‘Time is money’: Fairfax supervisors slam road project delays

Several Fairfax County leaders are speaking out about delays in finishing road safety projects that have already been funded.

During a Board of Supervisors budget conversation this week, supervisors pushed back against the fact that $82.12 million for infrastructure improvements had been allocated, but only about $12 million has been spent.

The board previously set a $100 million goal for new sidewalks and road upgrades for pedestrian and cyclist safety. As part of a discussion about fiscal 2025 carryover funding, the county did not propose allocating any additional money toward that goal.

Local news website FFX Now first reported details of Tuesday鈥檚 meeting.

鈥淚鈥檓 like a broken record on it, because I have had it up to here with hearing over and over again, 鈥楧elays, delays, delays,鈥� because also time is money,鈥� Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said. 鈥淭ime is money. It鈥檚 costing us more money on these projects because things are taking too long now.鈥�

Bierman called the spending numbers 鈥渦nacceptable,鈥� adding that not setting aside additional funding for the projects 鈥渟o that we can meet the obligations that we as a board decided to put in place makes perfect sense, because we have not done nearly a good enough job of moving these projects forward.鈥�

Chairman Jeffrey聽McKay questioned whether builders and others involved facing challenges with Virginia鈥檚 Department of Transportation could be contributing to the delays.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a lot of money still sitting there, and I would like to get a better explanation of why,鈥� McKay said.

鈥淲hen we know that there are bike and pedestrian improvements all over this county that are desperately needed, how we can speed up the process on that is something that we should all be focused on here.鈥�

Staff with the county鈥檚 transportation department weren鈥檛 in attendance at Tuesday鈥檚 meeting, supervisors said.

Bryan Hill, the county executive, said construction costs always come at the end of a project, and vowed to provide supervisors with a list of projects in process and what the cost is.

鈥淚 get that the cost at the very end is when the money gets spent, but we still have a speed problem,鈥� McKay said.

Supervisor Dalia Palchik, meanwhile, said it can sometimes take 10 years to build a sidewalk, and 鈥渢hat鈥檚 just been the reality. I don鈥檛 know how much of that we can change.鈥�

Separately, Fairfax County鈥檚 Department of Transportation is hosting a series of meetings to discuss proposals for adding bike lanes and marked crosswalks to some neighborhoods, including near Forestdale Elementary.

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