In a letter to Mayor Justin Wilson, the Virginia Theological Seminary has weighed in on the clong-running argument over the road diet happening at the school’s doorstep.
A letter from Ian Markham, Dean and President of the Virginia Theological Seminary, included support for the reduction in vehicle travel lanes and hints about future expansion plans for the school. The letter was shared in the exceptionally active Facebook group Alexandria Residents Against the Seminary Road Diet.
While more property owners have signed on to plans to shift Alexandria’s workforce to car-free, a report on those plans showed an increasing percentage of workers and residents in new developments driving alone compared to last year.
Some commercials and residential developments are required to have plans to get employees or residents to use non-car transportation to commute. These plans are called Transportation Management Plans (TMPs) and there are currently 75 developments in Alexandria with TMPs.
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 at 3:45 p.m.) After 20 years of planning, work has started on the Potomac Yard Metro station.
Officials past and present came together at 2 p.m. today (Thursday) at the future Potomac Yard Metro station, currently the parking lot of Regal Potomac Yard movie theater.
Just a few blocks away from where some local residents are incensed about a road diet, others are begging the city to do something about frequent collisions on their street.
W. Taylor Run Parkway connects Duke Street and Janneys Lane, two major east-west routes through Alexandria. The two-lane street is bordered by a creek on the eastern side and a row of homes on the right.
(Updated at 11:15 a.m.) Alexandria’s plans to convert one block of King Street into a pedestrian-only zone are starting to come together.
The plan would close King Street between Lee Street and Union Street on weekends, according to a report presented to the Waterfront Commission Tuesday morning.
(Updated 12/12) In the last thirty minutes of last night’s City Council meeting, the typically uneventful oral reports escalated into a verbal brawl over the Seminary Road diet.
The controversial lane reduction is part of the city’s Complete Streets project, which aims to change the city’s car-crowded roads into a more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly streetscape. On Seminary Road, that meant taking the formerly four-lane Seminary Road down to one travel lane in each direction with a turn lane/emergency vehicle lane separating them, and the addition of bicycle lanes on the side of the road.
Alexandria will be looking into new safety improvements for the King Street, Braddock Road, and Quaker Lane intersection after a car overturned last week in a crash.
The city made improvements to the intersection a few years ago — with changes to the traffic signal and improvements to the service road. The city implemented other safety measures to the surrounding area, like reducing the speed limit on Quaker Lane. Despite this, the junction remains congested and, some believe, dangerous.
As part of its controversial efforts to improve bicycle and pedestrian access to Seminary Road, the city is planning to install a sidewalk on the north side of the road — if it can get the money.
Much of the Complete Streets project on Seminary Road has been completed but the city is still hoping to add a new sidewalk next to the seminary from which the road draws its name.
It’s one thing to make rules for scooters, but on Alexandria’s City Council, there are concerns about how the city can enforce proposed new restrictions in Old Town.
During the City Council meeting last Tuesday (Nov. 26), the council worked to fine-tune the next phase of the city’s electric scooter pilot program and shape how that implementation looks when it’s applied on Alexandria streets.
After years of relying on the Virginia’s SMART SCALE grant program to fund transportation projects, changes in the program’s scoring criteria could leave that well dry for Alexandria.
At a Transportation Commission meeting on Monday, Nov. 20, city staff warned that new criteria under consideration by the Commonwealth Transportation Board could shift transportation funding away from existing urban centers like Alexandria and instead favor less dense locales.
