FAIRFAX CITY, VA — More than a decade after Fairfax City officials began working with property owners, developers and transportation agencies to transform a largely inaccessible section of Northfax, city leaders gathered Thursday to cut the ribbon on a new street network designed to support redevelopment, bicycling and walking.
The Northfax West project extends Farr Avenue north from Fairfax Boulevard and connects it with a realigned Orchard Street, creating a street grid in the northwest quadrant of Fairfax Boulevard and Chain Bridge Road. The network provides access to existing businesses and new development while adding sidewalks, bike lanes, parking, landscaping and lighting.
Wendy Block Sanford, Fairfax City's transportation director, said discussions about how to make the project work began about 10 to 12 years ago, when much of the area consisted of older car lots and Orchard Street was essentially a dead-end road. The city's comprehensive plan envisioned higher-density development and an interconnected street grid in an area that Sanford said was difficult to navigate on foot.
"We had this vision," Sanford said at Thursday's ribbon cutting. "And specifically in this quadrant, this Northfax West quadrant, we were looking, on a plan, we had, lines that showed these roadways that have now been constructed."
Making those lines on a map into actual streets required an unusually complicated arrangement involving Fairfax City, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and private property owners and developers.
Some property was donated to the city, other right of way was purchased, and portions of the roadway were constructed by private developers while the city built other sections, Sanford said.
"There were no local funds that were used to do this project," Sanford said, crediting VDOT, NVTA and private partners with making the project possible without using city taxpayer dollars.
A 2020 city presentation described the project as an extension of Farr Avenue from Fairfax Boulevard to a relocated Orchard Street, providing an expanded network for motorized and nonmotorized traffic and opening access to commercial properties and future redevelopment sites. Plans called for bike lanes, sidewalks, parking in portions of the corridor, landscaping and lighting.
At the time, the city had secured $2.3 million in VDOT revenue-sharing funding and $2.5 million through NVTA's 70 percent funding program, while pursuing additional transportation funding.
Mayor Catherine Read said the project reflects the city's efforts to accommodate an increasingly urban environment with transportation options beyond automobiles.
"We need roads to be connected into a grid so that the people who choose to move here into these new developments can easily get around without a car," Read said. "We need sidewalks. We need bike lanes. This road has bike lanes."
Read also credited the property owners and developers who worked with the city over the years.
"That is the true essence of a partnership, is, I'm willing to do a little to make it better for everyone," Read said. "It's better for me, but it's better for the city and it's better for everyone else."
The new network serves an area that now includes townhouses, multifamily housing, Brightview senior housing and the Safford Mazda Fairfax auto dealership. Sanford said creating street frontage and access also opened additional land to potential redevelopment.
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State Sen. Saddam Salim (D-37th), who attended the ribbon cutting, called the project an example of cooperation between government and private property owners.
"I believe this is the example that I will be taking to Richmond when we do additional projects to say, this is the gold standard that we need to use going forward," Salim said.
NVTA CEO Monica Backmon said the project illustrates how transportation investments can improve accessibility while serving multiple modes of travel.
"It's multimodal. It provides accessibility. It provides some safety options, and that's really what we strive to do," Backmon said.
The project also realigned Orchard Street, which previously ended within the Northfax West area, and connected it with the Farr Avenue extension. Sanford said the resulting grid provides on-street parking and bicycle and pedestrian connections while giving surrounding development direct street access.
Another change is still coming. A new traffic signal is expected to be installed at Farr Avenue and Fairfax Boulevard as part of separate improvements, Sanford said Thursday. She estimated the signal would be operating in about a month.
For Sanford, Thursday's ribbon cutting marked the end of one of the most complicated transportation projects she has worked on — and the realization of a concept that began with a group of city officials and property owners trying to determine how lines drawn on a comprehensive plan could become actual streets.
"It's created a whole neighborhood and a whole lot of economic development opportunities," Sanford said.
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