The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) has launched a Draft Action Plan for a regionally connected Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system that could significantly enhance transit options in Alexandria and throughout Northern Virginia.
The plan identifies up to 28 potential BRT routes across the region, with several directly serving Alexandria or connecting the city to neighboring jurisdictions.
Alexandria is already positioned to benefit from NVTA’s investment in BRT, with the organization having committed more than $880 million toward five BRT segments regionwide, including projects within the city.
The draft plan builds on existing BRT investments to create a comprehensive regional system providing fast, frequent, and reliable transit service. The goal is to improve all-day transit service, reduce congestion, and better connect key destinations throughout Northern Virginia and into Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
Seven of the proposed routes would directly serve the City of Alexandria: Metroway, Duke Street Transitway, West End Transitway, Route 7, Glebe Road, Beltway South, and Little River Turnpike.
Metroway, which currently operates between the Pentagon and Braddock Road Metro stations, is the first BRT line with dedicated lanes in Northern Virginia. The 4.5-mile route was implemented in two phases, with the first completed in 2014 in Alexandria and the second in 2015 in Arlington.
According to NVTA’s analysis, Metroway carried 379,000 passengers between July 2023 and June 2024. The draft plan proposes northern and southern extensions of the existing route.
The Duke Street Transitway would establish BRT service along the 4.5-mile stretch of Duke Street between the Landmark Mall redevelopment and the King Street Metro Station. This critical east-west route through Alexandria would deliver reliable transit service, reduce travel times, and promote multimodal accessibility.
In 2023, conceptual designs for the Duke Street Transitway were refined based on technical analysis and community input, with a new design scope of work approved by the City of Alexandria in 2025.
The West End Transitway aims to improve north-south connectivity between the Van Dorn Metro Station, the Landmark Mall redevelopment, and the Pentagon via high-frequency BRT service. This 5.3-mile corridor, including 2.7 miles of dedicated bus lanes, would link Alexandria’s rapidly growing neighborhoods and key employment centers.
Mark Center and Route 7 would be serviced by Potential Route 5.
Potomac Yard would be included in the Potential Route 6 – Glebe Road.
King Street and Old Town would be included in Potential Route 11 – Beltway South.
The Landmark Transit Center could be a potential station on Potential Route 12, the Little River Turnpike.
The draft plan evaluates each potential route across multiple performance measures, including ridership, transportation impacts, land use compatibility, project readiness, costs, revenue potential, cost-effectiveness, and feasibility.
Among the routes serving Alexandria, Metroway and Duke Street Transitway received high ratings for cost-effectiveness, while the West End Transitway scored lower in this category. All three Alexandria-specific routes received high ratings for land use compatibility, reflecting the city’s transit-supportive development patterns.
The plan projects that by 2045, the complete regional BRT system will serve approximately 47 million riders annually. For comparison, in FY 2024, bus ridership in Northern Virginia was approximately 33.6 million, while rail ridership was 60.2 million.
Implementation of the complete system would require a significant investment. Construction of the entire regional network is estimated to cost approximately $4.2 billion (in 2024 dollars), which includes more than 170 miles of dedicated bus lanes, upgrades or construction of more than 270 stops, 550 vehicles, two new park-and-ride lots, and signal and design improvements to hundreds of intersections.
The high-quality service proposed would require approximately $192 million per year to operate (in 2024 dollars), though this estimate doesn’t include potential savings from reducing service levels for local bus service currently operating on these corridors.
NVTA is seeking public input on the draft BRT Action Plan and system map. The public can provide feedback through an online form and speak with NVTA staff at a series of pop-up events, including one scheduled for this afternoon from 3:00-7:00 p.m. at the Potomac Yard Metro Station.
Available resources for the public include the Draft BRT Action Plan, BRT System Map, Interactive BRT System Map, and BRT Route Profiles. The online feedback form will be open until May 18.
Once community feedback is incorporated, NVTA staff will present recommendations to Authority board members, seeking adoption of the Action Plan in July 2025.
