The City of Alexandria has a new Director of Transportation and Environmental Services to oversee some of the biggest ongoing projects in the city.

City Manager Jim Parajon appointed Adriana Castañeda to lead the department.

“Castañeda joins the organization from the City of Tracy, California, where she oversaw housing, transit, airport, and economic development services as the Director of Mobility and Housing,” the city said in a release. “Previously Castañeda served the City of Dallas, Texas as its Director of Bond, and Construction Management, where she oversaw the capital infrastructure activities of nearly 200 staff and a $23 million operating budget.”

Parajon also joined the City of Alexandria from Texas back in 2021.

Alexandria’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services has become one of its most high profile sections in recent years thanks to large-scale projects aimed at improving transit infrastructure, stormwater capacity and more.

The release said Castañeda will be responsible for transportation systems and infrastructure, emergency weather planning, and refuse collections for the city.

“The City is set to embark upon new and necessary transportation and infrastructure projects,” said Parajon. “Ms. Castañeda’s expertise and leadership will be exceptionally valuable to our ability to meet the needs of our residents effectively and efficiently.”

While much of the discussion about transportation changes has been focused on Duke Street recently, the city is starting to turn its eyes to Eisenhower Avenue.

The City of Alexandria is now accepting public comment on transportation issues and needs along Eisenhower Avenue. The survey is part of a process aiming to evaluate mobility, access and safety needs along Eisenhower Avenue.

According to the project website:

The expected outcomes of the study are grant applications to fund identified improvements in the program. The project will keenly focus on issues such as the high crash rate between Van Dorn Street and Eisenhower Ave Connector, poor connectivity and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists near Hensley Park, Holmes Run Trail, and Lake Cook, as well as addressing future demand concerns in the Eisenhower east section of the corridor. The State and City expect to complete this study by Summer 2024.

Changes for the street have been in consideration for years, including adding protected bike lanes.

There’s been little rush to make those changes, the street is relatively sparsely populated and mostly known for industrial zones and isolated islands of commercial development, but that could be changing as the Victory Center is replaced with a new townhouse development and more development comes to the east end of the street.

A feedback form with questions broken up into sections along the roadway.

The city is finishing up an existing condition review, scheduled to run from July to October, with preliminary recommendations coming out at the end of that process. More evaluation and refining of recommendations is scheduled to run through March and into a grant application sometime in summer 2024.

What is your experience on Eisenhower Avenue? The City is accepting public comments on transportation issues and needs on Eisenhower Avenue through September 17. For information on this project, and to complete the feedback form, visit https://t.co/haVjezpNfJ pic.twitter.com/rVZFBT74Ig

— Alexandria Transportation & Environmental Services (@AlexandriaVATES) August 30, 2023

Image via Google Maps

The City of Alexandria is considering some improvements to sidewalks to make it easier and safer for students to walk to school.

The City is considering curb extensions, which bump out the sidewalk at corners or mid-block to shorten the crossing distance, make pedestrians more visible, and slow turning vehicles. Curb extensions were recommended in the city’s Complete Streets Design Guidelines.

A walk audit conducted in 2017 at 13 schools also recommended curb extensions at multiple intersections.

The city is considering multiple extensions near four different schools:

• Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 School: N. West Street and Princess Street
• Mount Vernon Community School: Commonwealth Avenue’s intersections with Uhler Avenue, Mt. Ida Avenue, Groves Avenue and Forrest Street
• Patrick Henry K-8 School: N. Jordan Street and Taney Avenue
• Samuel Tucker Elementary School: Cameron Station Blvd

The city is developing a grant application to fund the design and construction of the curb extensions. A survey is available online and the grant application deadline is later this fall. If the funding is approved, the design work could start next year, with construction from 2025-2026.

The City is seeking public input on curb extensions near 4 schools in Alexandria, which would make it much safer for children to walk to school.

Very quick survey here:https://t.co/CdeFXxiX3G

— Alex Goyette (@Alex_Goyette) August 11, 2023

Alexandria’s Warwick Village neighborhood could be getting the city’s first mini-roundabout.

At the same meeting where they supported a proposal to make changes to the Mount Vernon Trail in Old Town North, the Traffic and Parking Board also backed the implementation of a “mini-roundabout” to be installed at the intersection of Kennedy and Hickory streets in Warwick Village.

The City of Alexandria received multiple requests for an all-way stop to be implemented at the site. Reports filed with the city indicated that the crosswalk is poorly marked and cars tend to “fly through” the intersection. City staff found “poor stop compliance” on Kennedy Street, leading to the recommendation of a mini-roundabout.

