Parking could get a lot tighter at the Vienna Metrorail station beginning next month. For the past five years, Metro has been leasing space on private property for a 680-space parking lot. This lot was initially used to help passengers displaced by the construction of a park-and-ride garage but was continued because of high demand after the terrorist attacks. That lease expires Nov. 19, and the land will be used for a private development. Fairfax County is proposing the construction of a 2,100-space garage on an existing lot near the station. If that garage is approved, the numberof available spaces will be temporarily reduced even more beginning next summer until the garage is completed in early 2009. If that happens, it might be a good idea to start finding alternative parking and connecting bus routes. A good starting point might be the county Web site at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/parkride.htm.
Speaking of parking lots and responding to earlier columns about the potential advantages of walking up stairs instead of using escalators, Patricia writes: “I submit that my parking fee is $900 a year, taking off the two weeks for vacation, some doctor’s appointments, etc. The parking lot I use is at the beginning/end of the line. It has been expanded twice because it fills up so quickly. I do not pay for reserved parking. That would be an additional $35 a month or more, over and above paying the $3.75 daily just to find a nonreserved parking space on the outdoor lots, five working days a week.
