Glebe Road

Mount Vernon Avenue bridge replacement to receive $17 million in state funds

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Plans to replace the nearly 70-year-old Mount Vernon Avenue Bridge are set to move forward with more than $17 million in state funding.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board is slated to accept the state funding and adopt a resolution committing the county to pitch in local funding. The $28 million project is in an early design phase, according to the county’s project webpage.

“The Mount Vernon Avenue bridge project will replace the deteriorated roadway substructure and reuse the existing piers, which are stable,” per a county report. “The new bridge will include wider sidewalks and bike lanes in both directions.”

The project will extend the new sidewalks and bike lanes to the intersection of Arlington Ridge Road and S. Glebe Road and improve connections from the bridge to the Four Mile Run Trail, according to the county. The northern sidewalks are currently closed to prevent more wear and tear.

The Mount Vernon Avenue bridge is one of five bridges that allow vehicle traffic across Four Mile Run, between Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. It and the W. Glebe Road bridge, both built in the 1950s, were found to be structurally deficient in 2018 and identified for replacement.

“Both bridges are of a similar design and construction and have experienced significant deterioration as they approach the end of their useful life,” according to a county report.

This spring, after a number of weight and access restrictions, the W. Glebe Road Bridge was closed to allow for the replacement of the road deck and beams. Work on the Mount Vernon Avenue Bridge will begin after this bridge reopens.

“The replacement of the West Glebe Road bridge is expected to be substantially completed in fall of 2023 and will be fully open to motorized and non-motorized traffic prior to construction commencing on the Mount Vernon Avenue bridge,” per the report.

Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services posted a photo last week of concrete being poured for the bridge replacement project.

The Mount Vernon Avenue Bridge will remain open to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists during construction, although there will be vehicle travel lane reductions, per the county website.

Arlington County and the City of Alexandria will hire a firm to complete the designs, which are currently 30% complete. Then, the project will go out for bid and a contractor will be selected.

“The new bridge will include integrated art elements by artist Vicki Scuri that will enhance the bridge aesthetically,” according to the county report. “The new bridge and the integrated art elements will be completed simultaneously.”

The county says her forthcoming art installation for the Mount Vernon Avenue Bridge will provide more lighting on the Four Mile Run trail and “connect the design of the bridge to the communities of Arlington and Alexandria,” per the project webpage.

Commuters may be familiar with a current example of Scuri’s work adorning a bridge over Route 50. Her work will also be incorporated into the W. Glebe Road Bridge replacement.

10th Street Bridge over Route 50 (courtesy Peter Rof/Alt Globo MediaWorks LLC)

The two bridge replacement projects are funded with a combination of local and state dollars as well as federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which President Joe Biden signed last year.

Of the $17.2 million in state funding that the County Board is set to appropriate, about $4.2 million comes with a local funding requirement. This will be shared equally between Arlington and Alexandria under the terms of an intergovernmental agreement that governs their joint responsibility to maintain and inspect the bridges and share short- and long-term rehabilitation and replacement costs.

Ballston Macy’s redevelopment project includes the most hotly debated left turn in a decade

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

A proposed left-turn lane off of N. Glebe Road in Ballston could be the smallest, yet most scrutinized traffic change in 10 years.

As part of the planned redevelopment of the Ballston Macy’s, Insight Property Group proposes to add a left-turn option at the intersection of 7th Street N. and N. Glebe Road. It will be for drivers going southbound on Glebe who want to turn onto a proposed private drive abutting the planned grocery store, which will be located at the base of Insight’s proposed 16-story, 555-unit apartment building.

“It was the most thoroughly vetted transportation scenario in the time that I’ve been with Arlington County,” transportation planner Dennis Sellin, who has worked with the county for 10 years, told the Planning Commission last night (Monday).

Transportation changes for the Ballston Macy’s development (via Arlington County)

During the meeting, the Planning Commission gave a green light to the redevelopment, which will go before the Arlington County Board for approval later this month.

