Opposing factions are gearing up for City Council’s public hearing on appeals of the Russell Road Safe Routes to School Project on Saturday.
The city wants to make safety changes to Russell Road near Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School following a Safe Routes to School walk audit, finding that three people were injured in nine traffic crashes along the corridor since 2017.
The Traffic and Parking Board selected Option 2 in July, voting to remove 20 parking spaces on Russell Road between W. Myrtle and W. Maple Streets. Option 2 would add painted curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalk markings, three median crossing islands, improved ADA curb ramps at six Russell Road intersections and a new pedestrian crossing at W. Chapman Street.
In August, Leah Riley, the director of the city’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services, put forward her preferred Alternative C after the city’s Traffic and Parking Board vote supporting Option 2.
The following month, the board rejected Riley’s proposal to add five on-street parking spaces in the 600 block of Russell Road, two loading zone spaces with time restrictions in the 600 block of Russell Road and six on-street parking spaces in the 700 block of Johnston Place.
After the board’s vote, Riley agreed to drop the parking and loading zone spaces in the 600 block of Russell Road and move forward with the spaces on Johnston Place.
“I have determined the addition of parking spaces on Johnston Place will alleviate parking demand and support school employees, whose numbers are increasing this year,” Riley wrote in a letter to the Traffic and Parking Board.
The Rosemont Citizens Association supports City staff’s original Option 1, which called for a net loss of two parking spaces and endorsed all features except the three median crossing islands.
“The RCA Board of Directors joins our membership in urging that you approve Revised Option 1, the original project plan that city staff created in consultation with affected Rosemont families and educators at the Brooks Elementary, in lieu of Alternative C, which was subsequently created without public input and relies on undocumented assumptions,” RCA President Jol Silversmith wrote in a letter to City Council.
Teachers at Naomi L. Brooks are also advocating for Option 1 to keep existing street parking on Russell Road.
“As individual teachers and staff at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School, we support safer crossings and accessibility improvements on Russell Road,” a number of teachers wrote in a joint letter to the mayor and City Council. “We ask Council to implement Revised Option 1, the July T&ES recommendation, which advances these improvements while limiting parking removal. Safe student access and practical staff access both matter to our school community.”
The Alexandria Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee is backing Riley’s modified Alternative C.
“BPAC supports the staff recommendation, Modified Alternative C, which includes new crosswalks at Chapman St and pedestrian refuge islands at W. Masonic View Ave and W Walnut Street,” BPAC said on its website. “We also encourage the Council to add pedestrian refuge islands at W. Maple St instead of curb extensions.”
On Saturday, City Council will review the modified Alternative C with “targeted pedestrian refuge islands and curb extensions, the parking removals identified in the August alternative, six additional parking spaces on Johnston Place, and no new parking or loading changes on the 600 block of Russell Road.” The city is trying to time the Russell Road changes with repaving in 2027.
