Alexandria City Council will consider the appeal of the Traffic and Parking Board’s decision to remove parking and reconfigure a portion of Braddock Road for bike lanes.
City spokesperson Ebony Fleming told ALXnow the appeal consideration is tentatively scheduled for City Council’s May 16 public hearing. The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chamber at Del Pepper Community Resource Center (4850 Mark Center Drive).
The Traffic and Parking Board was informed at its meeting Monday about the May 16 appeals.
Multiple appeals of the Traffic and Parking Board’s decision were submitted to the city clerk by residents, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and Community Praise Church. The churches’ opposition focused on the loss of parking; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church additionally objected to the relocation of a handicap parking space from the front of its building.
The Traffic and Parking Board approved the Braddock Road redesign between West Street and Russell Road in the Rosemont and Del Ray neighborhoods in the early morning hours of Feb. 24, following hours of public testimony from bike lane supporters and residents opposed to the parking reductions and consolidation of several turn lanes.
The changes approved by the board included:
- Reducing lanes in each direction from two to one on Braddock Road between Mount Vernon Avenue and West Street
- Removing on-street parking on Braddock Road between Mount Vernon Avenue and Russell Road, except about 100 feet in the unit block of E. Braddock Road and 60 feet in the 200 block of E. Braddock Road
- Removing on-street parking on Commonwealth Avenue between Braddock Road and Spring Street
- Consolidating the turn lanes and through lanes on the Braddock Road approaches to the intersection of Braddock Road, Russell Road, and W. Alexandria Avenue
- Consolidating turn and through lanes at approaches to the intersection of Braddock Road and Commonwealth Avenue
- Consolidating the eastbound turn lanes and through lane on Braddock Road at Mount Vernon Avenue, and convert the westbound lanes from three left, through and right lanes to two through/left and right-only lanes.
- Adding a commercial loading zone on Braddock Road between the Yates Corner driveway entrance and the Metro Linear Trail
- Relocating one disability parking space from the unit block of W. Braddock Road and adding ones on Hancock Avenue at Braddock Road and Luray Avenue at Braddock Road
Those changes would allow the city to fill bike lane gaps between Mount Vernon Avenue and Russell Road, providing connections to the Potomac Yard Trail, the Metro Linear Trail, Braddock Road Metro Station and on Commonwealth Avenue.
On the section between West Street and Mount Vernon Avenue, the city will add a two-way protected bike lane on the north side of the street and retain a bike lane on the south side. The sections between Mount Vernon Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue as well as Russell Road and Commonwealth Avenue will receive new bike lanes; the latter segment is wide enough to accommodate protected bike lanes with barriers.
Unless City Council overturns the board’s decision, city staff will pursue design work for the Braddock Road changes into 2027, and implementation would follow into 2028.
