The Richmond Highway Round-up

News you can use

Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation (SFDC)

The Richmond Highway Round-Up

Special: Richmond Highway Widening

Richmond Highway Widening Project Area

'Our Big Moment' in Mount Vernon: VDOT hosts Route 1 Widening meeting: Jeff Todd Way to Napper Road. Tim Peterson covers the Richmond Highway widening community meeting in the Mt. Vernon Gazette: The project, estimated to cost $215 million, is anticipated to begin construction in the spring of 2023 and be open to traffic by 2026. Gibney is the project manager. He presented at the first major public information meeting about the widening on Tuesday evening April 18 at Mount Vernon High School, alongside VDOT special projects manager and lead for the widening Amanda Baxter. Click here for details.

VDOT lays out basics of Richmond Highway widening, many details still to come. Covering the Corridor's take on the community meeting: "Officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation went through the basics on the project, which will widen the highway from four to six lanes between Jeff Todd Way and Napper Road. The project will also include 6 1/2-foot wide asphalt bike lanes on each side, 6-foot wide concrete sidewalks on each side, a 58-foot wide median section so that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can later be added as part of the Embark Richmond Highway initiative. Utilities will need to be relocated for the project, and noise walls will be added in some spots to protect residential neighborhoods."

Click here for details.

[Video and Text] Widening road project for Route 1 in Va. could impact residential, commercial properties. Jeff Goldberg with WJLA Channel 7 news files this report: "A widening road project for Route 1 in Fairfax County, Virginia is scheduled to take place and could potentially impact up to 200 commercial and residential properties. The $215 million plan would widen a three-mile stretch of Route 1 between Jeff Todd Way and Naper Road increasing the road from four to six lanes." Click here to watch.

Click here to view VDOT's project page.

Reminder: The EMBARK Richmond Highway Community Meeting is May 15 7:00pm-9:00pm at Walt Whitman High School. Keep in mind: The two projects are distinct, though the VDOT widening fits into the larger Fairfax County EMBARK Richmond Highway project.

Learn about EMBARK by clicking here.

Local Headlines

INOVA Mount Vernon names new CEO. Covering the Corridor has more: " Don Brideau, MD, has been named chief executive officer of Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Inova announced Monday...Brideau has been serving as Inova Mount Vernon's interim CEO since last month. He replaces Deborah Addo, who is now CEO of Inova Loudoun Hospital. Addo had been CEO at Inova Mount Vernon since June 2014, and oversaw the opening of the hospital's new family emergency department last year." Click here for details.

Know your Rights Forum with Representative Don Beyer. Covering the Corridor has an update: "Rep. Don Beyer will host a "Know Your Rights" forum on May 15, 7:00pm-9:00pm, at the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Gum Springs. The forum had originally been scheduled for March 13 but was cancelled due to snow." Click here for details.

Tropical Smoothie Comes to Belle View Shopping Center. Covering the Corridor has the big news: "Tropical Smoothie will soon be opening in the Belle View Shopping Center, while Pro Feed Pet Nutrition Centers in the same plaza has closed. Construction for Tropical Smoothie is underway in a 2,100 square-foot space between Weight Watchers and the Belle View Barber Shop at 1610 Belle View Boulevard, according to a spokeswoman for KLNB Retail, which manages the center." Click here for details.

Region, State, and National

Fairfax County Economic Indicators: Unemployment rose 0.2% to 3.2%; Home sales and home prices both increased in February. Click here for more details.

Fairfax County Moves Step Closer to Approving FY 2018 Budget: More funds recommended for Diversion First, schools. Andrea Worker reports on the mark-up hearing for the Connection Newspapers: "FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS will also benefit from the recommendations, with just over $1.7 million in additional support, lessening the shortfall gap from the FCPS's budget request from about $60 million, to $48.4 million...with the school system still receiving 52.8 percent of the General Fund disbursements." Click here for more details.

DC's identity crisis: Can federal jobs withstand Trump 'shock'? Jack Moore reports for WTOP: "Despite efforts to shed its "company town" image, the region has struggled to build industries not dependent on federal dollars and remains vulnerable to changes in government spending, experts say. "We're not prepared to absorb these kinds of shocks. And when you're in a company town and your core business is increasingly uncertain ... we should be worried about that," said Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University, who has studied the region's economy for decades." Click here for more details.

