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Fairfax County transportation officials want to replace a frustrating system for managing sidewalk, trail and crosswalk improvements with a three-year planning cycle.

The Board of Supervisors informally endorsed the proposal after years of delays, staffing challenges and rising project costs. Under the plan, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation would compile eligible projects and rank them based on factors including cost and community impact.

“That will structure things in a better way,” FCDOT Director Gregg Steverson told the board’s Transportation Committee.

Supervisors approved $100 million in 2021 for six years of pedestrian and intersection upgrades. But the volume of projects added to the queue overwhelmed staff tasked with evaluating and advancing them.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Steverson said of the process, which supervisors criticized in September for moving too slowly.

So far, the county has allocated $56.7 million to projects through three funding rounds. Officials are preparing a fourth round, with decisions expected later in the spring on how to distribute another $25.4 million.

Under the proposed system, all qualifying unfunded sidewalk and crosswalk projects could be considered during each three-year cycle. Requests submitted after a deadline would generally wait until the next cycle.

Board Chairman Jeff McKay supported testing the approach.

“We should look at the cyclical process — it’s worth experimenting and trying,” McKay said at the April 7 committee meeting.

Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said a three-year cycle sounded promising but argued that officials should retain flexibility when setting priorities.

Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith also supported the concept, though she questioned whether three years was the right interval.

“Is three [years] the magic time? I don’t know … but I do think we need to prioritize,” Smith said.

She emphasized that urgent projects should still be able to move ahead of others on the list.

“Safety needs to be top of mind,” Smith said.

Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman, who chairs the committee, welcomed the proposal after repeatedly raising concerns about the existing process.

“I have pounded the table about this in the past, so I’m not going to today,” Bierman said. “We are going to try and find ways to do this better.”

Dozens of projects remain unfinished

Steverson told supervisors that the first funding round covered 17 mostly quick crosswalk improvements. Eleven have been completed, one is on hold and the rest remain in various stages of work.

The second round included 30 generally more complicated crosswalk projects. About half are in design, three are on hold, one was taken over by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the others are still in preliminary stages.

Progress has been slower in the third round. Of 30 funded projects, two are in design, 10 are on hold, one has been canceled and the remainder are undergoing scoping or pre-design work.

Planners are now sorting through numerous unfunded requests for the fourth round. Steverson acknowledged that the effort “has taken longer than it should have, for a number of reasons.”

One complication is the federal Public Right-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines finalized by the U.S. Department of Transportation in late 2024. The updated rules impose new crosswalk and intersection construction requirements intended to advance the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Steverson said those requirements can make projects that were once relatively straightforward more expensive and difficult.

McKay questioned the practical effect of the regulations, saying that despite their laudable intent, “this will have the effect of killing a lot of projects.”

“It doesn’t make any sense to me — at all,” he said.

Staff turnover has also disrupted the county’s work. Steverson became permanent transportation director in January 2025 after serving in an acting capacity for more than a year.

FCDOT’s planning workforce remained comparatively stable during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, but employees began changing jobs and moving as the pandemic eased. Those departures drained institutional knowledge that had helped projects advance more quickly.

Later staffing reductions left remaining employees responsible for overseeing more projects as part of their regular workloads.

Palchik said a successful three-year system would be a welcome improvement over the current “really frustrating” process.

“We have a very big list” of projects to work through, she said.