Amid regional safety concerns about youth riding electric scooters and bicycles, Alexandria City Council will consider expanding the city’s helmet requirement for young riders.
According to city code, bicycle riders 14 and under are already required to wear a helmet. The city code update would apply the same rule to electric power-assisted bicycles, electric personal assistive mobility devices, motorized skateboards and motorized scooters as well.
A 13-year-old boy was injured by an SUV in a crash in Del Ray this morning (Nov. 2).
The boy was struck by a silver 2003 Honda CRV around 11:15 a.m. while in the crosswalk of E. Oxford Avenue and Mount Vernon Avenue. The Alexandria Police Department recovered the Virginia license plate number, and all parties remained on scene, according to APD radio transmissions.
Free Lyft rides are returning for the Halloween weekend in Alexandria to encourage impaired drivers to avoid getting behind the wheel.
The nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) offers the free SoberRide program during high-risk holidays for drinking. The program will run from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 30 as well as Saturday, Oct. 31.
“No turn on red” restrictions are coming to all traffic signals in greater Old Town after a vote by the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board Monday (Oct. 26).
On a motion by member Dane Lauritzen, the board voted 5-1 to approve “no turn on red” restrictions between First Street to the north, the city limits to the south, the Potomac River to the east and railroad tracks to the west. There are about 100 signalized intersections within the project area, and about half already have red light turn restrictions.
City Council will have the final say in a project seeking changes on Russell Road near Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School.
In a written update to the Traffic and Parking Board Monday, city staff indicated appeals on the Russell Road Safe Routes to School Project are going to City Council on Nov. 14. City Council will review the appeals and full project before making a final decision.
Red light cameras, bike lanes, new sidewalks and pedestrian islands are some of the changes proposed for several West End high-crash intersections the city identified.
The city identified the seven high-crash intersections during a 2022 crash analysis and received federal funding to perform safety audits and develop concept designs.
As the Transportation & Environmental Services plan for Russell Road is being appealed to City Council, the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board rejected additional proposals for parking spaces on Russell Road.
On Monday (Sept. 28), the board considered parking additions that T&ES director Leah Riley had recommended in her Alternative C. The board voted against adding five on-street parking spaces in the 600 block of Russell Road, two loading zone spaces in the 600 block of Russell Road with time restrictions and six on-street parking spaces in the 700 block of Johnston Place.
Former longtime Alexandria police officer Courtney Ballantine is adjusting to a new role after being promoted to chief of police of the Georgetown University Police Department.
All the badges Ballantine wore in Alexandria, from captain on down, sit in a shadow box near his desk. Four days after retiring from the Alexandria Police Department on Aug. 1, 2025, Ballantine put on a new uniform as the deputy chief of police at Georgetown University. A few weeks later, then-chief Jay Gruber got a new job at American University and Ballantine was named interim chief.
After pool drownings of children 5 and under reached a five-year high last year in Virginia, state health officials are urging families to take a “safe swimming pledge” as pools open for the season.
In 2025, there were 12 accidental drownings of children aged 5 and under in Virginia — more than the nine reported over the prior three years: three in 2024, two in 2023 and four in 2022. Virginia reported 473 drownings in all bodies of water between 2020 and 2024.
A dead raccoon found in Old Town last week has tested positive for rabies, according to the Alexandria Health Department.
The animal was recovered after two people reported being bitten by a raccoon in Old Town last Tuesday. It’s not confirmed if the raccoon was responsible for one or both of the attacks, “but the location and aggressive behavior line up with how a rabid raccoon in that area might act,” AHD said in an announcement yesterday (Monday).
Free Lyft rides will be available on St. Patrick’s Day as part of a D.C.-area nonprofit’s efforts to curb drunk driving.
Free rides totaling up to $15 will be available on Lyft from 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 17 through 4 a.m. the next morning, courtesy of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program’s SoberRide initiative.
