Four presentations were made at today's meeting:
The Annex will host several special events the week before its official opening which will serve as dry runs for the actual opening.
The Annex will be open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM, the same hours as the museums on the mall.
The Air and Space Museum still needs $19 million of additional funding for its Phase III expansion including a fully functioning restoration lab at the Annex.
The Museum greatly appreciates the Commonwealth's and County's contributions to the transportation infrastructure.
The Annex expects 3 - 4 million visitors per year. There will be express buses to/from the Mall directly to the Annex; local bus service will not be available from either the Vienna Metro or the Herndon Park and Ride.
Additional family-style (not high-end) hotels/motels will be necessary to serve the Annex's visitors. Currently, when youth sports tournaments (soccer, softball, etc) are held in the area no rooms are available for miles.
The Museum is working with Loudoun and Fairfax County to integrate the Museum into the schools' SOL and Education programs.
John Clark of the Loudoun Office of Transportation was the second speaker.
Loudoun has doubled in population the last decade and is expected to do the same in the next. Over 25-thousand new residents, more than either Montgomery of Fairfax County, relocate yearly.
Loudoun gets $8 million a year from VDOT for local roads, and builds less than a mile a year.
Loudoun looking forward to rail but doesn't expect it before 2015
Young Ho Chang of the Fairfax Department of Transportation was the next speaker:
Fairfax County Parkway cost $260 Million
Herndon-Monroe with 1778 spaces, is one of the largest non-rail commuter facilities in the country. Average usage in FY00 was 445 cars per day, FY 03 over 1,400. The facility is at 84% capacity with Loudoun commuters making up 30% of the users.
Considering traffic light/bus interface currently used in Los Angeles, which can save 27% of the travel time.
The county doesn't support the state’s plans for a $600 million upgraded I66/I495 interchange with Beltway widening (shown derisively by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show) and would prefer an interim solution.
Some of Fairfax’s secondary roads carry more traffic than interstates in the rest of the state.
Extending Metro to Centreville is at a disadvantage versus highway construction, no cost to the county for widening I66 versus $100 million of rail to Centreville the County will be expected to cover (at today's cost)
No additional funds from public/private partnership improvement of Route 28 will available for Centreville Road improvements
A representative of the Prince William Office of Transportation was the last speaker:
The four-lane Route 123 bridge over the Occoquan is going to bid.
Interim improvements to RT 28 south of the Route 234 Bypass still are unplanned. Improvements to Route 234 south of the Route 234 Bypass are in the next two year's plans.
Improvements still needed:
Respectfully submitted,
Jeffrey M. Parnes
Chair, Fairfax County Representative
Dulles Area Transportation Association