh any perceived benefit of using that area for the bike path. The bike path could and should be integrated into the paved roadway with a barrier (to separate it from traffic for safety) with a crossing at the proposed new light.

This diagram also doesn't show the existing homes on Cobbs Grove Lane that will be most impacted by this change, and therefore doesn't give a full sense of impact of the design.

The plan looks good. Thank you for incorporating bioswales; I encourage the City to continue to include these as much as possible as they provide many environmental and safety benefits.

⒈ Please give pedestrian signals some lead time at both intersections.

⒉ Plan should have a safety island on crosswalk, crossing Chain Bridge @ Eaton Pl.

⒊ Please do not use a “beg button” at the George Snyder trail crossings (or ideally have all crosswalks automatic).

⒋ Please no dedicated right turn from oak place, as it would be more dangerous for peds & bikes.

⒌ Bike Riders coming south on Willow Crescent Dr. have no easy or safe way to access the 66-trail or the George Snyder trail.

⒍ The southbound lane on the service road (between the two intersections) seems unnecessary, as it's function is already fulfilled by turning left at Eaton from Chain Bridge. This design might encourage drivers to turn left at the northern intersection and attempt to "cut through" the parking lot, forcing them to make a left turn onto Eaton from an unsignalized intersection. I worry this would increase danger.

It’s dangerous. I hear close calls all of the time, which are actually better than the ones that turn into accidents. It takes 15 minutes from Norman to finally get through the intersection when the school bus stops so many times. I have to leave for work way early, to avoid being stuck in my own neighborhood. I love Fairfax, but this intersection, not so much.

YES, this intersection needs to be changed. The number of accidents alone should be reason enough. Thoughts in no particular order: *Did the residents on the east frontage road get citizens input? *I assume the City has asked police and fire persons their thoughts as they’re the ones having to deal with the accidents. *I’m tired of hearing- and having to honk myself at the first vehicle having lost attention when the light turns green. Cobbdale drivers need to pay attention! I understand that the light being put in closer to 66 will be timed better, and hopefully people won’t lose their attention so easily. *Drivers waiting in line for the light, block side roads many times a day. Not cool. *Yay for FCPS transportation for being on board for the proposal- less bus stops and an added sidewalk everyone can use. *Not hearing semi’s ‘jake brake’ after picking up speed from the 66 exit and all of that way before having to slow or stop for the light at Eaton will be so much less. Also less noise from loud cars revving it up from Eaton all of the way to 66. This unnecessary noise is constant and declines the quality of life for those who live nearby. *It’s so cool to see more pedestrians crossing Rt 123 to get to Pointe 50. Walking is great, but I assume most of us feel we are putting our life on the line while walking across here. It is too confusing for drivers. *Would be nice for the lights to be timed better on Rt 123, seems everything is timed for Rt 50. *Would like a clearer drawing of where the bike path will be. On the 123 side, or residential side of the tree line? PLEASE DO NOT CUT ANYMORE TREES DOWN. We need this screening! *All need to think of the bigger picture, not just their personal quickest way out of Cobbdale. *Any of us could be part of the next accident -in their vehicle or as a pedestrian, because this intersection(s) is dangerous. Please make changes. The current intersection is dangerous.

It seems maintaining the traffic signal for exiting Assembly traffic is over kill given the number of cars that will utilize it vs. those that come down Norman Ave. Would it not be better to keep the 2-way traffic on Oak Place between the existing and new signal and force all cars exiting to use this new intersection. The existing intersection across from Eaton Pl could be as an entrance only into the neighborhood. There seems to be enough land to allow existing cars to queue, the signal just needs to be long/smart enough to allow everyone to exit.

One of the major issues with the current intersection is the backup of traffic trying to get out of Cobbdale onto Rte 123. The new design is just going to shift that backup to the new intersection. I also see no reason to add the mini traffic circle and curving loops north of the proposed circle. I would delete that, modify Oak south of the new intersection to provide a turning lane on the northbound section of Oak so that traffic moving north to Oak in this direction will not get stuck behind traffic waiting for the light to turn. I also suggest modifying the median at the current exit to allow this to become a right turn only lane to bleed southbound 123 traffic off the new intersection. This would require keeping Oak two ways in this direction.

Strongly support closing off the service roads on the east side of 123

There is currently a lot of traffic build up on oak place exiting the neighborhood. This design does not leave enough room for traffic to exit and would back up to the circle and block everyone.

I would like more information about the configuration of the crosswalks and pedestrian signaling including audible pedestrian signals for people who are blind or low vision.

This would be an improvement, however, I bet the people who live off Oak are going to complain about having 1-way access. Please don't let complaints from a few townhomes and single family homes lead to continued congestion at this stretch of road.