County Begins Planning for Arlington’s Transportation Future

Published on October 07, 2024

This month, Arlington County is launching an 18-month planning process to refresh Arlington’s Transportation Plan and reestablish priorities to guide transportation investments for the next 20 years. The process is being promoted as a campaign called Arlington’s Transportation Future, and the refreshed plan will be brought to the County Board for adoption mid-2026.

An Updated Vision for an Evolving Community

The Arlington community and its transportation network have grown and changed significantly since the current Master Transportation Plan was adopted in 2007. The refreshed plan, informed by community feedback, will articulate the guiding vision and goals for transportation projects and corridor studies, shape best practices, and will incorporate Board-adopted priorities and resolutions for Vision Zero, equity, accessibility, and climate resiliency.

The refreshed plan will integrate the six separate sub-elements of the 2007 plan into one cohesive document. It will take a holistic approach to addressing the needs of a multimodal network, including the many ways people get around within the physically constrained public right-of-way. It will use best practices from peer communities to address how people’s travel patterns have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan will also create policies and metrics to guide how staff make transportation decisions.

The plan will also incorporate new transportation technologies that have been introduced since 2007. These services include ride-hailing, shared and micromobility devices like rental scooters, electric and autonomous vehicles, and app-based delivery services that have increased the demand for street and curbside space.

The plan will build upon and bring together the ongoing work from the Vision Zero Action Plan, Transit Strategic Plan, and other parts of the county’s Comprehensive Plan.

Envisioning the Plan Together

There will be three opportunities from now through the fall of 2025 for public input on the vision, goals, policies, and strategies of the plan. The project team will conduct a public engagement process that considers the experiences of all users of the transportation network, with questionnaires, interactive maps, and events held throughout Arlington. These events will include opportunities to engage in multiple languages.

The first of these opportunities contribute to the vision of the refreshed plan will begin this month, from October 7 to November 15. The engagement process will include open house events at Central Library and Arlington Mill Community Center, supported by a series of pop-up events around the County, and will include opportunities to share feedback through an online questionnaire and interactive map.

Information about the Arlington’s Transportation Future engagement process, including timeline, and opportunities for feedback, is on the project page.