After the Transportation Commission voted to defer the project solely on the basis of the left turn, Planning Commission members supported a condition for the project that county staff work with Insight and the Virginia Department of Transportation to come up with more pedestrian-oriented options for the intersection.

“I do not think it’s reasonable to hold up the project for this, given that there’s apparently continued good faith work on the intersection to improve its pedestrian-friendliness,” Commissioner Jim Lantelme said. “I want to make clear that the Planning Commission… expects that any option possible to make this intersection more pedestrian-friendly will be pursued.”

Sellin said a half-dozen staffers, including two top transportation officials, have thoroughly vetted the left-turn lane. They published a 64-page memo justifying the turn lane and will study how the grocery store changes traffic before adding any pedestrian mitigation measures.

“There’s a recommendation to not allow any right turns on red at any of the lights in the intersection,” he said. “That’s a movement we’ll take under further consideration. Our primary concern is safety, our secondary concern is operations.”

The left-turn lane is a non-negotiable for the grocer, who has otherwise been “insanely flexible” as the project has changed throughout the public process, according to Insight’s Managing Principal Trent Smith.

“We’ve shrunk their store, changed their ramps, taken away their parking… we changed their loading, we’ve done eight or nine things that took all sorts of reworking and they’ve stuck with us and have been great, reasonable partners throughout,” Smith said.

Insight’s attorney, Andrew Painter, says the unnamed grocer required the left turn based on “decades of experience in urban configurations.” He added that for a decade, the grocer has desired to be in Ballston, which already has a Harris Teeter nearby on N. Glebe Road, a quarter-mile away.

Some Planning Commissioners noted their regret that the project does not do more to provide on-site affordable housing.

“This space here, in the heart of Arlington, in Ballston, where there’s access to transit, and now a grocery store, we have nothing,” Commissioner Devanshi Patel said.

(more…)

Clarendon Silver Diner set to close this week, ahead of Ballston location’s opening

By Matt Blitz
1/3

The Ballston Silver Diner is finally opening this month, which means the Clarendon location is closing after 26 years.

The new Silver Diner at N. Glebe Road and Wilson Blvd, next to Target, is planning to officially start serving on Wednesday, Dec. 14, a restaurant spokesperson told ARLnow.

The planned diner was first announced more than five years ago. The locally-owned chain was originally supposed to open in Ballston in the summer, but the timeline slid later as many construction projects experienced delays due to supply chain and staffing issues.

The new 6,700-square-foot location will be a mile away from the existing Clarendon diner. It’s set to have a full bar plus 244 seats, including 191 indoors and 68 on its outdoor patio. The patio will be open “seasonally.”

There will be 100 parking spots, 40 spots more than the Clarendon location. Parking will be free with a 2-hour validation.

The restaurant will have roughly the same hours as the Clarendon location, opening at 7 a.m. seven days a week and closing between midnight and 3 a.m.

The opening also signals the closing of the Silver Diner in Clarendon, which has sat between Wilson Blvd and N. Irving Street for more than a quarter of a century. The closure has long been expected and will make way for a new development that’s set to include a hotel, gym, and a 286-unit residential building.

That Silver Diner will shutter on Sunday, Dec. 11, the spokesperson said. The purpose behind moving only a mile away was to “maintain [Silver Diner’s] neighborhood presence in Arlington.”

Clarendon’s staff will be moved over to Ballston, per the restaurant’s website.

“They literally expect to shut down one location, walk down the street and open the other location,” a spokesperson wrote ARLnow in August.

The restaurant is planning an auction of memorabilia to support a local charity, we’re told, but details are not yet available.

County may be sued over pickleball courts, civic association says

By Matt Blitz
A tennis court at Glebe Road Park was restriped for pickleball (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) A local civic association says a lawsuit may be imminent over the infamous pickleball pop.

In a recent community newsletter, Old Glebe Civic Association leaders detailed their displeasure with the county ending a pilot program that closed a popular standalone pickleball court at Glebe Road Park earlier this year.

