Glebe Road

Workers Break Ground on Lee and Glebe Intersection Upgrade

By Tim Regan
1/5

Wider sidewalks and new bus shelters are coming soon to the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Glebe Road.

Construction crews broke ground last month on the preliminary stages of a large improvement project that will eventually include the installation of left-turn lanes on N. Glebe Road, bigger sidewalks, four new bus shelters with real-time arrival information, and new streetlights, crosswalk markings and traffic signals. The improvements “will improve traffic flow and pedestrian and bicyclist safety,” Arlington County said.

Workers are currently installing underground equipment in parking lots near the intersection, but the larger improvements aren’t slated to arrive until sometime next year at the earliest.

“Construction began in January on the first phase, utility undergrounding. This is expected to last 18 months,” said Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesman Eric Balliet. “The second phase, streetscape and transit stop upgrades, is still in design.”

Once the design is finalized, it will take workers about a year to finish the job, Balliet added.

In the months ahead, commuters can expect road work to start at the intersection. Construction hours within the roadway are 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Some night work will also occur between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weekdays and weekends, the county said.

Workers may close a single lane of traffic in one or both directions along Lee Highway, Glebe Road or both during construction. Vehicles turning left or right might also be detoured as construction moves into the intersection itself.

Additionally, some bus stops in the area will be relocated and some sidewalks will be closed or rerouted to allow for construction, the county said. Off-street parking in the area may also be reduced in the coming months.

Bank Robbery Suspect Throws Bag of Cash Out Along Glebe Road

By ARLnow.com

Intersection of Glebe and Eads blocked due to bank robbery investigationAll lanes of S. Glebe Road have been temporarily shut down due to cash in the roadway.

A traffic camera shows police blocking the intersection of Glebe and S. Eads Street, and directing drivers to turn around.

Initial reports suggest there was a bank robbery in Alexandria and the robber — described as a white male wearing a black beanie cap — threw a bag of cash, which also contained a tracking device, out into the middle of Glebe Road.

Police are documenting the scene and trying to deal with cash that was reported to be “all over” the road.

Update at 9:50 a.m. — Police have collected the cash and the road closures are being lifted. Alexandria Police say the bank robbery happened on the 3700 block of Jefferson Davis Highway; that matches the address of a Navy Federal Credit Union location at Potomac Yard.

Update at 5:30 p.m. — Alexandria Police have released the following press release about the robbery.

The Alexandria Police Department is investigating the robbery of a Navy Federal Credit Union located at 3725 Jefferson Davis highway. On Monday, February 6, 2017, at 9:17 a.m., a man entered the bank and passed the teller a note demanding money. The teller complied and the suspect fled in a vehicle with an undisclosed amount of cash. There were no injuries.

The suspect is described as a white male, approximately 6’1″ to 6’3″ tall with a thin build. He was wearing a black coat, blue jeans, a black hat, and dark aviator-style sunglasses.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the identification, arrest, and conviction of these criminals.

Police ask that anyone with information about this incident call Detective Brad Cecchetti at 703.746.6858.

Masked Men Armed With Gun Rob Glebe Road Shop

By ARLnow.com

Shops on the 1600 block of S. Glebe Road (photo via Google Maps)

A store on S. Glebe Road, just south of Columbia Pike, was robbed Tuesday night.

Police say two masked men, one armed with a gun, entered a store on the 1600 block of S. Glebe Road around 7:30 p.m. and demanded cash from the register. They then fled on foot.

The stores on that block of Glebe include a market and deli, a vape and tobacco shop and a drycleaner.

Officers established a perimeter and brought in a police K-9 but were unable to locate the suspects.

“The first suspect is described as a white or Hispanic male in his thirties, approximately 6’0″ tall,” police said.” He was wearing a dark gray hoodie, black ski mask, jeans, and sneakers. The second suspect is described as a white or Hispanic male in his thirties, approximately 5’10” tall. He was wearing a light gray hoodie sweatshirt, black ski mask, and sneakers.”

No one was hurt during the robbery.

Photo via Google Maps

Glebe Road Closed Due to Rollover Crash

By ARLnow.com

Fairfax County police car lightsN. Glebe Road is currently closed between Chain Bridge and N. Military Road due to a single-vehicle rollover crash.

The crash happened around 10 a.m. The driver was able to “self-extricate” from the vehicle, which was flipped on its roof, according to scanner traffic.

Glebe Road is closed while a tow crew works to remove the flipped vehicle and clean debris from the roadway.

The driver’s injuries are believed to be minor.

One Hurt in ART Bus Crash

By ARLnow.com

ART busOne person was hospitalized this morning after a crash involving an Arlington Transit bus.

