It was less than three years ago that rumors surfaced about a "road diet" coming to a 0.9-mile stretch of Seminary Road from Quaker Lane to North Howard Street. Now, the upcoming election for mayor and city council could determine if the city's changes to Seminary Road remain in place.
Candidate for mayor Allison Silberberg has said she would like to restore vehicle travel lanes on Seminary Road.
Wilson, who voted for the road diet, said he continues to put an emphasis on pedestrian safety and has not seen data that suggests the road diet should be undone.
Seminary Road, a major West End thoroughfare, was scheduled for repaving in 2019. As a matter of course, Alexandria's Transportation & Environmental Services division used the opportunity to consider whether changes to the roadway would improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles as part of its ongoing Complete Streets initiative.
Whether Seminary Road went on a diet became one of the most controversial road projects in recent memory in Alexandria. On online forums and at community meetings, thousands of people weighed in with strong opinions. More than a dozen civic associations stated they opposed the project.
Many residents also questioned whether reducing the number of vehicle travel lanes on a critical roadway leading to a hospital was safe for the fire department or residents. (In the months after the road diet was put in place, documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests by residents and extensive reporting by the Alexandria Times showed fire department officials were wary of the changes, but they did not go on the record stating this.)
By a 4-3 vote after a lengthy city council meeting, Mayor Justin Wilson and council members Canek Aguirre, Redella 'Del' Pepper and Elizabeth Bennett-Parker voted in favor of reducing the number of vehicle lanes from two in each direction to one in each direction plus a center turn lane and adding bicycle lanes to that portion of Seminary Road, with the intention to complete a missing portion of sidewalk in the following months. Council members John T. Chapman, Amy Jackson and Mo Seifeldein opposed the changes.
After the city council approved the project, Virginia state transportation officials denied the $1 million grant request from the City of Alexandria for funding to complete the 0.2 miles of missing sidewalk. The sidewalk remains incomplete today.
The road diet was supposed to be put in place for an 18-month trial, after which city officials would study the data to determine whether a reversal is warranted. But the data is a bit skewed: Residents have pointed out that just a few months after the road diet changes, the pandemic essentially shut down the city and significantly reduced commuter traffic. Whether the road diet would cause more congestion from cut-through traffic was one of the major concerns brought up by road diet opponents.
The controversy led to the formation of a Facebook group that was originally called "Take Back Seminary Road" that is still going strong today with more than 2,300 members. Now called "Bring Integrity Back to Alexandria" and with an expanded mission, the leaders of that Facebook group are posing questions to city council and mayor candidates about a wide variety of issues. Those include the future of Seminary Road, ethics, transparency, affordable housing, development, natural channel restoration and more.
Not all city council members and candidates are engaged in the group, but all have been invited to join.
Both Democratic mayoral candidates Justin Wilson (incumbent) and Allison Silberberg (mayor from 2016 - 2019) are members of the Facebook group and are answering questions. Group moderator Chris Weymont posed the following question:
Do you favor changing Seminary Road back to two lanes in each direction? Yes or No?
Allison Silberberg: "Yes. I am committed to restoring the vital travel lanes on Seminary Road."
Justin Wilson: "I will do what we committed to do at the beginning of this process: engage with the community, review the data and determine the best approach moving forward. My priority remains pedestrian access and safety. At this point, I have not seen any data that suggests that we undo the changes, but we do need to improve the westbound pedestrian access, ideally in partnership with the Seminary, as planned."
The response to the Seminary Road question from Silberberg got no comments in the Facebook group. Wilson's response generated an 86-comment thread, including follow-up comments from Wilson himself: One resident who lives on the Seminary Road corridor said that everyone who lives in that area hates the road diet. Wilson responded, writing, "I understand your perspective."
When the resident pushed back, Wilson responded: "Frequently two different people can look at the same facts and draw a different conclusion. That's what makes my job interesting. As we have discussed more than a few times, I came to a different conclusion than you did. That happens and it doesn't mean either of us are wrong."
