The Virginia Dept. of Transportation is mulling expanding the Express Lanes system to a section of I-495 from Fairfax County across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into Maryland.
The city of Alexandria, however, is skeptical of the current plans, as many of the alternatives come down to adding traffic lanes. Staff say these changes could hamper attempts to get people out of their cars and onto public transportation, including future transit across the bridge.
VDOT has wrapped up a study of how to improve transportation and reduce rising congestion along this segment of I-495. So far, it has come up with several preliminary alternatives, including adding general purpose lanes, express lanes or reversible express lanes and allowing part-time shoulder use.
“We are evaluating transportation improvements that would extend and provide continuity of the express lanes system on the southern section of the Capital Beltway,” said VDOT project manager Michelle Shropshire in a September public meeting.
In his most recent newsletter, Mayor Justin Wilson said the city has expressed to VDOT its concerns regarding “induced demand, increased cut-through traffic, potential impediments to future transit connectivity over the Wilson Bridge and more.”
“The City has generally had a ‘cautiously skeptical’ stance towards similar proposals in the past,” Wilson said. “We have worked with the Commonwealth to ensure that these projects generate revenue for transit initiatives and include protections to prevent such efforts from exacerbating cut-through traffic on City streets.”
Traffic on I-495 — between Route 1 and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge — is also a concern, however.
There is severe eastbound congestion from 3-7 p.m. starting at the Van Dorn Street interchange, Shropshire said.
“Travel through this area is often impacted by accidents,” she said. “During the Covid pandemic, there was a significant decrease in traffic volumes but we are currently experiencing traffic at or above pre-pandemic volumes.”
Now that a slate of alternatives have been identified, the next step for VDOT is to gather feedback and select a handful to evaluate via an environmental assessment. People can learn about the project and answer a short survey online or write to VDOT with their comments.
A preferred alternative is expected to emerge next spring.
In his newsletter, Wilson shared what city staff said about the study in a letter sent to VDOT sent last month:
- The criteria provided, including continuity of the Express Lane system, seem to bias the selection of alternatives towards those that include new Express Lanes, rather than those that prioritize transit and transportation demand management measures.
- Additional lanes may lead to additional demand on; therefore, increased traffic on the facility overtime.
- Reduction in congestion may reduce the number of crashes, but it could cause increased severity of crashes as vehicles are able to travel at higher speeds.
- Express Lane options could add constraints on providing new transit, specifically Metrorail lines on this corridor and across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the future.
- New access points from I-495 to and from Alexandria could cause increased traffic on City streets.
- Right-of-way impacts have not yet been identified, and project limits should be minimized to minimize the impacts on adjacent and nearby properties.
VDOT has said that the alternatives it will consider for I-495 will be informed by a concurrent transit study.
In addition to incentives for riders, this recently completed transit study recommends new bus service, arguing it would be more cost-effective than rail, per the September presentation.
Woodrow Wilson Bridge was designed with additional space for future transportation needs and to accommodate future rail across the bridge, according to VDOT.
“Future rail service on the bridge would not be precluded by 495 Southside Study alternatives,” says the transportation agency.
Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, which brings to an end an entire season of voting that kicked off in September.
Alexandrians voting on Tuesday will face few decisions tomorrow, as the only contests on the ballot are for the 39th District of the Virginia State Senate and three House of Delegates districts.
“This will be the first election held in the new General Assembly districts,” Mayor Justin Wilson said in his most recent newsletter. “Alexandria will be entirely represented in the 39th State Senate District and will be represented by three members of the House of Delegates, those elected from the 3rd District, the 4th District, and the 5th District.”
Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. and voters will have the opportunity to register and vote on Tuesday provided they head to the correct polling location. Sample ballots are available online.
Ahead of voting, the city recommends voters confirm their polling place on the state Dept. of Elections website, a map of which is also on the city’s website. The city notes one change for tomorrow’s election: the former South Port Apartments Precinct will vote at the Tucker School (435 Ferdinand Day Drive).
Unlike many other states, Virginia has an off-off election year, when ballots contain local contests but no federal or state-level offices — races that traditionally drive higher turnout. This year, there is national attention is on Virginia because Republicans are vying for control of the Democratically held Senate, giving them a trifecta.
Although Alexandria is largely Democrat, Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-31) has been sounding the alarm on the progress he says Republicans will repeal if they take control of the Democratically held state Senate, including the majorities needed to party to push for a 15-week abortion limit.
Ebbin is up for re-election and is challenged by Republican Sophia Moshasha.
He says he is focused on pushing a Democratic agenda and blocking attempts by Republicans to repeal gun safety laws and abortion rights. He also champions wage increases public school teachers and law enforcement officers to tackle attrition from these sectors, an issue leading to staffing crunches within Alexandria’s police force and public schools system.
