The final plans are in for a trio of road projects in Arlington, and two out of three involve the removal of travel lanes.
The projects — in Rosslyn, Dominion Hills and Crystal City/Potomac Yard — are all part of the county’s 2020 road repaving schedule. Each has been singled out for changes to the lane striping via the county’s Resurfacing Projects for Complete Streets program, which aims to make streets safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians via inexpensive means during the regular repaving cycle.
The first project is planned in Rosslyn along Clarendon Blvd, from N. Rhodes Street to N. Oak Street, near the standalone Starbucks. The plans call for new sections of buffered and protected bike lanes, green paint for bike lanes through intersections, upgraded signage, and no reduction in travel lanes — though it will remove seven of 78 on-street parking spaces.
The Clarendon Blvd project is set to start construction this month.
The second project will reconfigure Potomac Avenue in the Potomac Yard area of Crystal City, from Crystal Drive to the county line. The project calls for upgraded bike lanes, an interim on-street pedestrian zone along a construction site, new turn lanes, and 34 new parking spaces. One of two travel lanes in each direction will be removed, though the road has relatively light traffic.
The Potomac Avenue project is also set to start construction this month, and is reportedly now underway.
Milling and repaving have started on Potomac Avenue from Crystal Drive to the County line. With this work, the County also will upgrade the bike lanes in both directions and add improved markings. https://t.co/kT2A0tQbXX
— NationalLanding (@NationalLanding) July 9, 2020
Finally, the last project will make changes to Wilson Blvd through the Dominion Hills neighborhood, from Bon Air Park to the county line. It calls for the addition of turn lanes, dedicated school and transit bus stop lanes, curb extensions for shorter crossing distances, buffered bike lanes, and marked bike lanes through intersections. It adds one parking spot to the stretch but removes one of two travel lanes in each direction.
The removal of lanes follows a prior, similar project along sections of Wilson Blvd from Bluemont to Bon Air Park, which was somewhat controversial at the time but only resulted in minimal traffic impacts for the average rush hour commuter.
The Wilson Blvd project is set to start construction later this summer or in the early fall.
The design process for the three projects involved two virtual open houses and rounds of public feedback, through which a number of modifications to the plans were made.
File photo (top). Street view images (1) (2) and (3) via Google Maps.