As The Waypoint at Fairlington moves forward, some old traffic concerns and misconceptions about the project have resurfaced.
The Waypoint, and 81-unit affordable housing development at Fairlington Presbyterian Church (3846 King Street) was approved in 2018, but old criticisms of the project’s added density flooded the comment sections when the city applied for federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME Investment Partnerships.
It was quite a year in Alexandria. It’s safe to say that 202o will be just as busy, but in the meantime let’s take a look at the top stories from the last year.
1. The Seminary Road Diet
When it comes to Alexandria’s transportation network, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
After intense backlash from everyone from local residents to city officials, the Alexandria Transit Company approved a vision plan that restores some DASH bus transit through Seminary Road — for now.
(Updated 1:30 p.m.) A chase by the Virginia State Police ended with a crash at the intersection of Fort Williams Parkway and Seminary Road
The car being chased wrecked shortly after noon and Virginia State Police took the suspect into custody “without incident,” according to Lt. Courtney Ballantine, a spokesman for the Alexandria Police Department.
The squeaky wheel on the bus may get the grease, as the Alexandria Transit Company Board of Directors has directed staff to find a way of restoring or replacing a bus line through Seminary Road cut from current plans to overhaul the bus network.
DASH, the city’s bus system, is preparing to shift its bus service from a model focused on widespread coverage of the city to one that focuses on high-frequency service in densely populated corridors.
Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of fire department and police activity at Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria on Monday — it’s just a drill.
The synagogue at 3830 Seminary Road will be hosting a “a critical incident training exercise” from 8-11 a.m. and 6-9 p.m. on Veterans Day (Nov. 11). Alexandria police and firefighters will be conducting the exercise.
After a series of community meetings, a public hearing is scheduled next week for a plan that could radically reshape how the city’s DASH bus network operates.
The big selling point of the new plan is that it would increase the frequency of buses in the city’s current and planned high-density corridors, like Potomac Yard and the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor. In many of these locations, buses would be running at least every 15 minutes all day, every day.
The community engagement process for a new Douglas MacArthur Elementary School project has kicked off.
The new, more modern Douglas MacArthur Elementary School (1101 Janneys Lane) is scheduled to open in January 2023. Students will start using swing space in the former Patrick Henry Elementary School after the current, 1940s-era MacArthur Elementary is demolished in June 2020. The new project has a total budget of $56.6 million.
The power is out in part of Alexandria’s Seminary Hill neighborhood.
Dominion is reporting just under 1,400 customers without electricity as a result of a broken pole, according to the company’s outage map.
The Washington Capitals are hosting a free street hockey class for children in Alexandria.
The class is planned for the Seminary Road Roller Rink at Francis C. Hammond Middle School (4646 Seminary Road) in Alexandria tomorrow (Wednesday). The class will run from 4:45-5:45 p.m. after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Alexandria is getting its first laser tag arena this winter.
Doyle’s Outpost will be located in the Seminary Plaza Shopping Center in the former AMF Seminary Lanes Bowling Alley at 4620-A Kenmore Ave.