The program was initially enacted as a means to mitigate the noise of the loud pop sound produced by a pickleball hitting a paddle that was bothering some close-by neighbors, primarily those who live on a dead-end block near the courts.

The OGCA called that pilot program a “compromise” since it also looked to appease players by restriping a nearby tennis court for pickleball so there were now four courts, as opposed to the previous three. But with the program now being “abandoned,” the newsletter says, “the noise issue has become more contentious.”

The county has since proposed another pilot program that would reopen the standalone pickleball court but with limited hours and surrounded by a “noise reducing fence,” a spokesperson with the Department of Parks and Recreation tells ARLnow.

However, the OGCA opposes any reopening of the pickleball court and wrote that if the county doesn’t find a better way to mitigate the noise, legal action might be taken.

“We hope that a new compromise can be reached before affected parties turn to law courts for resolution of the issue, as has happened repeatedly in other cities throughout the country,” the newsletter reads.

Pickleball has exploded in popularity over the last several years in Arlington. It has prompted players to ask the county for more courts — which the county is now expected to deliver after a bond referendum including $2 million for pickleball has passed.

The impact of the sport’s rise has not sat well with everyone, though. The crowds and noise — particularly the loud pickleball pop — at certain local courts have bothered some surrounding neighbors. This includes those who live near Glebe Road Park.

“The noise from pickleball has become a major problem for residents of nearby houses — particularly those living on the section of Tazewell Street off of 38th Street,” reads the OGCA newsletter. “Some of the houses are only 135 feet from a ‘stand alone’ pickleball court; the noise from the court reverberates across the amphitheater-like terrain downhill to Tazewell Street and can be heard distinctly (and constantly) inside the houses.”

These concerns are not unique to Arlington, with the county looking to other jurisdictions to figure out how best to broker a pickleball peace. The initial pilot program, which ran from April to early September, closed down the pickleball court closest to the houses, but also added two more courts to the park by restriping a tennis court.

While the county “learned a lot” from the pilot, it didn’t paint a “full picture” about the best way forward, a county official told ARLnow.

“Over the last several months tennis and pickleball players, despite some inherent conflicts, have adjusted to sharing the two multi-use courts at Glebe Park. The courts have been very busy,” DPR spokesperson Martha Holland said. “Throughout the duration of this pilot, we have heard from park users and neighbors alike about the need to reopen the stand-alone court and to allow for pickleball plus other recreational options (soccer, fitness workouts, etc.).”

So, in response, the county is instituting a “Phase 2” pilot program that will keep the striping on the park’s tennis courts and install a “noise reducing fence” on three sides of the standalone court.

“The side of the court that touches the basketball court will not be wrapped, for safety reasons. Once the fence is up, DPR will reopen the court and monitor its use,” said Holland.

In addition, the court will be available via a reservation system and the court lights will be turned off at 10 p.m.

(more…)

JUST IN: Crash closes N. Glebe Road in Ballston area, knocks out power

By ARLnow.com
1/3

All lanes of N. Glebe Road are closed just south of Quincy Street due to a crash involving an overturned vehicle.

The single-vehicle crash took down power lines, according to scanner traffic, and the southbound lanes of Glebe are expected to be shut down for an extended period of time as a result.

One person was reportedly taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Police are on scene and investigating the cause of the crash and whether the driver might have been intoxicated.

Dominion, meanwhile, is reporting via its outage map that nearly 2,750 homes and businesses are without power in the area of the crash. The utility company expects power to be restored between 3-6 a.m.

New Japanese BBQ restaurant is set to sizzle in Ballston

By Matt Blitz
1/3

A new Japanese barbeque restaurant is coming Ballston.

New window stickers are announcing the arrival of Gyu San Japanese BBQ at 715 N. Glebe Road. That’s the Ballston Point building at the corner of Glebe and Wilson Blvd — the same one where the new coffee shop Slipstream is also going, albeit on the Wilson Blvd side.

