A pedestrian safety improvement project near George Washington Middle School and Charles Barrett Elementary School is slated to receive $2.17 million in federal funding.
The project, phase two of the city’s Safe Routes to School Crossing Improvements, aims to bolster student safety and “strengthen connectivity to nearby neighborhoods” at the schools by installing curb extensions with crosswalks, shortening crossing distances, improving bus stops and removing a slip lane.
The King Street Pedestrian Zone’s expansion to the 200 block opened today in Old Town.
The expansion is currently in a pilot stage. The first phase started today (Nov. 22) and will run through Jan. 6.
Alexandria city staff said an expansion of the King Street Pedestrian Zone to the 200 block is feasible and could move forward this fall.
Hillary Orr, deputy director of Transportation Planning and Mobility, said the city worked with the fire department, police department, city attorney and traffic operations to review the proposal.
From the 100 block down to the waterfront, King Street is a pedestrian zone. Now, that zone could be expanding a little further west to the 200 block of King Street.
The pedestrian-zones are closed to car traffic except where King Street intersects with perpendicular roads like S. Union Street. The closure, which started out in 2020, has since become a permanent feature of the Old Town blocks.
Alexandria city staff have been ordered to evaluate turning the 200 block of King Street into a pedestrian zone.
Mayor Justin Wilson and City Council Member John Taylor Chapman asked staff to create a pilot program to turn the 200 block of King Street into a pedestrian zone. The move would effectively eliminate cars from the main thoroughfare next door to City Hall’s Market Square (301 King Street) all the way down to the waterfront.
The conversion of some King Street blocks to pedestrian zones has been a fairly popular move. Now, the city is merging those long-term planning efforts with waterfront flood mitigation, hopefully streamlining improvements to the 100 and unit blocks of King Street.
A report prepared for a Traffic and Parking Board meeting later today (Monday) said the city is looking at long-term plans for the pedestrian zones as well as incorporating the project into the broader waterfront flood mitigation plans.
By next June, Alexandria could have more Pride-themed decorations around town, including rainbow crosswalks and artwork in the new pedestrian zone.
At a City Council meeting earlier this week, City Council member Kirk McPike urged city staff to take another look at adding a rainbow crosswalk to King Street and Pride-themed art in the pedestrian zone.
(Updated 6:17 p.m.) Representatives from Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRP) recently opened up about some of the behind-the-scenes discussions on whether or not to make the central street in Old Town North’s power plant redevelopment project pedestrian-only.
The redevelopment of the GenOn power plant in Old Town North is one of the biggest projects on the city’s horizon, and the centerpiece of that project will be a pedestrian-focused boulevard called a ‘woonerf‘ — a Dutch design concept that prioritizes pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
While the city has had some success with pedestrian zones on King Street, city staff say less retail and sloping conditions could make it harder to add a similar zone along the 200 block.
Many residents have welcomed the pedestrian zones that the city added to the 100 and unit blocks of King Street, according to a survey. Motivated by this early support, Chris Ziemann, transportation division chief, said the city is focusing on improving the now-permanent pedestrian zones at the 100 block of King Street and the unit block — the block closest to the waterfront.
The King Street Pedestrian Zone was officially expanded to reach Waterfront Park on Saturday (Nov. 12).
Council voted unanimously and without discussion on the permanent conversion of the unit block of King Street and the northern portion of Strand Street.
Ten years after adopting a plan with suggestions for turning the Waterfront into a cultural hub, the City of Alexandria is poised to move forward with one of them: making the streets closest to the river pedestrian-only.
Ahead of a potential vote to close the unit block of King Street and part of The Strand to traffic, a new report suggests that these street closures are supported by the 2012 Waterfront Small Area Plan and are broadly popular among locals. The unit block of King Street, the block closest to the Waterfront, is a one-way street connected to the two-way street called The Strand that runs parallel to the Potomac River.