Staff noted in the meeting that this would be the first mini-roundabout recommended in Alexandria.

“Mini-roundabouts are great countermeasures due to their lower-cost and high-benefit to address multiple issues,” the report said.

The Traffic and Parking Board unanimously supported the recommendation to turn the intersection into a mini-roundabout. Like the changes to the Mount Vernon Trail, some on the Board expressed an interest in following the implementation of the change and seeing if it can be applied elsewhere in Alexandria.

The City of Alexandria could be prioritizing the Mount Vernon Trail at crossings where, currently, trail users are expected to stop for car traffic.

At a Traffic and Parking Board meeting last week, civil engineer Dan Scolese presented plans to change the stop signs from making pedestrians and cyclists stop for street traffic to having cars stop for trail users.

“The unusual nature is because it’s a trail and a street crossing, but the trail is considered a road,” Scolese said. “We gathered volumes during the fall. In all conditions, the trail was always more [used] than the crossing street. The split is usually more than 70%. On weekends there’s a vast difference in terms of volume on the trail.”

Scolese said trail usage at the intersections is usually pretty evenly balanced between pedestrians and cyclists.

The recommendation, supported unanimously by the Traffic and Parking Board, is to change the stop signs to face street traffic where the trail intersects at Canal Center Plaza, Montgomery Street and Madison Street, allowing trail users to continue through that part of Alexandria without stopping. The Traffic and Parking Board members did say, however, that city staff should reach out to nearby civic associations, who were not consulted ahead of the meeting.

Some on the Board said this could be the start of a broader look at how stopping is prioritized at other places where trails intersect with Alexandria streets, depending on how this goes.

“I’m curious to see how this works,” said Traffic and Parking Board chair James Lewis. “Not asking you guys for a report, but once stuff is in, if you don’t mind sharing how it’s working because this is the first time we’ve done something like this.”

Alexandria’s DASH network has set a record high with 4.5 million boardings in a single year, according to the transportation company.

DASH said in a release that the record high boardings exceeded the previous ridership high of 4.3 million in 2015. DASH credited the success to a mix of taking the network fare-free and realigning the system to prioritize frequent service in higher-density corridors.

“To celebrate this milestone and thank our loyal customers, DASH will host a rider celebration event on the morning of Friday, August 18 at the King Street-Old Town Metrorail Station,” the release said. “The event will begin at 8:30 AM and will feature remarks from DASH and City officials, music, refreshments, and DASH giveaways.”

The turnaround is particularly startling compared to the dip to only 1.5 million riders in FY 2021 when the pandemic battered regional public transit ridership.

According to the release:

Since the launch of the fare-free New DASH Network in September 2021, DASH has seen unprecedented ridership growth that helped it become the first transit agency in the region to return to pre-pandemic ridership levels. In the last year, DASH ridership has continued its meteoric rise with the 451,000 passenger boardings recorded in April 2023 representing the highest ridership total for a single month in agency history. Today, DASH carries more than 15,000 boardings on a typical weekday and 7,000 to 10,000 boardings on Saturdays and Sundays. The 4.5 million total boardings in fiscal year 2023 eclipsed the previous record of 4.3 million in fiscal year 2015.

Still, paying for the network to stay fare-free has proven a challenge. DASH had been collecting around $4 million in fares before the fare-free program went into effect. City staff estimated the DASH subsidy will rise from the current $23.6 million to $45 million annually — barring additional grant funding. The DASH network is also working through the expensive process of converting its fleet to electric.

Photo via DASHbus/Facebook

Alexandria’s garages aren’t the only parking tool getting an overhaul.

A report for a meeting of the Traffic and Parking Board later today (Monday) said the city is working through a replacement of the city’s parking meters.

The city is ditching the “pay and display” model of parking meters — meters where drivers leave the ticket on the dashboard — and switching over to a system that keeps track of who has paid for parking by license plates.

“The City is replacing and upgrading parking meters from pay and display to by plate citywide,” the report said. “The meters that are pay and display print out a ticket that is then displayed inside the car by the user.”

The report said there are currently pay-by-plate meters in Carlyle and Potomac Yard, but that’s being expanded across the city starting with meters that were installed over 13 years ago and have reached the end of their useful life.

“There are currently pay by plate meters in Carlyle and Potomac Yard where the user puts their license plate number into the meter while paying and no ticket is needed,” the report said. “The upgrade of the meters to pay by plate involves replacing parking meters that have reached the end of their useful life and upgrading other meters to the newer pay by plate technology.”

