In a survey of Alexandria Living Magazine readers, there is overwhelming support for some sort of a pedestrian zone on Lower King Street.
Members of Alexandria's City Council back in October approved a proposal for a pilot program that will close a portion of lower King Street to cars on weekends, beginning in April. The pilot project would close the 100 block of King Street (the block closest to the waterfront) to traffic on weekends through October.
Earlier this month, the Transportation Commission approved the plan. The next steps are outreach to businesses and the public.
Read more about the King Street Pedestrian Zone proposal here.
In an online survey of 210 Alexandria Living Magazine readers, 38.1% said they would like Lower King Street to be a pedestrian-only zone on weekends only. Another 32.4% were in favor of turning the 100 block of King Street into a pedestrian-only zone all the time.
Alexandria Living Magazine
About 27.6% did not want this block to become pedestrian-only at all.
Other respondents chose 'I have another idea...' and commented.
Here's a sampling of the comments we received.
Note, these have not been edited for grammar. All comments were anonymous.
"All of King Street."
"I think it's a great idea in one way and horrible in another. Bad, there's already a huge parking problem on summer weekends. When Winchester, VA closed their streets many 'business closed after."
"Route the trolleys on an hourly basis as to allow parking up at the Masonic Temple parking "lot for free. I'd gladly ride the trolley to/from parking."
"I think this is a great idea - and one worth trying for an extended period of time (perhaps a year - to take in all seasons) before extending to potentially weekdays/all week, in order to respect the merchants who may think they are at risk. I believe pedestrian spaces (reference NY Times Square and other spaces throughout the world, including especially Europe) are an asset to the city - and definitely work. As long as they are enacted on a small scale (particularly to begin with) and still allow reasonable access for visitors potentially arriving by car who must have access to reasonable (ie not too expensive and fairly close/within walking distance) parking options. Must keep in mind the new environment of on-line .com shopping competition to brick and mortar stores ... as long as foot traffic can be sustained this should be a win-win for all."
"First, build a municipal parking garage at Robinson Terminal North and route the trolley to it to help ameliorate the parking crisis. Then and ONLY then can we look at decreasing parking more than it already has been done by closing off 50+ parking spots on lower King Street."
"My mother is mobility impaired and will be 84 in March. She uses a walker which is not easy to place on and off of trolleys, taxis, etc. She cannot walk without the walker on her own unless there are handrails or a person to hold on to. Currently, my family or I (just us two) will drop her off in front of the restaurants and then go find parking, and rejoin her. This works very well. If the streets are closed, there needs to be some method of getting mobility impaired and handicapped older patrons to the restaurants which does not involve a lot of walking, climbing up and down stairs, or not going to the restaurants at all. Closing the streets to all traffic will prevent many older and handicapped residents from enjoying the area at these times."
"What about turning it one-way and blocking off half the street? In theory, I like the idea of ped-only, while also knowing I would actively choose NOT to meet at a restaurant down there at night if I knew the street was closed."
In addition, more than one person suggested starting to run horse-drawn buggies along Lower King Street to give it a more authentic feel.