Gyu San is moving into the space formerly occupied by Bangkok Bistro, which appears to have closed during the back end of 2020.

Last month, ARLnow reported that a retail leasing chart for the building showed a different Japanese BBQ restaurant looking to move into that location. That now appears to either be an error or a case of something changing.

There’s no word yet on when Gyu San might open, though interior construction does appear to have begun.

There does not seem to be a website or social media for a restaurant going by that name based in Arlington or, even, the United States. ARLnow has reached out to a leasing rep for the building but has yet to hear back as of publication.

Gyu San will compete with at least one other Arlington Japanese barbeque restaurant. Gyu-Kaku opened its first Virginia location about four years ago in Clarendon.

Beyond Gyu San and Slipstream, Ballston Point is also home to Which Wich, Chipotle, and World of Beer.

BREAKING: N. Glebe Road closed after serious motorcycle crash

By ARLnow.com
1/8

(Updated at 10:35 a.m.) A portion of N. Glebe Road between Ballston and Langston Blvd was blocked this morning after a serious crash.

A car appears to have collided head-on with a motorcycle, seriously injuring the motorcycle rider. The exact circumstances around the crash are unclear.

The motorcyclist was reported to be conscious but “pretty banged up” when he was rushed to a local hospital. Both the striking car and the motorcycle were heavily damaged by the force of the collision.

Detectives remain on scene investigating. No charges have been filed as of yet.

The motorcyclist is expected to survive, according to police.

“At approximately 8:57 a.m. on August 3, police were dispatched to N. Woodrow Street at N. Glebe Road for the report of a two vehicle crash with injuries,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “The motorcyclist has been transported to an area hospital with injuries considered serious but non-life threatening. The driver of the sedan remained on scene. Police continue to investigate the cause of the crash.”

Glebe Road was expected to remain at least partially blocked between N. Woodrow Street and Langston Blvd for much of the morning as a result of the investigation and the crash cleanup effort. It reopened shortly after 10:30 a.n.

Ballston’s Buffalo Wild Wings appears to be closing

By Matt Blitz
Buffalo Wild Wings in Ballston (file photo)

It appears that the Buffalo Wild Wings in Ballston will close next month.

Earlier this month, a request was submitted to the county on behalf of the building owner JBG Smith to amend the site plan for the office building at 950 N. Glebe Road. In that request, it’s noted that the 7,318 square foot space on the ground floor of the building that currently is home to Buffalo Wild Wings is set to be vacated when the lease is up at the end of August.

“The [building] has never enjoyed strong street frontage for retail or restaurants, which led to lower sales for the existing tenant and contributed to their decision to vacate at the end of the lease in August 2022,” the statement of justification letter reads.

Upon learning of the restaurant’s intent to close, JBG Smith attempted to find a replacement tenant but was “unsuccessful.” In response, the developer is moving on and asking the county to add “retail equivalent uses” as a permitted use.

The hope is to turn the large space once home to the beer, wings and sports chain into an assortment of “lounges, conference rooms, co-working spaces, and a fitness center” as a way to “substantially upgrade the ground floor experience” for office tenants at 950 N. Glebe Road.

ARLnow has reached out to both Buffalo Wild Wings and JBG Smith to confirm the chain’s departure from Ballston. We’ve not heard back from either as of publication.

Ballston’s Buffalo Wild Wings opened a decade ago based in part on the success of the Crystal City location. It was expected to be one of the company’s top-performing restaurants in the country, per the regional manager at the time.

That does not seem to be the case, at least today. Recent reviews of the restaurant on both Google and Yelp say that it is often devoid of customers, that food items are frequently out of stock, and that the establishment is understaffed. A lack of customers has plagued many — though not necessarily all — restaurants on the western side of Glebe Road, as the Metro station entrance, plus most of Ballton’s businesses and foot traffic, are on the eastern side of the busy artery.

