A Fairfax County economic development group hopes to install dozens of signs along Richmond Highway in the hopes of guiding visitors to commercial and historic areas, the latest move in a mission to revitalize the aging seven-mile corridor.
The Southeast Fairfax Development Corp.’s “wayfinding program,” part of a Virginia Department of Transportation pilot, could cost as much as $1 million to erect 145 signs, Executive Director Lara Fritts said.
“We’re so lucky that we have all these historic and cultural sites, we want to make sure that visitors can find them in a quick and efficient manner,” she said.
For example, the group wants to help guide visitors from Mount Vernon onto the highway for shopping, she said.
The price is so high because each site may need to have its own land survey.
Part of the initiative will be paid forthrough a 2006 federal grant and Fairfax County bond funds. The group still needs about $400,000, Fritts said, but hopes to drive costs down.
Richmond Highway, or Route 1, has long been targeted for redevelopment and is expected to benefit from the 19,000 new jobs headed to Fort Belvoir by 2011.
The highway has seen some recent bad news, however, with the scuttling of Kings Crossing, a major mixed-use development, due to economic woes.
