The City of Alexandria could be rolling out a new kind of bus stop with some substantial improvements over the current one.
It’s no hoity-toity $1 million Arlington bus stop, but the new shelters have modifications designed to make them more durable.
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.
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.
The City of Alexandria recently launched an app that should make life a little easier for Alexandrians with disabilities using the city’s paratransit service.
The new app is a Department of Transportation program made in partnership with New York-based company Via. The app streamlines the vehicle dispatch process and aims to shorten wait times for rides. Benefits from the new app include:
(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.
City staff say that initial findings from a mitigation pilot along Duke Street earlier this year show the project was mostly successful in keeping traffic off neighborhood streets.
In a small update (page 10) prepared for the Traffic and Parking Board, city staff said initial findings showed the Duke Street Traffic Mitigation Pilot — which ran from January-April — mostly accomplished what it set out to do.
Two projects in Alexandria will receive $5 million apiece from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA).
The NVTA awarded the amounts as part of its six-year budget adopted on Thursday (July 14). The two projects are: to make S. Van Dorn Street and its bridge more transit and pedestrian-friendly for the West End Transitway, and replacement of a fair-weather crossing on the Holmes Run Trail, just behind William Ramsay Elementary School (5700 Sanger Avenue).
While the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is working through plans to make September fare-free for all riders, that could be extended into October for Alexandria riders dealing with the Metro shutdown.
Plans for the VRE are headed to review at the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission’s meeting on Thursday, July 7.
Alexandria’s street resurfacing program is heating up over the next few months, with Del Ray and some surrounding neighborhoods getting the lion’s share.
The current round of street resurfacing is scheduled to run from June 27 (yesterday) and Friday, July 8.
With bus activity likely to see a significant uptick with the opening of the Potomac Yard Metro station, the city is looking at converting a turn lane on Glebe Road into a bus lane (item 5, page 8).
The plan has the dual purpose of benefitting buses and reducing the number of general-purpose lanes pedestrians have to cross.
Alexandria is hoping to get federal funding for an audit of the city’s high-crash intersections to look for possible solutions.
The project, which includes the audit, public engagement and design, is estimated to cost $1 million. The grant would cover up to $800,000, with the city or the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.
