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walkable vienna?
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Anonymous
| I read on dcum rather often that Vienna is walkable. As I am looking for a walkable community I checked out Vienna yesterday and couldn't find the walkable part. The area near Whole Foods seemed pedestrian friendly but otherwise I just saw strip malls. Did I miss something? |
Anonymous
| I think people might be talking about the Church Street part. |
Anonymous
| Compared to Routes 7, 50, 29, and other parts of 123, it is walkable. Or maybe you should drive around Centreville and Chantilly. |
Anonymous
| It can be very walkable. We walk to the library, Whole Foods, the baseball fields, concerts on the green, to the shops on Church street, jammin java, restaurants and the W&OD trail. However, if you live on the edges of Vienna I doubt that you'd do as much walking. |
Anonymous
| If all you did was drive down Maple Ave, then you probably can't figure out how it is walkable. Look at the neighborhoods near the community center, library, ballfield, etc. Very walkable. |
Anonymous
|
Church Street is certainly walkable. We don't necessarily go walking up & down Maple Avenue, but that area in general is very walkable, as you can walk to Waters Field, the Community Center, the library (next to Whole Foods), the Town Green which has a lot of entertainment/live music in the summer, and other places. On Saturdays (May-Oct) there is a farmer's market in the parking lot next to the Caboose on Church Street and LOTS of people walk or bike there regularly. My kids love going there. We usually bring a picnic blanket, buy some food & fresh fruit, and hang out in the shade. We also like to walk down to Church Street Pizza or Nielsen's (frozen custard) in the evenings in the summer sometimes.
Even if you don't live within a few blocks of Maple/Church, it is still quite walkable if you have access to the W&OD Trail. We live about a mile from Maple Ave, but our neighborhood, off of Lawyers Road, has a path to the bike trail. Many of those neighborhoods have good access to the trail & it leads right into downtown Vienna so neighborhoods that look at first glance like they are not walkable to downtown really can be if you check out the trail access. We are a good 20-minute walk to downtown so it's more of a family activity on a weekend, not something I would do if I just need to go to the post office or something, but it's nice to be able to do it as a family when the weather is nice or when there are events (eg, Viva Vienna) where parking is difficult. |
Anonymous
We live off the WOD trail (in a community off of Electric Ave, near the Navy FCU) and it is awesome! Great for exercise, as well as walking or biking into town for activities. |
Anonymous
| We live in Vienna, closer to Oakton, between Nutley and Sutton. Every day, I walk to Church St. with my toddler and baby. There are sidewalks everywhere and lots of trees on the way. |
Anonymous
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OP, I think what you're seeing is that "walkable" is interpreted as "sidewalks are present so you are not physically prevented from walking to some community amenities". And I'd say that's generally true for many neighborhoods out there. I wouldn't call any area with surface parking lots and numerous curb cuts interrupting strips of sidewalk running along fast-moving thoroughfares pedestrian friendly, though.
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Anonymous
Well in that case, Wilson Boulevard would not qualify as "walkable," what with being a major thoroughfare having numerous turnoff points and surface parking areas. So goodbye Lyon Village *sob* It'd be Old Town Alexandria, Falls Church, historic Herndon, historic Leesburg, Middleburg, and Reston Town Center what with their 25 mph speed limits and two-lane roads. Even OTA might fail due to Patrick, Henry, and Washington Streets. When I lived in Vienna, I was able to to cross Route 123 without fearing for my life the way I would crossing Route 50 pretty much anywhere outside of Fairfax City. |
Anonymous
Ditto. We live inside the town limits in NW. |
Anonymous
I agree, sort of. Vienna is big, so if you live at the outskirts, then yes, you are nowhere near walking distance to downtown. But you don't have to live within the Town limits to be close to "walkable" Vienna (I know that's not what you meant, but just clarifying). We live outside the Town boundary but have easy access to the trail and we walk/bike into town all the time as do a lot of our neighbors. OP, I would suggest parking in the lot on Church Street near the Caboose and getting out and checking out that area on foot and seeing what you think. The trail cuts right through there and that is really the heart of the walkable part of Vienna. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thank you everyone (except for 20:08 who was no help) for your responses! We were driving down 123/Maple Ave so from what you all have indicated, it wasn't the best sample area.
As for 20:08's unhelpful response, I beg to differ. I currently live in Centreville, and am between 1/2 mile to a mile away--via glorious wide uninterrupted sidewalk--from two pretty awesome shopping centers containing 2 grocery stores, several restaurants and bars (ranging from takeout Chinese to Kabobs to Korean BBQ to Bonefish and Sweetwater to Thai or Tippys Taco House...you get the drift), a movie theatre, library, huge gym w/indoor pool and water slide, our neighborhood pool and tennis courts, Starbucks, liquor store, drycleaner, etc. I was quite displeased to move from Arlington to Centreville, however I have been pleasantly surprised at how much is around here. |
Anonymous
| OP, so why are you looking to move? |
Anonymous
| OP here: Two reasons we are moving. First, our house is too small for a growing family so we have to move in the next few years. Second, and the reason we arent getting another house out here is that my own personal image of self does not involve my living in Centreville, Manassas, Woodbridge, Lorton, or most places in PG County. Shallow but the truth. |