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.
transportation planning
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
|
(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.
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).
Back-and-forth arguments over the Duke Street Transitway had shades of Seminary Road at discussions during a Transportation Commission meeting last week.
The proposed transitway is part of the Duke Street In Motion project which aims to revamp Duke Street to prioritize public transit and walkability alongside car traffic. The transitway will potentially mix dedicated bus lanes and mixed-traffic lanes for a new system that should make transit more efficient along Duke Street.