Summary

Design for this roundabout was initiated in 2021, and the construction contract to Ardent Co., LLC, was authorized by City Council at its January 13, 2025, meeting. The roundabout is currently scheduled to be completed in 2025.
The total cost of the project is $3 million, 90% funded by state grants from VDOT and NVTA.
The roundabout was chosen by the City engineers based on safety and lower maintenance costs. However, some residents and Council members were concerned that drivers are unfamiliar with roundabouts and may endanger pedestrians because of their confusion.
The City Council agreed that the staff should initiate condemnation proceedings to acquire land for right-of-way from the owners of Bowlero by eminent domain after 18 months of extensive communication failed to generate a meaningful response.

Background

This intersection was identified for improvement in a City Small Area Plan to make it safer for pedestrians while allowing the appropriate throughput for traffic. Transportation improvements for this intersection were detailed in the City Center Transportation Plan of 2007 and reaffirmed in the Downtown Area Plan in 2014. The City applied for the Virginia State “Revenue Sharing” program for funding, which was approved in 2020. The City added the roundabout to the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) and fully funded it in FY2020.

Aerial map of S Maple Ave adn W Annandale Rd intersection - location of the new roundabout. — Current signalized intersection at W Annandale Road and S Maple Avenue

Design considerations: Signals or roundabout?

The funding application allowed for two options:

An upgraded signalized intersection with pedestrian facilities, or
A single-lane roundabout with pedestrian crosswalks and flashing beacons.

City engineers worked with outside consultants to study the traffic patterns at the intersection. The intersection has significant truck traffic, especially those vehicles serving the Harris Teeter, and consideration was given to traffic growth from future developments nearby. In 2021, the traffic analysis concluded that both types of intersections would operate at acceptable levels of service, but the staff ultimately recommended a roundabout as a safer choice for pedestrians and a lower maintenance cost. Their recommendations were accepted, and the design was completed in June 2022.

Construction of roundabout to begin in 2025

At the January 13 meeting, the City Council was asked to approve two items to allow construction to proceed according to schedule:

Authorize awarding up to $2.132 million to Ardent Co., LLC for the roundabout construction. This contract bid was set to expire on February 4.
Initiate condemnation proceedings for the City to acquire 1,090 square feet of land from V. Bowl Falls Church LLC, owner of Bowlero, formerly Bowl America. More on this below.

Safety concerns about the novelty of a roundabout

City resident Bob Lajeunesse addressed his concerns to the City Council at the January 13 meeting. His concern was that most drivers are not familiar with roundabouts, so it may result in more accidents and be potentially more dangerous to pedestrians and bicyclists.

When this project was first presented to the City Council at its January 18, 2022, meeting, former Council Member Caroline Lian and former Mayor David Tarter voiced similar concerns. Ms. Lian recommended that there be adequate signage to help drivers who are unfamiliar with roundabouts and worried that their confusion could make it less safe for pedestrians. Mr. Tarter was concerned that this first roundabout is located at a fairly major thoroughfare in the City. He said, “I am not sold on it yet and would like to hear more about how it might compare to a traditional intersection.”

Roundabout points of conflict diagrams — Points of conflict for a roundabout and a standard signalized intersection. Source: Presentation at City Council Work Session, January 18, 2022.

At the January 13, 2025 Council meeting, CIP Project Manager Scott Freda explained that “a standard signalized intersection has 32 points of conflict whereas a roundabout has eight points of conflict, which is a huge reduction in possible collisions between pedestrians and vehicles.”

Falls Church resident Andrew Oleson who analyzed crashes in the City in the Pulse post, CACT Analysis of Traffic Crashes In Falls Church City, said that his analysis of data on crashes for 2018-2023 showed that there was an average of 2.5 injuries per year at the existing S Maple Avenue/W Annandale Road intersection.

Council approval not required for the design of infrastructure projects

City Council is not required to approve designs of infrastructure projects in the City. Design decisions are presented to the City Council for information purposes only, and these projects are often taken from the initial phase to the 90% design phase with little, if any, Council or public input.

The City Council does have the “power of the purse” as these projects normally require some level of funding from the City. However, grants and funding decisions are often made in the very early stages of the design or before any design decisions have been made. In this case, the funding decision was made in FY2020, before the design began.

