Washington Boulevard Bike, Pedestrian, Roadway Enhancements

Location

Washington Boulevard (VA 237) - Westover to East Falls Church, between McKinley Road and Lee Highway (US 29)

(JPG, 167KB)

Status

Complete

• Ongoing monitoring of the intersection signal timings will occur by Arlington County Transportation staff.
• In 2018, the County will collect field data that captures vehicle traffic, cycling activity, pedestrian crossing activity and parking utilization in the project corridor.

About the Project

The stretch of Washington Boulevard between Westover and East Falls Church is a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) owned and operated roadway. During the winter of 2016/2017, County staff developed a new striping and marking plan, with input from area property owners and community stakeholder groups, and VDOT will execute the work. The road consists of two wide travel lanes and on-street parking through much of the corridor.

The most significant feature of the proposed layout is the introduction of bicycle lanes in both directions; some stretches getting an additional 2′ or 3′ buffer against moving traffic. The 2011 East Falls Church Area Plan calls for bike lanes along the entire stretch of Washington Boulevard through the master plan area. The 2008 Bicycle Element of the Master Transportation Plan also calls for bike lanes in the same area.

The final striping plan as submitted to VDOT provides a number of benefits:

• Enhance bicycle infrastructure where it does not currently exist
  • Help stitch together the expanding Capital Bikeshare system (a new station was installed at the East Falls Church metro station in 2016 and two new stations will be installed in Westover in 2017 and 2018).
  • Connect to existing bicycle lanes on Washington Boulevard between Westover and Lacy Woods Park.
  • Create a nearly two-mile stretch of bicycle lanes from Sycamore Street to George Mason Drive.
• Narrow unnecessarily wide travel lanes to help calm traffic.
• Install a dedicated left turn lane for westbound Washington Boulevard at North Ohio Street to help reduce backups.
• Sidewalks will be more comfortable for walking due to buffering provided by the new bicycle lanes.
• Pedestrian safety improvements at key intersections with highly visible markings for crosswalks (pending VDOT approval). Center line “Yield to Pedestrians in Crosswalk” signs may also be installed.

Public Process

A second community open house was held on in April 2017 in the Reed School Gymnasium to share the revised design plan and explain how community feedback was incorporated.

April 2017 meeting (and other related) materials:

• Summary of themes from comments received 
• Revised striping plan
• Revised plan narrative - how comments were integrated
• Frequently asked questions

Revised Striping Plan (April 2017) - What's New?

• Change to bicycle lanes – revised plan includes:
  • Westbound dedicated bicycle lane to North Roosevelt and then sharrows for one block to North Sycamore Street.
  • Eastbound dedicated bicycle lane from North Sycamore to North Quintana Street, then utilizes side streets to 18th Street North, then dedicated bicycle lane again from 18th Street North to McKinley Road into Westover Village.
    • Side street connections from North Quintana to 18th Street North will be emphasized with installation of bicycle wayfinding signage
• Overall parking impacts
  • Significant decrease in parking impacts in revised plan. Impacts will now be on 16-19 spaces out of approximately 150 overall
  • Bicycle lanes and left turn at North Ohio Street = 12-14 parking spaces
  • Formal striping of crosswalks and bus stop areas = 4-5 parking spaces
• Parking at Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church
  • Back-in parking remains
  • Increased to 15 diagonal back-in parking spaces, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week
  • Preservation of parking on south side of Washington Boulevard across from church
• Increased marked crossing locations to include North Nicholas Street, 18th Street North (south leg), North Ohio, North Powhatan, and North Potomac Streets
• Additional paint/markings for improved clarity throughout and specifically at North Ohio and North Sycamore intersections

Previous Community Outreach

A community open house was held in March 2017 for residents and community members to share concerns, ideas and insights on how to achieve maximum benefits for bicycle access and pedestrian safety, while minimizing potential impacts in the area, including the loss of some on-street parking. The deadline for comments on the initial proposed design was March 17, 2017.

March 2017 open house meeting (and other related) materials:

• Washington Boulevard FAQs
• Presentation
• Proposed design - entire area
• Proposed design - by section
• Arlington County Residential Permit Parking Map - September 2016

Affected civic associations, residents along Washington Boulevard, representatives of Resurrection Lutheran Church, Westover businesses, Arlington's Transportation Commission, Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA)'s Arlington Action Committee have been directly notified about the re-paving project and the proposed design.

Funding

Funding for this project is provided entirely through VDOT's roadway maintenance program.