To the Editor:

An open letter to the Transportation Commissioner David S. Ekern.

I attended the meeting conducted by Leonard (Bud) Siegel and other VDOT staff at Aldrin Elementary School in Reston. When Mr. Siegel was asked by other attendees who was in charge of this project, your name was given, Mr. Ekern, so I imagine mine is not the only e-mail you will be receiving in the next several days. At least, I hope not!

I have been opposing VDOT's plan to introduce two left-turn lanes from Route 7 onto Georgetown Pike in Great Falls ever since I first learned of it in 2003. And so has the Great Falls Citizens Association, of which I was an Executive Board member at that time. And so does the current Dranesville representative on the Board of Supervisors, John Foust, as well as hundreds of Great Falls residents. We were vociferous in 2003 and would have continued to be, except that the issue seemed to go away when funding was lost in 2004. Now that the funding is again available, the project is proceeding. After more than a four-year delay, people forgot about it; which is why it seems we are now faced with a "done deal," and little recourse.

There are many reasons I am adamantly opposed to this proposal, but the most important are:

1. There has been no Environmental Impact Study for this plan, and Mr. Siegel says one was not required. With Fairfax County's serious air and water pollution problems, you would think an EIS would be done; and I feel that without one, our environmental concerns in the area are being ignored and possibly circumvented.

2. There seems to be little regard for the fact that Georgetown Pike is an Historic Byway and should be protected as such. We have worked very hard in our community to prevent any changes to this historically-significant road, by, among other things, trying to limit widening, minimizing the number of traffic signs and signals, and lowering speed limits. The current traffic situation is deplorable. This plan would make it much worse.

3. Mr. Siegel himself admitted that no studies had been done to determine the impact of this project upon Georgetown Pike or the community of Great Falls. It appears the focus of any studies was the safety of drivers on Route 7 and how to keep traffic moving on that road. Mr. Siegel did not have any figures regarding the number of traffic accidents in Great Falls or any delays experienced by our emergency vehicles trying to navigate rush hour on Georgetown Pike during an emergency. I would venture to guess that our safety would be further jeopardized by the increased traffic flow caused by this project. Your personnel were unable to tell us what the projected traffic figures would be for Georgetown Pike once a second left-turn lane was introduced and invited us to go to the VDOT Web site to get the information ourselves.

4. It was disheartening that each time Mr. Siegel was asked, he was unable to tell us if any alternatives had been considered or other methods tried, so I can only assume the answer was no. Sample questions posed were: Did you think about posting "No Left Turn" signs from Route 7 onto the Pike during morning rush hour and vice versa? Did you think about making no left turn at all? How about a curb at the left-turn lane to discourage lane jumping? Or traffic enforcement? It seems to me that this plan is an expedient, short-term solution to VDOT's problem, but not to Great Falls' problem; and that actually, Georgetown Pike and Great Falls are just the means to the end. Our concerns and our own safety and quality of life do not carry enough weight in the bigger Fairfax County, VDOT picture.

5. I found it disingenuous (and almost dishonest) for your agency to assert that this is all about safety, encouraging bicycle and pedestrian traffic and following the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan. These were the three main reasons given, besides moving traffic off of Route 7 that I could gather.

Firstly, it was only the safety of drivers on Route 7 that was discussed. Secondly, I cannot even fathom how this project will make it possible for anyone to safely walk or ride a bicycle in Great Falls. It isn't safe now, and will be less safe with more traffic funneled onto our narrow streets and roads. And since we have very little police presence in Great Falls, but lots and lots of drivers who break traffic laws, resident safety on the roads has always been an issue here. And to tell us that this project is part of the Comprehensive Plan, well. That was too much. A Fairfax County supervisor once told me that the Comprehensive Plan is a suggestion or a guide and is not cast in stone. There is a system of trails on the Comprehensive Plan, but for more than 20 years, dedicated people in Great Falls have been unable to get that system completely constructed. It took VDOT less than 10 years to push this road project through; and I would hesitate a guess that this specific plan, for two left-turn lanes onto Georgetown Pike, is not on the Comprehensive Plan, but I don't know. Let's be honest here. Anyone can spin facts and figures to make them say what they want and need. And I feel like this is exactly what VDOT is doing in this case. Project engineers are telling us about formulas and hypotheses, but I think their data is skewed because the focus is skewed. Not only was the human element disregarded, but the Georgetown Pike/Great Falls half was left out of the equation.

I hope that VDOT will reconsider this portion of the plan and you will consider my arguments here, Mr. Ekern. I hope anyone and everyone who is in any position to do anything to change this plan will do the same. I am sending a copy of this e-mail to U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10), Gov. Tim Kaine (D), Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville), Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill), Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-At-large), Del.-Elect Barbara Comstock (R-34), Del. Margi Vanderhye (D-34), the Great Falls Citizens Association, my neighbors and the local newspapers, and will hope for change. Someone, somewhere, who can actually do something to change this horrible plan has got to see things from this perspective. I am hoping that you, Mr. Ekern, will be one of those somebodies, and I thank you for your time and consideration.



Jan T. McCarthy

Great Falls