The drama that never ends: Former GSA Real Estate Chief Expects FBI Decision To Be Delayed Until 2018. Chamapgne Williams in Bisnow: "Developers and local officials from Maryland to Virginia have been on the edge of their seats waiting for the General Services Administration to announce the site and developer for the FBI's new $2B suburban campus, a decision that was pushed from late 2016 to March and then delayed indefinitely." Click here for more details.

Cities Seek Deliverance From the E-Commerce Boom. Andrew Zaleski has a story on e-commerce, delivery trucks, and density: "It's the flip-side to the "retail apocalypse:" A siege of delivery trucks is threatening to choke cities with traffic. But not everyone agrees on what to do about it...Pick any other major city or metropolitan area in the U.S., and the situation's probably the same: a massive surge in deliveries to residential dwellings, one that's outstripping deliveries to commercial establishments and creating a traffic nightmare." Click here for more details.

Why Is Affordable Housing So Expensive? Limited city budgets and rising building costs create a recipe for disaster. Joe Cortright has this story in CityLab: "In many cities, affordable housing has a problem: it's not affordable. California Governor Jerry Brown made that point again, emphatically, with his new state budget. He's said that won't put any new state resources into subsidizing affordable housing until state and local governments figure out ways to bring the costs down...In San Francisco, one of the largest all-affordable housing projects, 1950 Mission Street, clocks in at more than $600,000 per unit. That number isn't getting any lower: new units in that city's Candlestick Point development will cost nearly $825,000 each, according to recent press reports." Click here for more details.

The big read (And we think land-use in Fairfax County is tough!):

How Singapore Is Creating More Land for Itself. The island off the southern tip of Malaysia reveals the future of building in an epoch of dwindling territory. Samanth Subramanian files for the New York Times Magazine.
Click here to read.

Transit

Metro's GM has a smart plan for survival. Good Luck. The Washington Post Editorial Board: "Having gone as far as he could with fare hikes, layoffs, service cuts and the SafeTrack maintenance surge, Mr. Wiedefeld has offered a plan for desperately needed new funding as well as structural changes - the most recent, and the most dire, wake-up call delivered to Metro's federal and local stakeholders. For decades, they have answered such warnings by hitting the snooze button, willfully refusing to address structural problems that imperil not just the region's subway and bus network, but also its prospects for growth, development and prosperity." Click here to read more.

[Audio and Text] Wiedefeld's New Role: Chief Lobbyist. Martin Di Caro, WAMU 88.5:

"With his plan to bring in billions to restore Metro's sprawling rail and bus systems, Paul Wiedefeld is assuming an unusual role for the transit authority's chief executive.

He is now becoming Metro's chief lobbyist. From the day he was hired 17 months ago, Wiedefeld insisted on staying out of politics and public policy debates, focusing instead on getting the trains to run on time at an agency struggling to recover from a string of safety mishaps." Click here to read and listen.

Metro GM proposes 'new business model' and $500 million a year in extra funding to save D.C.-area transit agency. Robert McCartney covers the Metro's new proposal for the Washington Post: " Wiedefeld said Metro needs $15.5 billion over the next 10 years for investments to "remain safe and reliable," an average increase of nearly 30 percent over the agency's previous request. He also said the agency needs to rein in labor costs to help avoid a budget crisis. He urged making pension benefits less generous for future hires and amending a federal law to strengthen management's hand in arbitration of contract disputes." Click here for more details.

Sign-up for the FCEDA E-Bird

Sign-up here to get the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority's E-Bird Newsletter. By far, the most comprehensive aggregation of business news in Fairfax County. Sign-up here.

Special: Non-Profit Events

2017 Transforming Lives Gala

Saturday, April 29, 2017, 6:00pm

Westin Alexandria

400 Courthouse Square

Alexandria, VA 22314

Click here for event information

Give from the Heart Gala

Saturday, May 6, 2017, 6:00 PM

Madison Building Atrium

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Alexandria, VA

Click here for event information

Celebrate! Mount Vernon at Home

Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 4:30pm-7:00pm

George Washington's River Farm

American Horticultural Society

7931 E Boulevard Dr, Alexandria, VA 22308

RSVP BY MAY 1

Click here for event information

Chamber Golf Classic (Proceeds support scholarships for local high school students) at Laurel Hill Golf Club

T he shotgun start is at 1:00 pm, but plan on coming early for lunch, the putting contest, and networking with other business and community leaders.

Click here for event information