Moshasha, a self-described technology advocate, has pledged to tackle rising crime and affirm the role of parents in public education. She says she has a moderate view on abortion — affirming exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother — and supports tackling climate change but criticizes state policies such as Virginia Clean Energy Act for burdening individual households.
With a Republican trifecta in reach, Youngkin has been actively campaigning on behalf of local Republican races and keeping the possibility of a 15-week abortion limit front and center.
“I think this is a reasonable place for us to land,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said on ABC this week. “And what’s on the ballot, I think, is a choice between no limits and reasonable limits.”
After the polls close, the city says election officials will begin posting unofficial results on the state’s website.
Across Virginia, both House and Senate races are predicted to be close, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which adds that results may not be finalized Tuesday night.
“These races are on a razor’s edge, and with the way Virginia counties report their results, some races may not be called until about a week after the election,” it said in a press release sent Monday.
But Alexandria’s House of Delegates races are less competitive.
Del. Charniele Herring, the incumbent Democrat for the 4th District, is running unopposed for her re-election campaign. Likewise, Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, the incumbent Democrat for the 5th District, is also running unopposed.
Del. Alfonso Lopez, the incumbent Democrat for the 3rd District, is up for re-election and is challenged by independent Major Mike Webb, a frequent candidate for office in Arlington County.
When it comes to office vacancy, Alexandria may be faring better than its neighbor to the north and west.
Its vacancy rates are lower than the average for the region and its rents are cheaper than every submarket in Arlington County, according to a new report from real estate company Savills.
Savills Executive Managing Director Wendy Feldman Block said Alexandria has an edge for two reasons: cheaper rent with proximity to top destinations and walkable commercial centers.
“Alexandria really is a great place to be,” she tells ALXnow. “The retail and restaurants are outperforming other areas because it walkable and has the ability to have one street to capture a lot of customer traffic [such as on] King Street.”
Alexandria Economic Development Partnership Vice President of Real Estate Christina Mindrup agrees, saying the city is benefiting from a trend dubbed the “flight-to-quality,” where companies are looking for new offices that offer more amenities for employees.
“We think the flight-to-quality also capitalizes on Alexandria’s strengths,” she tells ALXnow. “We already have vibrant, mixed-used neighborhoods that have seen growth throughout the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, Block said, it offers tenants proximity to top locations such as National Airport and D.C. while offering lower rent than National Landing, which is also close by. In National Landing, the rents are $38.14 per square foot, versus $36.43 per square foot in Old Town, $33.78 per square foot along the I-395 corridor and $34.14 in Huntington and Eisenhower.
Right now, Alexandria has some of the lowest amount of available sublease space in the region: less than 300,000 square feet compared to 5.8 million square feet across Northern Virginia, Block says. The city recently landed the largest lease in the D.C. area, the restructuring of United States Patent & Trademark Office to 1.6 million square feet.
“Even though the Patent Office is downsizing, new leases like Five Guys are choosing that neighborhood because it has trophy buildings with high visibility close to transit and adjacent to Old Town on one side and the booming Eisenhower corridor on the other,” Mindrup says.
In addition, Old Town has seen a marked decrease in available office space, from 28% in 2022 to 24.2% currently, Block said.
Mindrup also chalks up the city’s strong office leasing to the fact that its office buildings — especially its older, shorter or less desirable offices — tend to be smaller
“So while we do have less office inventory than our neighbors, we also have buildings that are better positioned with smaller floorplates to be converted into housing, schools, or other uses,” Mindrup said.
She noted the city also stays competitive by offering bonus density in exchange for affordable housing, allowing office-apartment conversions, keeping commercial uses broadly defined so offices, stores, hotels and other businesses can move in and focusing development on the West End and the Potomac River Generating Station site.
This could offset any lease changes the government makes because many of its workers are still mostly remote.
“We’re keeping an eye on the market and the region as government leases start to come up for renewal,” Mindrup said.
With school just around the corner, there are a few ways students in need can get a free backpack and school supplies.
First up, this Sunday, two Verizon locations will be handing out backpacks filled with pencils and a pencil case, paper, folders, a ruler and glue starting at 1 p.m., while supplies last, according to a press release from wireless technology investment group The Round Room.
The two locations are at 711 King Street and 3518 King Street, a spokesman confirmed.
The giveaway is part of the “School Rocks Backpack Giveaway” by Verizon retailers TCC and Wireless Zone, now in its 11th year, which aims to alleviate the burdensome costs of new school supplies. Citing estimates from the National Retail Federation, the press release says American families with school-aged children spent an average of $864 on school supplies in 2022.
Meanwhile, Alexandria City Public Schools is seeking volunteers and donors for its own backpack and school supplies drive.
ACPS is collecting backpacks filled with supplies to donate to families in need until Aug. 14. The district aims to collect 3,500 backpacks by mid-August, with options to donate in-kind and financially. It requests those who are interested fill out a form explaining what kind of donations they can make.