The overhaul is also reducing the number of meters from four on each block to two — one on each side of the street where applicable. The report said the goal is to cut down on the sidewalk clutter, with most parking meters made obsolete by apps like ParkMobile.

“In recent years, there has been a large adoption of people paying for parking on their phones via ParkMobile instead of at the physical meter,” the report said. “We anticipate the use of paying via phone will continue to increase in the coming years. This supports the move to consolidated meters leading to less clutter on the sidewalks.”

The overhaul of a busy intersection on King Street near the George Washington Masonic Memorial is scheduled to kick off next month.

The project will mean periodic lane closures at the King/Callahan/Russel intersection over the next few months, but when it’s over, there should be improvements to the roadway — particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.

The project has been in the plans since 2015. A report to the Traffic and Parking Board for the meeting next week said work at the intersection is starting next month and will wrap up in November.

According to the report:

Work is expected to begin in August and conclude in November. The work will be performed during non-peak hours to minimize traffic impacts. During these times, periodic lane closures may be needed, in which case flaggers will be present to direct traffic appropriately.

The highlights of the project are separate bike lanes on King STreet running through the intersection, which currently end just before the intersection. New pedestrian crossings will also be installed along King Street.

The project is funded by the Federal Transit Administration and the report said changes at the intersection include:

(Updated 1:20 p.m.) Train riders bound for D.C. are disembarking in Alexandria instead after a derailment this morning.

Police were deployed to Alexandria’s Amtrak station at 101 Callahan Drive to help handle unruly passengers frustrated by the delays, according to scanner traffic, but so far police at the station said that’s been “theoretical” only.

One Amtrak employee suffered minor injuries in the derailment this morning. The derailment has caused a ripple effect down the line, starting with trains held in Alexandria. More than 100 passengers were stuck at Alexandria Union Station waiting for buses to take them into D.C.

Jennifer Rivers from Richmond was going to Philadelphia with her family for a Beyoncé show.

“We should be in Philly now,” said Rivers. “There’s no communication on what happens when we get on the bus. We can drive the rest of the way, but we need to get reimbursed by Amtrak.”

Shelley burns was heading to New York.

“I’d rather just go back home to Richmond,” Burns said. “I’m worried all the trains to New York will be sold out when we get to D.C.”

As of 10:29 am ET, Train 174 and Train 84 are currently being held in Alexandria (ALX) due to a disabled train blocking the tracks in the area. Updates to follow as more information becomes available.

— Amtrak Northeast (@AmtrakNECAlerts) July 11, 2023

Virginia Railway Express trains running through the station have also been impacted by the derailment, with passengers asked to board OmniRide buses instead.

Due to the service disruption, VRE passengers can board an OmniRide bus today by showing their VRE ticket. See OmniRide’s service information at https://t.co/ENBy3mR0aY

Note: Updates are not typically available for delays under 10 minutes https://t.co/C4lIht2ssW

— Virginia Railway Express (@VaRailExpress) July 11, 2023

James Cullum and Vernon Miles contributed to this story

After years of discussion, the Duke Street Transitway is headed to Alexandria’s City Council this week.

The plan is going to a public hearing at the City Council meeting tomorrow (Tuesday).

The recommended plan, called Concept A, involves a mix of center-running and mixed-traffic along Duke Street. From Van Dorn Street to just past Jordan Street, the transitway would have buses in a pair of dedicated, center-running lanes, but it gets more complicated east of Jordan Street.

For around half of the length of the Duke Street Transitway, the buses will be in mixed traffic on both sides of the street or only have dedicated center-running lanes on one direction. The middle section of the transitway, Segment 2, proved the most restrictive to some of the more ambitious designs of the transitway.

The plan noted the long-term goal would be eventually having center-running bus lanes all along Duke Street, though these plans are dependent on both redevelopment along the corridor and available funding.

Beyond buses, the plans also include recommendations for shared-use paths along Duke Street, making the road more usable for cyclists and pedestrians. The recommendation is to have, at a minimum, uninterrupted sidewalks on both sides of Duke Street. The north side of the corridor, the plan said, should have a separate two-way cycle track for the sections at either end of the corridor.

Tomorrow evening City Council will be accepting public testimony and acting on the recommendations of our resident task force as we work to expand and improve transit on Duke Street:https://t.co/T9PajPEOoz

— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) June 26, 2023