It’s been a busy week of meetings in Alexandria.
First, parents met with Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) leadership in a forum addressing safety in schools, a major talking point in schools after the murder of a student this summer and issues involving violent “crews” in ACPS.
The Beyer Land Rover dealership at 2712 Duke Street could soon be replaced with a new 94-unit affordable housing development (item 9).
The project, Witter Place, is being put together by Community Housing Partners (CHP). The Virginia-based non-profit has worked in affordable housing development since 1975, but this is CHP’s first project in Alexandria.
Alexandria planning staff say there’s no preferred option for the Duke Street transitway, but the three choices offer varying impacts on drivers.
This month, city staff have conducted meetings in a public engagement process to talk about the project and gather input on the three options before a plan is finalized for City Council to consider. City staff will conduct a final open house to discuss the entire project on Wednesday, October 26, at 5:30 p.m. at Patrick Henry Recreation Center (4653 Taney Avenue).
Popular sandwich franchise Jersey Mike’s Subs is opening a new location in Alexandria tomorrow.
The shop is opening at 3219 Duke Street — formerly Sweet Frog — on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
A Washington, D.C. man is behind bars after allegedly stealing a car from a lot in an industrial area of the city and fleeing from police.
The incident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday, August 22. Police received a call that several people were moving vehicles in the fenced in parking lot of a car repair business in the 3200 block of Colvin Street.
The City of Alexandria is eyeing three basic concepts for a Duke Street transitway to help boost bus service along the arterial road.
The three options presented at a meeting of the Duke Street Transitway Advisory Group last month ranged from the buses in the center of the street to mixed in with traffic. The options are:
At a public meeting last week on a proposed cut-through traffic mitigation plan, city staff answered a pretty fundamental but surprising question: what is cut-through traffic to Alexandria and how is it calculated?
The city is considering moving forward with the second phase of a pilot program that aims to cut down on cut-through traffic avoiding the city’s arterial lanes by driving through residential streets to access the highways. The pilots specifically target drivers cutting through Taylor Run to access Telegraph Road and I-495.
Hot chicken chain Hangry Joe’s has opened in the Alexandria Commons shopping center (3227 Duke Street).
The chain announced the new location last October and it finally opened late last week according to the chain’s Instagram page.
Ahead of a community meeting tonight to discuss the next phase of the Duke Street Traffic Mitigation pilot, the city has released new data showing the promising results of Phase 1.
The pilot earlier this year changed signal timing, adding green time on Duke Street and Quaker Lane from 4-6 p.m. to encourage drivers to stay on the arterial roads rather than cutting through neighborhood streets to get around traffic and access Telegraph Road.
(Updated 8/3) The City of Alexandria is moving forward with the next stage of a pilot program to keep traffic on Duke Street and off residential streets, but Mayor Justin Wilson said in a recent newsletter that this is the start of a broader effort targeting cut-through traffic.
Wilson said the issue of congestion’s impact on the quality of life for Alexandrians came up during an update to the Alexandria Mobility Plan in 2021.
Some more closures are headed to Duke Street next week courtesy of the I-395 Bridge Rehabilitation project.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) said the street will have periodic closures from Sunday, Aug. 7 to Wednesday, Aug. 17.
