Transportation Plan is Getting Updated for Arlandria

On Wednesday, July 22nd, the Alexandria Transportation Commission will hold a public hearing to consider and approve an Update to the Transportation Long-Range Plan.

As part of its responsibility to develop and maintain a comprehensive Transportation Long Range Plan (LRP) that identifies the City’s long-range transportation needs. The LRP is an unconstrained list of all transportation related capital projects, programs and studies identified in City plans and policies. Projects on the LRP have no identified funding source. Once projects on the LRP receive partial or full funding, they are moved to the City’s constrained Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

As projects from the LRP are considered for the City’s annual constrained budget, there are a number of other criteria that are typically considered by staff, Each year the Transportation Commission updates the LRP transportation projects, programs and studies from plans adopted since the last update and adjusts the rankings accordingly.

This year's update includes:

1. safety improvements at Mt. Vernon Ave/Russell Rd moved in the rankings from #7 to #5 and
2. safety improvements at Mt. Vernon Ave/Four Mile Rd moved in the rankings from #10 to #6. 

These items featured prominently in the planning discussions that took place from 1998 through 2003, culminating in the passage of the Arlandria Plan. The Vision for the Arlandria Neighborhood included the following common elements:

• the desire for a healthy, mixed use community focusing on redevelopment of three underutilized “opportunity” sites (Safeway-Datatel, the Birchmere and the Mt. Vernon Village Shopping Center),
• active and viable commercial retail that serves both the neighborhood and the broader community,
• a transition in uses from automobile-oriented to pedestrian oriented; and 
• visual and physical connections to Four Mile Run Park; and a safer environment for pedestrians.

Basically, as summarize in the plan, the community consensus was "the desire to make Mt. Vernon Avenue more pedestrian friendly and to improve its appearance"

The Draft Transportation Long-Range Plan is available online and the public is invited to provide comments either during the Public Hearing (City Hall, Council Work Room, 2nd Floor) or in advance of the hearing.

If you would like to provide advance comments, email Steve Sindiong, Principal Planner, Department of Transportation & Environmental Services at steve.sindiong@alexandriava.gov.