Take this Survey to Help Improve Safety along the Avenue

Take this Survey to Help Improve Safety along the Avenue

The City of Alexandria is implementing the Mount Vernon Complete Streets project to address recent traffic deaths and serious injuries along the Avenue, as well as safety and accessibility concerns raised by the community through the Arlandria Action Plan, Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan Update, and subsequent discussions with neighborhood residents and businesses.

Help identify key the safety problems and unsafe locations along Mount Vernon Avenue (from Braddock Road to Four Mile Run), as well as solutions to these problems. Please take the survey and be a part of this effort to make your neighborhood safer and more accessible for all modes!

The survey closes on November 28.

https://survey.alexandriava.gov/s3/MtVernonAveCompleteStreetsProjectSurvey

Project Background

Mount Vernon Avenue is the main street of the Arlandria and Del Ray neighborhoods, and is heavily used by pedestrians, bicyclists, transit vehicles, and automobiles. The City is implementing this project to address recent traffic deaths and serious injuries along the Avenue, as well as safety and accessibility concerns raised by the community through the Arlandria Action Plan, Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan Update, and subsequent discussions with neighborhood residents and businesses.

Project Considerations

• Accessibility of sidewalks, crossings, curb ramps, and transit stops for pedestrians and people in wheelchairs
• Safe and comfortable north-south connectivity for bicyclists
• High utilization of parking along Mount Vernon Avenue and side streets
• Business loading and deliveries
• Volume and speed of traffic on both streets
• Highly used transit corridor with Metrobus and DASH service
• Limited sight-distances at intersections

Implementation

PHASE 1 - SHORT-TERM IMPROVEMENTS (FALL 2017)

The City of Alexandria will conduct a traffic study of intersections along the Mount Vernon Avenue corridor, between Braddock Road and Four Mile Run. The study will:

• Identify quick, low-cost improvements that can be made to improve traffic and pedestrian signal timing, signage, and sight-distances.
• Identify improvements that can made as part of future resurfacing and re-striping of Mount Vernon Avenue (Phase 3).

We want to hear from you! Please look at the Mount Vernon Avenue traffic count maps to see traffic and turning counts (Braddock Road to E. Oxford Avenue and E. Oxford Avenue to Four Mile Run) from Spring 2017, and take our survey to provide input on traffic safety challenges along Mount Vernon Avenue as well as possible solutions for the City to consider. The survey closes on November 28, 2017.

PHASE 2 - PEDESTRIAN IMPROVEMENTS TO TRANSIT STOPS (MID-2018 - EARLY 2019)

The City of Alexandria conducted a Pedestrian Improvements to Transit Stop Study  along the entire Mount Vernon Avenue corridor that provided recommendations to improve pedestrian access to transit.  More information can be found here: www.alexandriava.gov/93440. The goals of the study were to: 

• Comply with federal mandate to upgrade all bus stops to current ADA compliant standards
• Create a ADA transition plan for bus stops Del Ray and Arlandria
• Minimize parking loss & construction costs
• Consolidate or relocate bus stops to improve bus travel time and encourage walking and active transportation

The Department of Project Implementation is managing the design and construction of the study's recommendations. Improvements will include:

• Consolidate bus stops to balance accessibility, pedestrian/driver safety and on-street parking.
• Upgrade ramps and crosswalks to improve pedestrian safety along the corridor.
• Ensure construction process minimally impacts residents, businesses, access to parking and planned events.
• Construct bulbs similar to the existing bus bulbs at Mount Vernon Avenue and Kennedy Street (shown below)

                                                                                

PHASE 3 - REPAVING AND SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS (SUMMER 2019 OR SOONER)

The City of Alexandria is scheduled to resurface Mount Vernon Avenue corridor, between Braddock Road and Hume Avenue. In conjunction with resurfacing, recommendations from the traffic study (Phase 1) and Arlandria Action Plan (2002) will be implemented. Improvements may include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Additional high visibility crosswalks
• Shared lane markings
• Bicycle wayfinding signage
• Parking edgelines
• Flexpost curb extensions at intersections

Project Contact

Please contact Ray Hayhurst, Acting Complete Streets Program Manager, at raymond.hayhurst@alexandriava.gov, if you have any questions or concerns about this project.