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Tom Biesiadny : Good afternoon!  Thank you for taking the time to participate in our Ask Fairfax Chat on transportation funding options.  I'm Tom Biesiadny, the Director of Fairfax County's Department of Transportation. 

The Board of Supervisors is interested in your feedback on 20 different transportation revenue options.  These may be used to address a $300 million annual shortfall between the County's transportation funding needs and available revenues.  Each of the revenue sources is described in detail at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/cdot/funding/

I look forward to your questions.  

Anonymous User : Why are only new revenue sources being considered for transportation? This county spends more on many programs that are less important than transportation, such as the subsidized housing programs, buying land for new parks when we have enough, tax incentives for developers, tax reduction programs for seniors, etc. Reducing or eliminating these nice, but lower priority programs, would allow funding for transportation without any new or increased taxes.

Tom Biesiadny : This effort is focused primarily on transportation funding.   You are correct that each year the County Executive and the Board must decide how much money should be spent on a variety of programs and services included in the County budget.  We are a large county with very diverse needs.  Regardless of whether there are additional revenues raised for transportation, the various priorities in the budget will continue to be considered annually.  The County currently spends about $280 million on transportation projects and services annually from existing local revenue sources.  We will include your suggestion with the survey results that are sent to the Board for their consideration.

Red : When is the county going to get around to repainting the crosswalk in front of Weyanoke Elementary School on Braddock Road? Very dangerous intersection in front of a school with no crosswalk is unacceptable, particularly since the rest of the lines were repainted soon after the repaving was completed back in August.

Tom Biesiadny : This sounds like this relates to a repaving project.  As you may know maintenance of roads in Fairfax County is handled by the Virginia Department of Transportation.  We will contact VDOT to find out why the crosswalk hasn't been painted and ask them to pursue it. 

Dineshkumar Dhanasekharan : Please describe your role so that I can ask the appropriate questions. It is unclear how the VDOT, Federal and fairfax responsibilities are segregated. In general, I would like to thank the department for generally having good roads (highly used).

Tom Biesiadny : In Fairfax County, VDOT is responsible for the roadway system.  In this role, they handle roadway maintenance (pothole repair, snow plowing, repaving) and construction.  Fairfax County provides some funding for new roadway construction.  The County is also responsible for the operation of the Fairfax Connector bus system.  The County has an active program to improve intersections, and build new pedestrian and bicycle facilities.  The Federal government provides funding for some improvements.  At this point Federal funding for transportation is not increasing significantly and state funding for transportation is declining.  This is why the County is engaging in this discussion.

Tysons Engineer : Table 7 outlays many items that are deemed necessary, but we have already seen pushback from residents for such projects such as the Boone Boulevard DTR ramp project which they believe is antithetical to the end goals for Tysons Corner. Will there be a revisiting of table 7 in light of current budget shortfalls for the next 10 years to partially delay or all together remove some of the items that are not popular and extraordinarily expensive in and around Tysons?

Tom Biesiadny : The Board of Supervisors is considering an overall funding plan for Tysons.  This plan will likely include at least an annual review of the project list, the pace of development and funding levels.  These reviews may result in changes to the transportation project priorities.  Regarding the ramp from the Dulles Toll Road to Boone Boulevard, there are several alignment options which we are analyzing. 

Dineshkumar Dhanasekharan : Sales Tax on service - I prefer this revenue generation method. What is the negative impact to the local businesses - such as restaurants and other small business owners? How does this impact larger businesses that are in professional services?

Tom Biesiadny : This tax would be a pass through to the consumer.  It would not have a direct impact on the businesses, unless a consumer chose to procure these services outside of Fairfax County.  The sales tax on services does not affect meals.  It would be collected on things like haircuts, dry cleaning and shoe repairs.

VDOT : Does VDOT publish a public master plan of repaving projects? I have to politely disagree with another commenter; the roads in my area (Springfield) are a pitted, patched mess. Basically, is it possible for a member of the public to determine VDOT's schedule for re-paving of deteriorating roads? Thanks-

Tom Biesiadny : VDOT does have an annual paving schedule.  It is usually available in late winter, but I'm not sure whether it is published or not.  We will forward your request to VDOT.

Funding for the repaving of secondary roads (subdivision streets and roads like Old Keene Mill Road and Braddock Road) is very limited. Due to the restricted funding, VDOT focuses on the interstate highways and primary roadways (Route 1, Route 123, etc).   If you have a specific road that needs to be repaved, you can report it to 1-800-FOR-ROAD. 

Tysons Engineer : Does the county still regard a dulles toll road ramp onto Boone Boulevard as necessary and a priority? It seems odd that one of the first major roads will only fuel continued commuters into Tysons, now being funneled through multi-modal friendly roads parallel to Route 7. A grid is different than creating essentially a brand new route 7, and the number of users who will use this exit in order to get off of the toll road 1 stop earlier is going to be excessive (regardless of whether it is the same price toll exit).

Tom Biesiadny : We are still in the feasibility stage of the Dulles Toll Road Ramp Study, and we have not determined whether a direct connection to Boone Boulevard will be necessary to support the future growth in Tysons.  That is one aspect of the study.  Boone Boulevard itself is not envisioned to be another Route 7.  It would be a parallel roadway that would help distribute traffic (particularly internal to Tysons) without further congesting Route 7.

Tom Biesiadny :

Thank you for taking the time to participate in today's Ask Fairfax Chat.  We appreciate your input and suggestions.  If you haven't already, please take the survey on our website (www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/cdot/) and feel free to share the link with your friends and neighbors.  The survey will be open until Monday, October 15 at 4:30 p.m.  In addition, we have three more public meetings tonight and tomorrow night where you can receive more information and ask questions.  The specific times and locations are also listed on the website.  If you are not able to attend one of the meetings, all of the presentation materials are also available online.

Again, thank you for your time and your input.

Tom