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Great Falls residents are vowing to stop one of the few remaining road-building projects that has funding: the widening of Route 7.

While the $37 million project has some support from Reston residents and other east-west commuters, people who live off of Georgetown Pike believe the improvements will attract more cut-through traffic to the Pike.

"We have been shown a callous disregard for our community life and our safety," said Carla Lanzara of Great Falls. "Our community should not be sacrificed because VDOT wants to, quote, 'make Route 7 more operationally attractive.'"

Hilly, winding, two-lane Georgetown Pike connects Route 7 with the Capital Beltway, cutting out a significant chunk of the Beltway for people going from Sterling, Herndon or Reston to Maryland or Washington, D.C.

Residents who live off the Pike and have to use it for daily activities say it is increasingly difficult and unsafe for them to turn out of their neighborhood streets and onto the main road. As the Pike has become more congested, other side roads in Great Falls are also gaining favor with drivers trying to escape the congestion.

In addition to widening a 1.2-mile stretch of Route 7 to six lanes from Rolling Holly Drive to just beyond Reston Avenue, the project includes major improvements to the intersection of Route 7, Georgetown Pike and Seneca Road.

Currently, the left-turn lane from eastbound Route 7 to northbound Georgetown Pike backs up onto the through lanes of Route 7 during peak hours, adding to congestion and leading to frequent rear-end collisions, according to Leonard "Bud" Siegel, Fairfax preliminary engineering manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The plan calls for a dual left-turn lane from Route 7. It would also reconfigure the entire intersection to allow better access into and out of Seneca Road and an improved merge from the two lanes coming off of Route 7 down to one lane on the Pike.

Great Falls residents believe the dual left-turn lane will funnel additional traffic onto the already congested Georgetown Pike, while VDOT traffic engineers say that traffic will increase over time due to growth, no matter what is done to the intersection.

"The road can't accommodate increased traffic," said Eileen Ford, who lives off of Seneca Road and has to battle the Pike/Route 7/Seneca intersection on a daily basis. "The backup is just going to get worse because you're going to have two lanes."

County Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville) and Del.-elect Barbara Comstock (R-McLean) are siding with the residents and say they are going to continue to try and get the project changed or stopped.

"We're just creating access points for cut-through traffic," Foust said. He believes the Route 7 widening should start at Tysons Corner and go west rather than going from the county line east, as currently planned. The widening between Reston Avenue and Tysons Corner is indefinitely on hold, due to lack of funding.

Others on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisor support the change, including Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill). "For many of us, it is a project that will provide a great deal of relief," she said.

VDOT engineers already revisited the dual turn lane plan at the request of the county Board and determined that is still the best solution, Siegel said.

"Dual left turn lanes will increase the capacity of the Route 7 through lanes, which will encourage traffic to stay on Route 7," said Mark Givney, a VDOT engineer.

Great Falls residents say the agency has ignored some of their proposed solutions -- prohibiting left turns from Route 7 onto Georgetown Pike during peak hours; putting a raised concrete barrier between a single left-turn lane and the main through lanes; or stationing a police officer at the intersection to ticket people who are blocking traffic while trying to cut in the queue.

"I would just like VDOT to take our suggestions into consideration," said Marianne Quinn, who also lives off of Seneca Road.

VDOT engineers determined that a single turn lane would need to be about one mile long in order to accommodate peak traffic.

Project timeline

• 2004 - Route 7 widening project initially approved
• May 2008 - Board of Supervisors approves $8 million in additional funds to move widening segment ahead
• September 2009 - Interim improvements installed, including new stoplight at Seneca Road and Georgetown Pike
• September 2010 - Begin land acquisition
• Spring 2011 - Begin utility relocation
• Summer 2012 - Begin construction
• 2014 - Construction complete