Alexandria Living Magazine
City officials walked along the south sidewalk on Seminary Road and stood out in the windy cold with a group of more than 20 concerned residents Tuesday morning, discussing the recent ‘road diet’ and residents’ concerns.
One of the chief concerns that residents brought up to Mayor Justin Wilson, City Council Member John Taylor Chapman and Yon Lambert, Director, Department of Transportation & Environmental Services Tuesday morning: Hospital access and whether ambulances could traverse one of the main routes to Inova Alexandria Hospital efficiently.
One of the issues that residents brought up was the design of a curbed-island with signs outside Beth El Hebrew Congregation. The crossing is different in design than crossings further east on Seminary Road, where emergency vehicles seem to be able to move around traffic more easily because curbs are not present.
(At left, below, is the curbed configuration outside Beth El Hebrew Congregation; at right is further east on Seminary Road where a crossing without hard curbs is present.)
Alexandria Living Magazine
Despite some heated conversations roadside and cars honking as they passed residents holding signs, organizer Reg Brown, a lawyer and member of the Alexandria Residents Against the Seminary Road Diet Facebook group, wrote on Facebook:
“Thanks to Justin Wilson and John T. Chapman and the head of the Transportation unit for the city for coming out in the cold today to speak with a hearty band of concerned citizens. I honestly think they all understand the major issues. Hope the specific discussion will be captured below. For me, hospital access time is priority 1, 2 and 3 and I really worry about the risks created by the crosswalk designs. To the credit of the city I do think they are making helpful adjustments to the light timers.”
Residents also pointed out to the city officials there that there were no bicyclists using that stretch of road during the hour-long walk and talk, and only one runner (using the sidewalk) was seen between 8 - 9 a.m. The cold weather may have been a factor.
A few updates from City officials:
West of Howard Street
Tuesday morning, several residents noted that the 0.9 miles of Seminary Road that was put on a diet was safe prior to the repaving and reconfiguration even with cars routinely flouting the 25 mph speed limit, but the new lanes have confused drivers and led to a significant increase in accidents. City data on this is not yet available.
The City of Alexandria does recognize the need to make significant adjustments to Seminary Road West of Howard Street to Beauregard Street, Wilson said. That stretch includes Hammond Middle School, Burke Branch Library, access to a major shopping center at Kenmore and the I-395 Interchange.
City officials are analyzing data from TransUrban regarding pending changes to the on/off ramps to I-395. Specifically, TransUrban and VDOT are considering turning the Seminary Road ramp coming from the south on I-395 into a HOT ramp.
Alexandria Living Magazine
Mayor Wilson, left, and Yon Lambert, right, discuss Seminary Road with residents.
City officials have been opposed to this, as it could let HOT lane traffic exit into the City, which could in turn increase cut-through traffic.
There is a community meeting with the Virginia Department of Transportation and TransUrban on Dec. 9. The meeting will be at the T.C. Williams Minnie Howard Campus Media Center at 6:30 p.m. The outcome of the HOT lane decisions will ultimately affect how the City moves forward with safety improvements to Seminary Road. A timeline has not been set.
Seminary Road Sidewalk
The current configuration of Seminary Road has a combined bike/walking lane at street level on the north side of the street (westbound direction). The state has applied for a grant that would cover the estimated $1.5 million cost of building a proper sidewalk on the westbound direction of Seminary Road where there is no sidewalk now. (In the days after the meeting with residents, T&ES staff said the cost would be closer to $1 million.)
The sidewalk would take up a portion of the current bicycle lane at street level. Because the City is waiting to hear about that state grant before building the sidewalk, Lambert said it will be at least 18 months before that project could start. The current lane configuration will not be affected by this.
Waze and Cut-Through Traffic
A few residents asked why Alexandria can’t just ban Waze and other congestion-avoidance apps from allowing commuters through certain parts of the City where cut-through traffic is the worst. The reason Mayor Wilson gave: free speech. Other municipalities that have tried to block Waze have lost in court on the premise that Waze is simply providing data to the public and thus has some protection.
Duke Street
City staff is currently looking at Duke Street and the backups it experiences, particularly heading eastbound toward Telegraph Road. Among the considerations is whether it is feasible to widen the Telegraph Road onramp to two lanes. More information will be available in the coming months about this.
