Earlier this year, the City of Alexandria planned to apply for a grant to fund significant changes along Upper King Street, including new bike lanes, narrowed car lanes, dedicated bus lanes and fewer left turns into a popular shopping center.
Now, that grant application for the 0.5-mile stretch on King Street outside Bradlee Shopping Center may be put on hold as city officials go back to get resident input and make more specific plans for the roadway to meet expectations from the Virginia Dept. of Transportation (VDOT).
The grant was under consideration through SMART SCALE, a Virginia agency that scores transportation projects. VDOT has already given a preliminary recommendation for the Commonwealth Transportation Board to fund the $36.7 million project.
In a memo from Transportation & Environmental Services head Yon Lambert (via City Manager Mark Jinks) to City Council dated April 16, Lambert wrote:
"While City adopted plans support multimodal, safety, streetscape and stormwater improvements in this corridor, the Upper King Street Multimodal Reconstruction project requires more detailed traffic analysis and community engagement to develop a Council-approved preferred alternative for the corridor. As VDOT has gained more experience with the competitive SMART SCALE grant process and project scoring, VDOT has reasonably increased its expectation that the drawings shown in an application will be substantially what a jurisdiction will build. This has reduced the flexibility for amending projects post-grant award and will require the City to undertake more project planning and civic engagement pre-project grant application submission to VDOT, and less project planning post-project grant application submission to VDOT."
On the City of Alexandria website informing residents of the change in plans, Transportation & Environmental Services officials wrote: "After applying for state funding in 2020, T&ES is now proposing additional traffic analysis and community engagement to develop a preferred alternative for this corridor."
City Council will decide whether to defer the project during its April 27 meeting. "If Council agrees and the City withdraws its current application, the City could resubmit in the future to SMART SCALE or another funding source once community outreach and planning is completed. Staff will begin community engagement and planning in the fall of 2021 and will post the official webpage as we get closer to starting the project," officials wrote (emphasis theirs).
The original grant application indicates that the total paved area on this section of King Street would remain the same including the service road, but vehicles lanes will be narrowed to slow traffic. According to the application, “…some of the existing lane space and right of way from the service road and narrowing of travel lanes will be repurposed for two dedicated bus lanes, one in each direction.” In addition, a protected bike lane would be added to the 0.5 mile stretch along King Street.
With increasing volume, residents have started to criticize city staff for applying for grant funding for various projects with few opportunities for public input before grant funding is approved. Often, by that point, it is too late to make major changes to the plans submitted in the grant application.
One resident wrote on Facebook Tuesday that engagement with residents "should have been the starting point. ... The original plan was to engage the public only after getting the funds and committing to a policy, by which time it is too late. This move to withdraw and apply after correct process is an admission of how grant funding has been misused to set important policy with scant public or Council knowledge, let alone concurrence."
The City of Alexandria does have three other projects under consideration for SMART SCALE funding from VDOT that are likely to be funded. Funding for these projects would be provided in the 2026-27 fiscal year:
- Route 1 at East Glebe intersection – widening eastbound East Glebe Road to add a right turn-only lane at the intersection of Route 1.
- Route 1 South Median Refuge Island – build a median along South Patrick Street to provide pedestrian refuge as recommended in the South Patrick Street Affordable Housing Strategy.
- Landmark Mall Transit Center – Construct a high-quality transit center within the new Landmark Mall redevelopment to serve two BRT lines and several local bus routes.