The City Council is also required to authorize the award of construction contracts, such as this one to Ardent Co., typically within weeks of contract bid expiration. Again, Council has to consider the sunk cost and the penalty of repaying state funds already expended, plus losing grants. Here, the City Council was asked to approve the construction award some three weeks before the expiration of the contract bid. A failure to award it could ostensibly require the entire contract bidding process to be repeated and risk losing $2.8 million of grants. Unsurprisingly, the City Council voted (7-0) to approve the award.

As a result, City engineers and project managers have considerable authority over all design decisions.

Funding the $3 million project with VDOT and NVTA grants

Most of the funds the City receives for transportation projects come from two sources – Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA). (Council member David Snyder has long advocated for the City on NVTA and is the 2025 NVTA Chair.)

VDOT has a revenue sharing program that funds 50% of the approved projects.

Funding Sources
VDOT 50% Revenue Sharing	$1,544,469
NVTA 30%	$1,246,666
City C & IE	$108,334
2025 Budget amendment	$189,469
Total project estimate	$3,088,938

NVTA receives funds from the state to implement a transportation plan for the Northern Virginia region. The NVTA 30% refers to the 30% of NVTA funds are available for local projects. However, for jurisdictions to obtain their full share of this fund, they must either implement a Commercial & Industrial tax of up to the 12.5 cents on commercial and industrial properties or deposit an equal amount from other sources, i.e. the Commercial & Industrial Equivalent (CI & E). The City has funded the C & IE from general revenues instead of a tax. The C & IE is used for local transportation capital projects.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be $3,088,936. The project received VDOT revenue sharing for $1,544,469 and NVTA 30% funding of $1,246,666. $108,334 was appropriated from the City’s C & IE fund. An additional $189,469 was allocated to this project from the FY2024 $6 million budget surplus.

The roundabout design

The diagram below is taken from the latest plan sheet. Features include:

All roads will be single lane approaching the roundabout.
Sloped curbs around the circle and two corners are intended to accommodate trucks.
Sidewalks will not be 100% brick but probably concrete with brick edges.
There will be no changes to existing entrances to properties near the intersection.
Bikers can either walk their bikes across the intersection on the pedestrian crosswalks or ride through the roundabout. There will be no dedicated bike lanes.

Four Rights-of-way need to be acquired

The project requires rights-of-way to be acquired from four properties around the intersection. Two properties on the east side are owned by Atlantic Realty, and negotiations are progressing. The northeast property is the site of the proposed Maple and Annandale development where the developer has applied for a Special Exception. The fourth right-of-way involves the Bowlero property.

Council votes (7-0) to initiate condemnation proceedings

The project requires 1,090 square feet (sf) of the Bowlero land for a permanent right-of-way, and the City offered $134,800 based on a certified appraisal. The City has exchanged extensive communications with V. Bowl Falls Church, LLC, the owners of Bowlero, for the last 18 months. However, the City has not received a response from the landowner beyond an acknowledgment of the offer.

Eminent domain allows the City to acquire land for infrastructure purposes. The condemnation proceedings are the process for that acquisition. Staff explained that they could not wait any longer as there are expiration dates on the construction quotes.

Council Member David Snyder asked if every option has been explored as “condemnation” should be a last resort.

City Manager Wyatt Shields responded, “We’ve been at it for 18 months … we are now at the point of losing the contractual documents that we’ve already put out to bid. We are right up against the deadline now. I think we’ve exhausted all normal means.”

Attorney Courtney Harden, specializing in eminent domain and retained by the City to litigate this matter, added, “I was wildly impressed that there were 50 emails exchanged, two face-to-face meetings, two meetings over Teams, five letters mailed, [and] no substantive response. … this particular landowner has been rather nonchalant about the process.”

Council Member Erin Flynn noted that while she supports the initiation of condemnation proceedings in this case, this is the second request for condemnation proceedings in recent history. (An August 2024 staff request to initiate condemnation proceedings for property belonging to Bedo’s on Broad Street was settled after Council voted to delay approval and allow more time for negotiations.) Ms. Flynn said, “I do have a general concern that we don’t get comfortable with the idea of thinking about our transportation projects or how we might increase revenue or increase economic development by the appearance of our downtown, for example, that we are not being overly aggressive in terms of how we’re thinking about the City’s condemnation authority.”

The Council agreed to initiate condemnation proceedings that will cost an estimated $50,000. The vote was unanimous.