The crash happened around 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of S. Glebe Road and Four Mile Run Drive, according to police.

The ART bus “was struck by a car attempting to change lanes,” said Arlington County Police spokesman Capt. Bruce Benson. “One passenger on the bus complained of neck pain and was transported to the hospital. There were only two other passengers on the bus at the time of the accident and they left the scene before police arrived.”

The victim’s injuries were believed to be minor.

File photo

Police: Cars, Electronics Stolen From Business on N. Glebe Road

By Tim Regan

Police car (file photo)Someone broke into a business on N. Glebe Road and stole electronics and four cars yesterday, according to Arlington County Police.

The burglary occurred at a car dealership on the unit block of N. Glebe Road sometime before 10:19 a.m. yesterday morning.

One of the business’s employees arrived at work to find the store’s sliding glass doors were broken and that someone had ransacked the place.

Police said the burglars stole some electronics and the following vehicles:

  • 2007 Audi Q7
  • 2012 Chevy Suburban
  • 2008 Ford Expedition
  • 2006 BMW 325i

From an Arlington County Police report:

COMMERCIAL BURGLARY, GLA, 160928019, unit block of N. Glebe Road. At 10:19 a.m. on September 28, officers responded to the report of a burglary. The reporting party arrived at work to find the sliding glass doors to the business broken and the business ransacked. Investigation revealed that four (4) vehicles had been stolen from the sales lot along with numerous items of value. There is no suspect(s) description.

Woman Robbed While Putting Child in Back Seat of Car

By ARLnow.com

Police cars outside of Department of Human Services (file photo)A woman was robbed by a knife-wielding man while she was placing her child in the back seat of her car, according to police.

The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, on N. Glebe Road just north of Route 50.

Police say the woman was attending to her child in the back seat of the vehicle when a man got into the car from the passenger side door and took a wallet from her purse.

When the woman confronted the man he allegedly pulled a knife on her, then fled in a waiting car. Police say they were able to later arrest two of the car’s four occupants.

From an ACPD crime report:

ROBBERY, 060917060, unit block of N. Glebe Road. At approximately 3:35 p.m. on September 17, a male subject entered the victim’s vehicle through the passenger side door and took her wallet from inside her purse. When the victim confronted the suspect, he brandished a knife. The suspect fled the area in a white four door sedan occupied by three additional suspects. Over the weekend, detectives identified and charged two suspects involved in the robbery. Lakeia Ward, 34, of Washington DC and Tykia Thomas, 27, of Washington DC were arrested and charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, larceny with intent to sell and destruction of property. The investigation into the identity of the additional suspects is ongoing.

Large Power Outage Reported in South Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Power outage map on July 20, 2016More than 1,700 Dominion customers are without power in south Arlington due to a widespread power outage.

The outage was first reported around 2:30 p.m. Numerous traffic signals along Columbia Pike and Glebe Road, including the signal at the busy intersection of the Pike and Glebe, were reported to be dark, though most have since come back online.

The outage also briefly caused some issues at the county’s Water Pollution Control Plant along Glebe Road, according to scanner traffic.

The outage is currently affecting power customers in Fairlington, Shirlington and along portions of the Pike, according to a power outage map and social media reports. More than 100 customers are also said to be without power in Alexandria.

Former ‘Blue Goose’ Becomes ‘Newside’ As Construction Continues on Ballston Development

By Adrian Cruz
1/8

Following last year’s demolition of Marymount University’s “Blue Goose” building in Ballston, construction is underway on the building’s replacement, which now has a new name.

The mixed-use development at 1000 N. Glebe Road is now being called “Newside.” Two buildings are under construction on the site, a nine-story office building and a 12-story, 267-unit residential building.

The nine-story building will be owned by Marymount University, with the university using six floors as office and educational space. The top three floors will be leased out as office space.

Along with the two buildings, there will also be a 10,600 square foot public plaza and pedestrian passageway in between them.

The Shooshan Company, the project’s developer, is optimistic about its potential.

“You’ve got this unique blend of all these uses in one spot,” said Kevin Shooshan, the company’s director of leasing and marketing. “There is going to be constant foot traffic every day of the week,” between Marymount students and customers of the on-site retail. “It gives kind of a new life to the site which is why we view it as the new side of Ballston, the new side of Marymount University.”

Government contractors, high profile associations, IT and technology companies are among the potential tenants that Avison Young, the company in charge of leasing office and business space, imagines for the top three floors of the Marymount building.

According to Shooshan, the development’s convenient location just off I-66, between Tysons Corner and D.C., along with its potential for rooftop signage that can be seen from the highway, gives it an advantage in the marketplace.

