Vienna's crash-prone Church Street and Lawyers Road intersection will get a redesign after the Town Council voted unanimously on Aug. 24 to hire an engineering firm for the job.

The council awarded a $272,396 purchase order to Rummel, Klepper & Kahl LLP (RK&K), a Baltimore-based firm that also has a Fairfax office, FFXnow reported. The contract covers data collection, surveying and design work for the Lawyers Road NW and Church Street NW Intersection Reconfiguration Project. The total includes a 25% contingency reserve.

The X-shaped intersection has been the site of 16 reported crashes over the past three and a half years, according to Vienna Police Department data. Lawyers Road serves as a key route for drivers heading to and from Reston, giving the intersection heavy daily traffic, according to Vienna Director of Public Works Brad Baer.

Town staff want to determine whether the intersection can be split into two offset T-intersections, a concept recommended by the Maple Avenue Multimodal Transportation and Land Use Study completed in 2019. That design would eliminate through traffic on Church Street and remove a slip lane that lets eastbound drivers turn right from Church onto Lawyers Road. Extended curbs would create sharper turns and realign crosswalks, shortening the distance pedestrians need to cross.

The Maple Avenue study projected the new layout would reduce traffic delays on Church Street compared to doing nothing. One exception: westbound drivers during the afternoon rush would face 61-second waits.

Not every council member was immediately comfortable with the concept. Councilmember Chuck Anderson worried that reducing Church Street to one lane could cause traffic to stack up. Councilmember Howard Springsteen said he was "not sold on the T" and worried the design could restrict traffic flow and require property acquisition.

The vote was unanimous.

Baer stressed that the sketch shown at the meeting was preliminary. Hiring the consultant does not commit the town to the offset T design, he said. RK&K will survey existing crosswalks, turn lanes, signage, street parking and property lines before presenting a refined proposal to the council.

"Pausing is just kicking the can down the road of a problem that definitely needs to be solved now," Councilmember Dann Nash said before the vote. "It should've been solved a long time ago."

The town wants to avoid acquiring private property or right-of-way, though that could prove difficult because part of Church Street sits on U.S. Post Office land. The contract requires RK&K to hold at least one public meeting to present proposed improvements. Baer said staff could also schedule a council work session update while the evaluation is underway.

The project's total estimated cost is $400,000, split evenly between design and construction, according to the 2026–2042 Capital Improvement Plan the council adopted in October 2025. Funding comes from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), with support from the Fairfax County Department of Transportation.

Staff expect the design phase to wrap up in 2027, with construction on track to begin in 2028. A date for the required public meeting has not been announced.