Arlington National Cemetery is going to expand south, which will remove a bicycle-friendly route on Southgate Road and replace it with a multi-use trail along Columbia Pike. Gillian Burgess has an excellent write-up of it here from last year with all the relevant bike information and there's no need for me to repeat it all, but the critical part is this:
as advocates have pointed out, the proposed facilities for biking and walking are not adequate. The proposed plan replaces Southgate Road, which is a safe and comfortable place to bike separated from where people walk, with only a 10-foot-wide side path.
A trail should be built along the north side of Columbia Pike and be designed to current National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) standards.
Similarly, the trail along the new South Nash Street should be built on the east side of the street along the cemetery wall. Both trails should be part of the Cemetery Wall Trail, and should include features like water stations and bicycle parking at cemetery entrances.
According to the Final EA and Draft FONSI made public a lot of people commented on this part of the project. Approximately 90% of the comments related to the dimensions, design, and safety of the bicycle and pedestrian trails. People wanted the bike and ped facilities separated, widened or both. Arlington County also wants it widened and pushed back on the notion that "multi-modal improvements along Columbia Pike are part of the purpose and need of the project."
At the time of the release of the Draft EA in August 2018, ANC received much feedback from the public concerning the proposed multi-use trail along Columbia Pike. Bicyclists and pedestrians indicated that they were used to using Southgate Road, which is currently a wide roadway with minimal traffic. They were concerned with this facility being closed and replaced and provided suggestions for cross sections, schematics, signage, and usage. Many preferred wider trails separated for bicycles and pedestrians rather than shared-use trails.
Arlington County and the Pedestrian Advisory Committee also expressed some concern. They recommended an additional five feet of design width for the shared-use trail. Arlington Public Schools indicated that it preferred separated trails for bicycles and pedestrians.
The Army defended the preferred alternative
The Preferred Alternative, including the combination of proposed improvements to Columbia Pike and the closure of Southgate Road, would maintain existing connections with the pedestrian and bicycle trail network in this area. It would include the appropriate level of bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure consistent with VDOT standards and Arlington County’s Columbia Pike multimodal design standard.
And then they punted. The acknowledged that Southgate Road is a bicycle friendly roadway and that the bike facility on Columbia Pike would be steeper and narrower than that, but then stated that the design of Columbia Pike is ongoing and that the multi-use trail will be built to current standards and similar to other recent trails.
Specific suggestions for design provided by the citizens were passed along to the design team for consideration. Lighting and signalized cross-walks would help to ensure pedestrian safety along the route.
The final design, including actual widths of the realigned Columbia Pike right-of-way, is outside the scope of the EA and this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).
So, the promise to replace a bike-friendly street with a mutli-use trail of debatable equivalence is enough to qualify as No Significant Impact, even though the removal of the street is absolutely going to happen?
They further added that
Arlington County’s “Wall Trail” was not considered because of construction feasibility issues and its unknown schedule.
The “Wall Trail” is in the county's transportation plan. It's to be located between the cemetery's east side boundary wall and the west side of Washington Boulevard/Route 110 between Foxcroft Heights and Memorial Drive. The Army says that "The trail appears to have severe space constraints due to aboveground utilities along the proposed route." They're also punting on that.
No wonder Army lost to Michigan. Too much punting.
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