Revitalizing Richmond Highway

Richmond Highway's Many Needs

This empty parking lot at Beacon Hill Mall presents a great opportunity to transform an older commercial strip mall into a vibrant, walkable place.

Richmond Highway runs through some of Fairfax County’s oldest communities and through land with a storied history. Nearby are well-established neighborhoods and terrific parks like Huntley Meadows and the Mount Vernon bike trail. Yet, the corridor has many aging strip malls and large empty parking lots, and hasn’t attracted the same level of investment as other areas of northern Virginia. Safety for pedestrians walking along or crossing the corridor is a widely held concern. Stormwater rushes off parking lots and batters local streams like Dogue Creek and Little Hunting Creek.

Our Election Day 2009 survey of over 300 voters showed strong commitment to the community and a desire for fixing traffic, improving the appearance of the corridor and adding a Main Street feel, addressing pedestrian and bicycle safety, improving parks and restoring streams, and expanding transit – even adding light rail.

On September 29, 2010, we held an educational forum on the Route 1 Corridor. Check out the presentations by Bill Hudnut, David Kitchens and Yolanda Takesian (PDF).

Our new map (PDF) highlights parks, streams to restore, commercial areas that can become main street communities, and exciting transit options.

A Positive Vision for Richmond Highway

We believe that Richmond Highway has great potential and can be revitalized through new investments in:

Transit
Mixed-use developments along a proper street grid
A boulevard design for the highway
Better stormwater management
Improved safety in vibrant, bustling communities

Modern Transit Options for a new Richmond Highway

Improved transit helps to spark economic redevelopment, and we’ve seen success stories across the region, including Alexandria and Arlington. Options include Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or Light Rail Transit (LRT) which would connect commercial areas along the corridor. With dedicated lanes, transit could offer a speedier commuting option and an alternative to the corridor becoming the eight-lane highway that VDOT has proposed. Arlington and Fairfax are tying revitalization of the Columbia Pike corridor to modern streetcar service.

Our Main Street -- Mix Your Uses and Walk to the Store, Work or School

Richmond Highway is the main street of southeastern Fairfax. Main Street communities mix residential, office, retail and civic institutions like the Post Office and library in a pedestrian-friendly environment. Buildings are built to the sidewalk, and first floor retail often has residential or office space above: like traditional walkable Main Streets in historic towns.

Richmond Highway can be a great, walkable place with new investment and the right design.

Street Grids Reduce Gridlock

Transforming old strip malls and parking lots into a walkable place will take some smart design features, like making sure any redevelopment has a strong street grid. Big commercial areas can accommodate a local street network that allows easier local trips. The street grid will also help pedestrians and create lively, vibrant street life, with sidewalk cafes, restaurants and shops.

A New Boulevard

All users of Richmond Highway should feel safe and welcome, whether pedestrians or bicyclists or transit riders or drivers. A boulevard design for Richmond Highway would do just that: shield pedestrians from traffic by providing on-street parking, and providing a space for transit, whether light rail or bus rapid transit or express bus. Bicyclists could be accommodated in bike lanes or other on-road biking facilities.

Protect and Restore Streams and Expand Parks

When a big storm hits, all that rain water runs over parking lots (picking up pollutants from cars along the way) and flushes directly into local streams. Streams cannot handle sudden, overwhelming stormwater surges and become deeply eroded. Redevelopment would also give us the opportunity to better manage our stormwater runoff through low-impact design and various mitigation technologies.

Safety Starts with “Eyes on the Street”

Many residents complain about feeling unsafe along Richmond Highway. And with good reason – vast, poorly lit parking lots devoid of activity are recipes for crime. Once those old strip malls are redeveloped along a mixed-use, walkable street grid, there will be more shops on the first floor with “eyes on the street.” In a pedestrian-friendly environment there is a sense of activity and dynamism, a sense of community, and the opportunity to meet friends and neighborhors unexpectedly on the street.

Additional In-Depth Information

Civic Efforts at Revitalization

Revitalization Studies

Watershed Management

Let Us Know What You Think

These are just some of the things we’d like to see along Richmond Highway. We’d also like to see housing that incorporates a mix of incomes, parks in new developments, and new businesses that will create good jobs. What do you think? We’re asking residents along Richmond Highway about their top priorities for a future corridor-wide visioning process. Take two minutes and fill out our quick survey to let us know your top concerns.

To get a better idea of what we’re talking about, check out our map (PDF) of underutilized land along Richmond Highway that we’d like to see redeveloped, along with important watersheds and park space. You can also take a look at our Proposal for a Comprehensive Visioning Process for the Richmond Highway/Route 1 Corridor (PDF).