The George Washington Memorial Parkway could be the next road to go on a “diet.”
The National Park Service asked for comments from residents about safety traveling the George Washington Memorial Parkway — and received hundreds of them.
Overwhelmingly, primary concerns from residents were speeding, pedestrian safety, and the intersections with Belle View Boulevard and Belle Haven Road, which are prone to accidents.
National Park Service
Comments from residents regarding George Washington Memorial Parkway safety.
The Park Service hosted an open house at Walt Whitman Middle School earlier this week to present those findings to residents, take additional comments and provide renderings of possible ‘road diet’ and other solutions to address concerns.
In addition to road diet options along certain stretches of the roadway (where lanes are removed), the National Park Service is considering changing some intersections to roundabouts to help manage intersection crossings.
Road diets are being considered particularly around Morningside Lane, Wellington Road, Collingwood Road, Waynewood Boulevard and Vernon View Drive.
The rendering below shows a road diet combined with a modern roundabout at Morningside Lane, as an example:
National Park Service
Throughout the region, the road diet would be combined with enhanced pedestrian crossings, driver education and additional enforcement. (Already, additional speeding enforcement has reduced accidents by 35% in the past year, Covering the Corridor reported.) While speed cameras are allowed only in very limited circumstances in Virginia, the Parkway is National Park Service property and speed cameras could be a part of the enforcement solution.
See additional renderings, public comments and more information here from the National Park Service.
The Park Service is still taking public comments until Jan. 10. (You can submit comments here.) By the end of this spring, Park Services officials hope to have a final report ready.
The timeline for changes, however, is up in the air because the list of projects in need of funding is long and there’s no certainty about when money will be available.
