Bridge to Nowhere: Will There Be a Sidewalk on the South Side of the Wiehle Metro? (Probably, But You Never Know)

We're conceivably within six months of the awesome Wiehle Avenue Metro station opening, and apparently, they're still trying to figure out whether people will actually be able to walk to the skybridge on the south side of the Toll Road… like on sidewalks, as has been the case in most urban and semi-urban areas for the past bunch of centuries. We guess that isn't all that surprising, given the slow pace of other improvements around the new station, but still… really? This hasn't been figured out?

At a recent Reston Planning & Zoning meeting, the subject of whether the property owners will allow a county-built sidewalk came up for discussion.

Chris Wells said there definitely will be a sidewalk linking Wiehle to the southside escalator along the DTR exit. (This comment was triggered by reference to the ongoing bus ramp construction in the area and the current absence of a sidewalk).

Wells said the county has had one meeting with Vornado re pedestrian access through there property. The county has already set aside $ for a walkway through the property. He noted that several owners are involved grouped together in an Association. “There is not unanimous agreement” among them. They are concerned about liability but if you build a public walkway the county accepts liability.

Now, we are but simple "web loggers," but mayhap this subject could have come up for discussion before the decision to build a fancy umpteen million-dollar bridge over the Toll Road was made? (Yes, we know there's apparently also going to be some sort of bus offloading access thingy on that side, maybe, but still… why sweat the small stuff?)

But no worries!

[Wells] commented that he did not think “they will prevent people from walking though the property” even if there is no public sidewalk.

Or would they? If the property owners are that concerned about liability, they could always hire an out-of-work "cast member" from Medieval Times:


Problem solved.