Where Does Vienna Need Sidewalks?

With a $1 million grant to spend on sidewalk projects in town, Vienna now has some money to spend on projects.

The only question is where.

Vienna's Transportation Safety Commission held a meeting Tuesday night to discuss how it would prioritize the many sidewalk projects residents have asked be completed around town.

Vienna recently awarded a $1 million grant to spend on sidewalk implementation throughout town.

The town's Department of Public Works provided the commission with a list of recommendations for sidewalk implementation that totaled $1.7 million, tasking the commission with narrowing the list to $1 million in implementation projects.

The commission first accepted all citizen-petitioned implementation projects, including projects on Glyndon and Lewis Streets, and also accepted all projects that included pathways connecting to the W&OD Trail.

The citizen petitions and pathways to the trail accounted for $600,000 of the $1 million allotted to the commission, and were approved by the TSC with little opposition.

After further discussion, the commission also accepted projects on John Marshall Drive, Creek Crossing Road and Ninovan Road in Vienna, among others, to make up the remaining $400,000.

The commission will now send its list back to the Department of Public Works to be presented before the Town Council.

"I think that based on the timeline, this was the best decision we could make," commission member Andrew Meren said, regarding the commission's sense of urgency to approve the implementation projects.

The commission was not presented with a date informing it of when the funds might expire — and acting quickly helps ensure the town won't lose them, Meren said.

"I think that if we had more time we could achieve more projects and get them all done, but like everybody said you have the money and you don't want to lose it so you'd rather as much done (as possible)."

Patch will follow this story as the full project list becomes available.

Where do you think Vienna needs sidewalks? Tell us in the comments.