Martha Elena Coello, AICP
Senior Transportation Planner IV
Fairfax County Department of Transportation
- One Word to Describe Herself: Mediator
- Alma Mater: University of Virginia and Virginia Tech
- Favorite Hobby: Washington, D.C. and UVA sports, dancing, music and biking
- Favorite Transit System (other than one they work at): Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. She’s always had a nostalgic feeling when stepping into a station, seeing the platform lights start blinking and feeling the whoosh of air as the train rushes in.
Martha Coello’s interest in planning was sparked by the understanding of how the built environment could influence behaviors and community. She began her career at the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) as a transportation planner with a focus on transit-oriented development (TOD) planning and implementation, looking at mixed-use development at a time when that had not been done in the county.
As a member of the Tysons Urban Center Core Planning Team, Martha coordinated the transit and transportation infrastructure to transform the Tysons Urban Area into a multi-modal transportation hub to ensure consistency with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s $5.8 billion Silver Line rail extension. She was directly involved in planning more than 100 million square feet of mixed-use transit-oriented development with a plan goal of providing more than 100,000 residents and 200,000 jobs by 2050 in the Tysons Urban Center.
She is instrumental in developing a comprehensive communication and public involvement program to seek adjacent landowner and residents input on the Silver Line’s project. Martha has identified new bicycle and pedestrian links with the 8 new stations in Fairfax County, and coordinating bus infrastructure improvements with the County’s Fairfax Connector transit system, linking all modes of transportation with the new transit system.
Coello continues to be an important and active part of Fairfax County’s efforts to extend Metrorail service to Dulles International Airport and connecting Fairfax County with the National Capital Region. She finds it important to look at things holistically; looking at the community as a whole and where people go and how they get there.
Coello is a member of the American Planning Association, Institute of Transportation Engineers and holds a certification as American Institute of Certified Planners.
“We have competing interests and it’s really difficult to deal with those competing interests; that’s the nature of the game. Sometimes the ideal is impossible so you really need to be creative in working with other people, trying to understand their needs and sometimes it’s not the easiest thing to do but you work together to find solutions.”
Fun Fact: Coello enjoys biking and in 2014, completed the Sea Gull Century Bicycling event.