“It is the only new construction space available in the Ballston market,” he said. “In an era when many tenants are looking to reduce things and right-size their space, doing so in new construction — it’s the only opportunity in the Ballston market and it’s coming within the next year.”

“We’ve also been seeing some good activity from some national retailers,” he added.

At the moment, the excavation and concrete portion of the underground parking garages are complete and work is currently being done of the second floors of the buildings.

Construction is expected to be completed for both buildings around the second quarter of 2017.

BREAKING: Girl Critically Injured in Multi-Vehicle Crash

By ARLnow.com
1/18

(Updated at 9:50 p.m.) Arlington County police and firefighters responded to a serious multi-vehicle crash on S. Glebe Road Tuesday night.

The crash happened just before 7:45 p.m. near the intersection of Glebe and 19th Street S. Police on scene reported that four people were injured, including an 8-year-old girl who was initially trapped in one of the vehicles.

“A vehicle was on S. Glebe Road driving at a high rate of speed when it crossed into oncoming traffic, striking two vehicles,” said ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage.

Three of the injured individuals are being transported to the trauma center at Inova Fairfax Hospital, according to scanner traffic.

“All three occupants of one vehicle were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries,” Savage said. “An 8-year-old girl suffered critical injuries. Occupants of the second vehicle were treated by medics on scene but refused transport.”

One person has been taken into custody by officers on reported suspicion of DUI, according to scanner traffic.

“The driver of the striking vehicle is expected to face charges,” said Savage. “Those charges have not been determined at this time.”

There were three men in the striking vehicle, according to Savage. One was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, for a total of four who were hospitalized.

The crash involved a Chevrolet Camero, a Land Rover SUV and a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle.

Both directions of Glebe Road were closed at the crash scene. The road was expected to remain closed while the cars are removed, debris is cleared and a police investigation is conducted.

Resident of One-Way Street Is Shaming Speeders and Wrong-Way Drivers on Twitter

By Adrian Cruz
1/3

In past years, Arlington has been ranked as having some of the worst drivers in the nation. That doesn’t surprise Brian Meenaghan, who has started a Twitter account to document what he views as a never-ending parade of bad drivers on his block.

Meenaghan, an Arlington Heights resident, started the Twitter account @BadDriversof1stRdS at the end of April. The account focuses on the worst offenders on the 3600 block of 1st Road S., a one-way street located in a high traffic area around S. Glebe Road, Route 50 and the Thomas Jefferson middle school and community center.

“I started this account as a cathartic thing because we’ve had a lot of frustrations on our little block. We’re about 400-450 feet long as a block and we dead end at a middle school,” said Meenaghan. “We have people whipping up this block and people coming the wrong way from the middle school. Because of the oddity of the exit for Route 50 around Glebe Road, we also have a lot of people turning around in driveways and going back up the wrong way, trying to go back to 50.”

Meenaghan’s main concern is drivers going the wrong way on the one-way street (traffic is supposed to only flow from S. Glebe Road to Old Glebe Road). From cars to school buses and even Metrobuses, Meenaghan has caught all types of drivers driving the wrong way or speeding — or both — on the narrow street. Photos and video posted to the Twitter account document the broken traffic laws. (See some of the tweets, below.)

“I work downtown and I’m not here physically during the day all that much and I personally see three or four people turning around every day. I’m probably outside maybe 45 minutes to an hour before dinner with my daughter and I see in just that short amount of time a lot of people going the wrong way,” said Meenaghan.

The Twitter account is a joint venture with his neighbors, who often supply the photos he uploads to the website. Meenaghan said he and his neighbors have been trying for years to convince Arlington County to implement traffic calming measures on the block.

“My neighbors are all very involved in this,” said Meenaghan. “I’m not here that much so I’m not here to take a lot of these pictures. You miss a lot of them because they happen so quickly. Probably six of my neighbors have given me photos over the last couple of weeks. It’s kind of a group-wide effort.”

Part of the impetus for the effort is that the block is now chock full of children.

“We now have 15 kids on this block. There are only 23 houses and there are 15 kids under the age of 10. There have been five kids born in the last six months,” said Meenaghan. (One could perhaps see the block as a microcosm of the challenges with burgeoning enrollment facing Arlington Public Schools.)

Along with the kids living on the block, the presence of Thomas Jefferson Middle School at the end of the block means that there is a constant stream of kids on the block during the school year. It’s only set to become busier, with continued growth at the middle school and the construction of a new elementary school on the middle school’s former parking lot.

(more…)

View More Stories