Delivering reliable, community-serving transit through a dense commercial corridor is more than just an engineering challenge. On Fairfax County’s Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit (RHBRT) project, design and right‑of‑way (ROW) decisions have been inseparable from the start.
Given its proximity to Mount Vernon, this portion of Richmond Highway follows a road once used by George Washington, and the RHBRT project aims to introduce a modern bus system that effectively restores the role once played by the Mount Vernon Trolley, which ceased operation in 1932.
From early concept development forward, STV helped shape how engineering, access, and property considerations would be evaluated together rather than in sequence. This approach recognized that decisions made on paper would directly affect businesses, mobility, and public trust along the corridor.
STV, in joint venture, is serving as the Program Management Consultant for this 7.4-mile BRT corridor that will run from the Huntington Metrorail Station to Fort Belvoir in one of the most intensely developed stretches in Northern Virginia. Businesses line Richmond Highway shoulder‑to‑shoulder, many built decades ago close to the roadway with access, circulation and visibility finely tuned to daily operations.
At the same time, the corridor carries heavy traffic volumes and serves residents and employees, particularly at Fort Belvoir, who lack reliable alternatives to driving. The RHBRT project aims to change that by delivering faster, more dependable transit and improved multimodal connections while maintaining the access and functionality that existing businesses rely on to operate day to day.
What distinguishes Route 1 BRT is how deliberately the team has navigated the tension between ambitious infrastructure goals and the realities of an active commercial corridor;treating geometry, phasing and incremental design decisions as tools for stewardship, using micro adjustments to reduce impacts that, in this environment, can quickly translate into real economic harm.
ROW as a Design Partner – Not a Downstream Task
Along Route 1, ROW could never be treated as a box to check after design. The corridor includes more than 200 distinct properties, many of them commercial. Gas stations, restaurants, churches, national retailers and auto dealerships all sit within inches of the proposed improvements, and many depend on precise access and internal circulation to function.
STV’s ROW professionals were embedded early in the design process, flagging where seemingly minor decisions such as curb lines, median widths, station footprints could trigger outsized consequences. In some cases, a curb line shifted by inches or a driveway angle adjusted slightly was the difference between preserving functional access and disrupting critical vehicle movements. Treating ROW as a delivery strategy helps protect not only cost and schedule, but also long-term trust with property owners and the surrounding community.
This early coordination was especially important given the project’s structure, with Fairfax County and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), advancing different segments that must ultimately function as one cohesive system. Clear alignment across agencies was crucial. Since VDOT retains ownership of the existing right-of-way and exercises jurisdictional control and maintenance over the corridor (including planning considerations tied to future street acceptance), Fairfax County, supported by STV’s ROW team, will transfer the right-of-way and related property interests to VDOT as the necessary land rights are integrated into the state’s transportation system at the end of the project.
When Inches Matter: Geometry in a Commercial Corridor
One of the most instructive lessons from Route 1 BRT is how much value lies in inches.
Standard roadway design often favors straight lines and uniform offsets. In a frontage‑driven commercial corridor, those ideals can conflict with reality. Designers and ROW staff repeatedly revisited alignments, sometimes introducing subtle curves, tightening bump‑outs or slightly shifting construction access areas to improve outcomes.
These micro‑adjustments were particularly crucial for high‑value sites such as auto dealerships, where every square foot supports inventory display or vehicle circulation, and gas stations, where ingress and egress geometry is fundamental to safety and profitability. In many cases, preserving functional access mattered more than preserving land area alone.
By resolving these issues early, the team avoided impacts that could have escalated into lengthy and costly negotiations, lost profit claims or redesigns. These are the kinds of challenges that often stall complex corridor projects and erode public confidence.
A Model for Integrated Delivery
Fairfax County’s Route 1 BRT shows what can be avoided and preserved when design, ROW and construction strategy function as a single system. Through early integration and disciplined coordination, the project has protected business access, reduced the risk of schedule disruption and enabled a transit investment that responds to both mobility needs and economic realities.
As agencies across the country look to retrofit suburban arterials into multimodal corridors, Route 1 offers a clear lesson; success often hinges on early ROW engagement, design flexibility and a willingness to solve problems at the scale of inches before they become impacts that delay delivery, strain community relationships or compromise long-term corridor performance.
