A contentious proposal to remove on-street parking between the 400 and 800 blocks of Russell Road is heading to Alexandria’s Traffic and Parking Board tonight (Monday).
The recommendations would remove on-street parking in the area around Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School (600 Russell Road) and create “painted curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalk markings, and improved ADA curb ramps at six intersections on Russell Road, and a new pedestrian crossing at West Chapman Street.”
An Alexandria man faces a felony hit-and-run charge after allegedly fleeing the scene of a crash in the city’s Fairlington neighborhood.
The Alexandria Police Department responded to the intersection of N. Quaker Lane and Fern Street around 3:45 p.m. on June 6, for the report of a crash involving a Toyota Tacoma and a Honda CR-V. The driver of the Honda suffered a minor hand injury and her car was totaled.
The Alexandria Fire Department extinguished a residential building fire in North Ridge last night (Thursday).
No injuries were reported in the blaze, which occurred at around 6:30 p.m. at the 3200 block of Wellington Road, near the intersection with Gunston Road. The fire started in a three-level, multi-unit home, in a bedroom on the second floor.
The Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board will consider new “No Turn on Red” restrictions at an intersection near Del Ray and North Ridge, after a vehicle struck a woman and her child there in October.
The restrictions would apply to all approaches at the five-legged intersection of Russell Road, Monroe Avenue and High Street, an area that connects single-family neighborhoods to churches and child care facilities, according to the city. The staff recommendation is part of the board’s consent agenda during its 7 p.m. meeting tonight (Monday).
Alexandria will host a community meeting next week on stormwater improvements for low-lying areas of Valley Drive, Crestwood Drive, Summit Avenue, and Dogwood Drive in the city’s North Ridge neighborhood.
The $3.8 million Valley Drive Storm Drain Improvement Project is funded through the city’s Stormwater Utility Fee, and the project will require installing large concrete pipes at the bottom of trenches, which will be backfilled and paved over, according to the city. The city will conduct a project design meeting on Oct. 15 (Wednesday) at 7 p.m. at Mount Vernon Recreation Center (2701 Commonwealth Avenue).
The City of Alexandria is seeking $2.5 million in state funding to help prevent flooding in the North Ridge neighborhood.
The Valley Drive Storm Drain Improvement project will improve the drainage system in North Ridge and capture floodwater before it accumulates in low-lying areas.
Drivers traveling on N. Quaker Lane or I-395 near the Shirlington/North Ridge border this weekend should expect some delays.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) said double-lane closures are planned near the Shirlington interchange on Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12.
Alexandria’s history with racially restrictive covenants was a major topic during the Zoning for Housing/Housing for All debate last year, and a new interactive map shows the location of those covenants around Alexandria and surrounding localities.
ARLnow reported that the new interactive map comes from researchers at Marymount University. Many of the covenants listed on the map exclude “any person not of the Caucasian race.”
World War II was at its peak when Charles Barrett Elementary School first opened 80 years ago. In recognition of the anniversary, on Wednesday students and school officials gathered in front of the school, planted a baby oak tree and sang the school song.
The tree was donated by the North Ridge Citizens’ Association.
Spilled paint could be seen in the waterways of Alexandria’s North Ridge neighborhood on Saturday.
That morning, the Alexandria Fire Department was alerted of a “white-cloudy substance in the waterways visible from the walking trail” near Monticello Park off Old Dominion Boulevard, according to an AFD press release.
As rainfall travels down the hills of the Parkfairfax neighborhood, the momentum sweeps it past the slim gutters meant to catch the water, propelling it further downhill to devastating effect. But fortunately, with a surge of political and financial interest being poured into flood mitigation over the last few years, stormwater isn’t the only thing gaining momentum.
Among the larger flooding infrastructure projects going around the city are a handful of smaller “spot improvements” that could play a big role when the next major storm hits.
