Alexandria to turn N Van Dorn, King and Glebe into Complete Streets this summer

As noted in the Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meeting notes from May, Alexandria is on the verge of realizing three important Complete Streets projects. 

N. Van Dorn

This project, last discussed here, will

• Remove one travel lane in each direction along North Van Dorn Street between Braddock Road and Menokin Drive
• Reduce the speed limits on North Van Dorn Street from 35mph to 25mph between Braddock Road and the southern most driveway to Park Place Condominiums.
• Restripe North Van Dorn to accommodate pedestrian refuge islands and protected bike lanes.
• Add a traffic signal at the intersection of North Van Dorn and Menokin Drive.
• Add Flex posts to the bike lanes next spring to provide a protected bike lane 

This was approved in by the Traffic and Parking Board in May and work on the resurfacing was to begin last month. Update: And so it has. See image by William F. Yurasko below

King Street

This project, approved last week, will

• Remove an eastbound travel lane on King Street between Chinquapin Drive and Janney’s Lane and a westbound travel lane on King Street between Kenwood Avenue and Janney’s Lane. In it's place it will add 7 pedestrian refuge islands, an eastbound bike lane (buffered most of the way) and a west bound bike lane that becomes a shared lane on the far west side. 
• Install “No Right Turn on Red” signs at southbound Kenwood Avenue at King Street
• Reduce the speed limit from 35mph to 25mph on King Street between Chinquapin Drive and Melrose Street

Roadway resurfacing will begin in August 2016, the striping and islands will be installed in conjunction with the repaving.

Glebe Road

On East Glebe, between Commonwealth and Route 1, changes were approved in May that include

• The lanes will be narrowed
• An eastbound climbing lane will be installed between Commonwealth Ave. and Route 1
• A westbound bicycle lane will be installed between Wilson Ave. and Commonwealth Ave with a shared lane east of that.
• A bicycle box will be installed on southbound Commonwealth Ave at Glebe Road

On West Glebe, the lanes will be narrowed and shared lanes will be installed in the outside lanes from Commonwealth to Russel Roa. 

Markings on East Glebe Road between Route 1 and Commonwealth Ave. were to be installed in June, the bicycle box this month and markings on West Glebe Road between Commonwealth Ave. and Russell Road to be installed next spring. 

And a couple other items from the BPAC notes

• It was reported that Ryan Brown was riding on the sidewalk on South King Street before his crash at the intersection of Duke Street and West Taylor Run on May 5. The Alexandria Police are still investigating the crash.
• Jerry King (of BPAC) and Yon Lambert (Alexandria's Transportation Director) will go to a meeting with National Park Service Staff to discuss bike lanes on Memorial Bridge

Comments

[Barry Vance]

Yahoo! The lanes have always been way too wide encouraging speeding. I've always hated riding on Glebe and Van Dorn and won't dare ride on King where there's no bike lane. Glad Alexandria is wising up. So much more to do!

[ACyclistInThePortCity]

The buffered lanes on Van Dorn are 90% done, still a couple of sections of striping to complete - I did not check the speed limits.

[Zack Rules]

E Glebe is done, pretty narrow bike lane and a lot of cars encroaching into it.

[Mark Delligatti]

Time will tell if this is either wise, safe or fair. Is the city reducing either the number of commuters travelling into or through the city or capping the population or the numbers of automobiles allowed in the city?

[washcycle]

It's true that we'll know more about how this will work when it's done after it's done, but I don't think there is any reason to believe that the city is trying to cap commuters, population or cars. In fact, these roads are all getting this treatment because they have excess capacity and drivers speed.

I doubt it only takes a few miles of 10mph slower roads to reduce the population of Alexandria.

[ACyclistInThePortCity]

Mark

The city is growing in population. In order to efficiently accommodate that growing population, the City is trying to provide more options other than the auto, which is an inefficient use of rush hour space in a dense city. The City has added a BRT (bus rapid transit) line from Braddock metro to Crystal City, is moving forward on a second BRT line in the West End, and there will likely be a BRT line on Rte 7 connecting the City to Falls Church and Tysons. The City has increased DASH bus service, and is moving forward on a new metro station at Potomac Yard.

In addition to adding transit the City wants to encourage more walking and biking, and complete streets initiatives like this will enable both.

Note, for those of us who drive at or below the speed limit, traffic calming that discourages speeding can make the driving experience more pleasant, as well as safer.

[Barry]

Mark,

Good points. Particularly about intentionally driving slowly.

My problem taking the bus during rush hour is that I'm sitting in the same traffic as all other motorists, so I don't see much of an incentive to taking it. I'd like to see more dedicated bus lanes during rush hour. What do you think about that?

[ACyclistInThePortCity]

Barry (I assume you were addressing me?)

Many people take local buses in mixed traffic, either because they are car free or car lite, or to avoid the cost and hassle of parking.

But yes, the BRT I referred to above, all involve buses in their own lanes. (note we already have express buses that use the HOV lanes on I395).

Also I said driving the speed limit. That we think of that as driving "slowly" strikes me as a problem.