Alexandria’s request for up to $27 million in state funds to support transportation improvements to a King Street access road in the Bradlee Shopping Center area has won support from the city’s neighbor to the north.
Arlington County Board members on Saturday (June 13) approved a resolution supporting the city’s SMART SCALE application for the project as part of the 2026 application round.
In addition to County Board support, the proposal has the backing of the Fairlington Citizens Association, which recently reaffirmed its 2024 support of project funding.
“We hope that it will be secured to allow for the plan to move forward,” association president Jennifer Davies said in a recent letter to state officials.
The proposal calls for taking a two-way access road parallel to King Street (Route 7) at the Bradlee Shopping Center, turning it into a one-way westbound roadway with a dedicated bus lane. It also would include a two-way bicycle trail.
City officials previously sought SMART SCALE funding for the project in 2024, but were unsuccessful — the same year City Council approved the project.
It is one of two projects City Council members seek to have funded through SMART SCALE in the current round. The second calls for up to $8 million in state funds to support pedestrian improvements on Mount Vernon Avenue in the Arlandria neighborhood.
In addition to supporting Alexandria’s King Street project, Arlington’s elected leaders on June 13 authorized three of their own submissions, totaling $46 million, as part of the SMART SCALE competition. The proposals aim to improve a number of key intersections in the county, including N. Glebe Road at Interstate 66.
The stakes are high, Arlington staff said in a memo to County Board members: “There are typically hundreds of applications submitted per two-year cycle, with hundreds of millions of dollars awarded each fiscal year.”
Localities must have their submissions delivered to state officials by the end of July. The next SMART SCALE funding competition will be held in 2028.
Alexandria already has more than $151 million in transportation projects funded by SMART SCALE funding, including the South Patrick Street Median Improvement Project beginning construction Monday (June 15).