ACPS is also seeking volunteers to write notes of encouragement for the students receiving the backpacks and join a “backpack stuffing marathon,” the form said.
https://twitter.com/ACPSk12/status/1682457718248951818
Caregivers who need a backpack for their child are asked to contact the social worker for their child’s school.
Some Alexandria middle schoolers are also set to get backpacks with grade-appropriate school supplies next week from the United Way of the National Capital Area. Next Wednesday, volunteers will stuff backpacks for seven schools in the D.C. area with large populations of students from low-income backgrounds, including Francis C. Hammond and Walt Whitman middle schools in Alexandria.
The United Way aims to stuff more than 700 backpacks next week, bringing the total numbers of backpacks packed this year across stuffing events to 2,000, a spokeswoman said.
Hallie LeTendre contributed to this report
Curtains will be closing this Friday on a temporary tour of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum inspired by the musical “Hamilton” but an encore may already be in the works.
Tickets for the specialty tour, dubbed “Hamilton’s BFFs and Frenemies,” have already sold out for the summer run, which is ending this week, a city spokeswoman said. The city’s Office of Historic Alexandria is making plans to offer the same tour this fall at the museum, located at 134 N. Royal Street, though dates have not yet been set, she said.
The tour explains how George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Aaron Burr each intersected with the historical tavern. It weaves in references to the musical — named for its titular character, Alexander Hamilton, and which suggests he was “frenemies” with Burr.
“Overall, whether [for] fans of the musical ‘Hamilton’ or just really into history, this tour dives into the challenges the young nation faced and how that played out at the local level,” says Michele Longo, the director of education and museum operations for the Office of Historic Alexandria. “You might think you know the story, but there is always more to discover.”
The tour plays up themes that are explored in the musical, too.
The people of color who play white Founding Fathers in “Hamilton” prompt viewers to think about the roles enslaved and free Black people had in the founding. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Burr questions the agency regular Americans had in the Founding when he sings about his jealousy of missing secret dinner table meetings that determined the course of history.
“Alexandria became part of the District of Columbia because of the events that took place in the ‘room where it happened,'” says Longo, borrowing Burr’s famous line from the hit songs, “The Room Where It Happens.”
“Not only did this change the trajectory of the local economy, but it influenced how the free Black community in Alexandria grew,” said Longo. “We dive into all this and more during the tour.”
Fans of the musical may also catch guides quoting Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Jefferson. In a song about the 1800 presidential election, which provides a window into the animosity between him and his opponent, Burr, Jefferson asks, “Can we get back to politics?”
“Thomas Jefferson actually spent the night at Gadsby’s Tavern as part of the events leading up to him becoming president,” Longo said. “A few months later, he raised a glass to ‘unity’ during an inaugural celebration in Gadsby’s famous ballroom, right next to his VP Aaron Burr — can you imagine?”
The climax of the musical is the 1804 duel between Burr and Hamilton, when Burr fatally shot his opponent.
Gadsby’s Tavern Museum is composed of a tavern dating back to around 1785 tavern and the City Tavern and Hotel dating back to 1792. Longo says historians know when Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Burr visited the tavern because period newspaper articles provided a “who’s who” of attendees at notable events held there.
The tavern also knows when Jefferson spent the night there because of his “incredibly detailed account books” and when Washington dined there because of a thank you note in his diary, she said.
That these men orbited around the tavern provides another connection between the city and the nation’s founding, which Longo says touched everyone who lived in colonial Alexandria.
“From enslaved individuals to the wealthiest in town, their lives were impacted by the decisions made in this young nation,” she said.
If and when new tours open up this fall, more people may be able to test the tour’s thesis that Gadsby’s Tavern is — to quote a rapping Burr — “the room where it happened.”
The Alexandria Black History Museum closed yesterday (Sunday) for nearly three weeks for interior renovations to ward off mold and water damage.
The city announced the temporary closure, through Aug. 10, in a release on Friday.
This is the second round of upgrades for the museum, which reopened in February 2023 after a three-year closure. Museum leadership took advantage of the forced closure due to the pandemic to undertake renovation work, including refreshed carpet and paint, a new kitchen and accessible bathrooms.
The work also attended to surprise water damage to the basement in the middle of the pandemic that prolonged the closures.
While these new renovations are also related to water, they were already scheduled to be done, according to the city.
The upgrades include coating the walls with Drylok and painting them to “provide a better protective shield against water infiltration and mold,” a city spokeswoman told ALXnow.
The decision to close was “out of an abundance of caution to protect staff and public from breathing in the chemicals being used,” she said.
In addition to the increased mold and water protections, offices will get new ceiling tiles, paint and carpet while the lower-level hallway and stairway will get new linoleum, she said.
