Playing Frogger in Tysons Corner!

Another article from the Post on what I affectionately call, the Tysons Corner Cluster F@#$. (See Exploring Inroads for Tysons Foot Traffic)

After years of neglect, urban sprawl, and no planning it's no wonder why Tysons Corner is a death trap for Pedestrians and a traffic nightmare. Of course now politicians want to turn it into a wonderful downtown. I love the idea, but gimmee a break. Tysons Corner is a huge mess that is completely unfriendly to pedestrians.

In my opinion they got what they designed for. They've spent years and years building to make it friendly for cars. More parking lots, wider streets, more parking garages. So what did they get...more cars of course. Now there is nowhere for those cars to go, so they get the bright idea that now it would be better if there were less cars. Duhhh.

Here's just one example of the idiotic decisions made by VDOT and planners

When some neighbors requested more pedestrian signals on Route 7, engineers for the Virginia Department of Transportation studied their request but built only one in the one-mile stretch between International Drive and the Dulles Access Road.

"They were afraid that pedestrians crossing the road would slow down traffic," said Wade Smith, a board member of the McLean Citizens Association, who has doggedly catalogued missing sidewalk segments in the area.

VDOT is horrible.

With all these cars and decisions like VDOT's to NOT put in crosswalk signals is it any wonder why "a 2002 health department survey revealed that 58.8 percent of Virginia adults are overweight or obese. In 2003, the total estimated costs related to overweight and obesity in Virginia were approximately $1.6 billion." (see VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SEEKS INPUT TO REDUCE OBESITY IN THE STATE)

Hey, that's not far from the pricetag of the Metro expansion.

I'd say more but I have errands to run.