Arlington County is redesigning three at grade crossings along the Buemont Junction Trail, at Emerson, Buchanan and Kensington, a project called for in the county's 2019 Master Transportation Plan (MTP) (page 55). The crossing distance will be shortened with bulb outs, cars will be slowed with speed tables and the trails will be better market and in one case realigned. The MTP called for more than this as it included lighting and repaving too, but it's a start.
The short rail trail between the W&OD Trail and the Holliday Inn at Balston (ok, Fairfax Drive) has four at-grade crossings, but the other one at Wilson/George Mason was rebuilt more than a decade ago. The County says that
They will:
- Improve visibility and sightlines for trail and road users
- Increase predictability of intersection interactions
- Account for traffic volumes on both the trail and the intersecting streets
- Manage storm water effectively
- Incorporate transit improvements where the trail crosses N Kensington Street
Trail safety and access issues for the Bluemont Junction trail were first raised by the community in 2013. The project has evolved to focus on the three intersections included based on site visits, data analysis, and community input.
The County is currently accepting public comments this month.
Not really related but close enough, Arlington is also making plans to rehabilitate Upper Bluemont Park, located just north of the point where the BJT meets the W&OD Trail. The W&OD is just outside the project limits, but a section of Four Mile Run passes through it and replacing that part of the trail is one of the goals of the project.
This project kicked off last year, but it doesn't seem they've gotten out of the scoping and improvement identification phase - even though a 2nd and 3rd meeting were to have already taken place by now. About the trail, they noted that the width varies, there are few associated amenities, there are pinch points and low visibility. At the very minimum the trail should be repaved and brought up to current standards. They also recognize that the trail has drainage issues. The good news about it being early is that there is plenty of time for people to comment on it. The same people who have complained about widening the trails at other places in the Four Mile Run valley apear to be pushing back at widening this trail here, arguing that it causes storm water runoff and that it's not needed.
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