Overall, JBG Smith seems to be looking to spruce up 950 N. Glebe Road. The proposed updates include a 410-square-foot bump out for a fitness center, landscape changes, and an “indoor/outdoor tenant café-style area with operable windows,” along with more conference rooms and co-working spaces.

“These proposed amendments to Site Plan #331 will allow the [building] to compete in a struggling office and retail market,” the request says. “Securing new retail and office tenants during the uncertain economic environment of the last two years has proven difficult for the Applicant, especially given that it lacks tenant amenities (which are now proposed).”

Hat tip to Chris Slatt

When the Ballston Silver Diner opens this fall, the long-time Clarendon location will close

By Matt Blitz
1/4

When the new Ballston Silver Diner opens, the Clarendon location will close.

Silver Diner is now planning to start serving at 750 N. Glebe Road in October 2022, a company spokesperson tells ARLnow. This is bit of push from its initial “summer 2022” debut that’s still being advertised on its storefront throughout construction.

When it does open, though, the long-time Silver Diner at 3200 Wilson Blvd in Clarendon will shutter after 26 years.

“The current Clarendon location will close the day after the new location opens,” a spokesperson said, confirming what has long been expected given redevelopment plans for the Clarendon site. “Their lease is ending so they’re moving as close as possible to their current location.”

The new Silver Diner is about a mile from the current location. What’s somewhat surprising, perhaps, is that it will shutter as soon as the new diner opens. The closure will make way for a new development that’s set to include a hotel, gym, and a 286-unit residential building.

The Ballston Silver Diner was first announced five years ago as part of the new Waycroft apartment building, which also includes a Target store that opened on the ground floor in the summer of 2020.

The new 6,700-square-foot restaurant is set to have a 68-seat outdoor cafe, which was just given a thumbs-up by the Arlington Planning Commission this month.

While last year’s application noted that “the applicant anticipates operating the restaurant 24 hours a day,” the spokesperson said this won’t be the case. The Ballston restaurant will keep the same hours as the Clarendon location, which operates 21 hours a day — from 7 a.m. to 4 a.m. — on Fridays and Saturdays, while closing 2-3 hours earlier on other days of the week.

“Many restaurants apply for permitting for longer hours, just in case anything changes in future but none of the Silver Diner restaurants operate 24 hours,” the spokesperson wrote.

The outdoor seating, meanwhile, will be open “seasonally.”

Construction is ongoing at the future diner, with fences protruding into the sidewalk and wires dotting the side of the building.

County Board approves traffic light, street updates at S. Glebe Road intersection

By Mavis Chan
The intersection between S. Glebe Road and S. Arlington Ridge Road (via Google Maps)

Upgraded traffic lights, roads and bus stops are expected at the intersection of S. Glebe Road and S. Arlington Ridge Road.

The Arlington County Board approved awarding a $1.6 million contract to the D.C. firm Fort Myer Construction Corporation for the project during its meeting on Saturday (July 16).

As part of a larger county program to upgrade “outdated” traffic lights, this project will change the span wire currently holding the traffic signals at the intersection to mast arms.

Other upgrades to be carried out include constructing curb ramps compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, adding high-visibility crosswalks and renovating bus stops at that location.

Currently, the intersection near the Four Mile Run Trail and the Alexandria border has narrow sidewalks, long pedestrian crossings and outdated bus stops. The project aims to “improve pedestrian safety and accessibility at the intersection,” according to the report.

The contract approved by the Board includes at 15% contingency on top of the construction firm’s $1.4 million bid, which came in lower than the county engineer’s construction cost estimate. Funding for this project was included in the adopted Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2022 to 2024.

The project is expected to be completed by fall of next year, according to the county’s Traffic Signal Upgrade Project website.

More storms expected today, after weekend storm fells numerous trees in Arlington

By ARLnow.com
Trees damaged by storm along Military Road at 38th Street N. (photos courtesy Marcia Nordgren)

Saturday night’s severe storms caused significant tree damage in parts of northern Arlington.

The southern reaches of the storms that flooded portions of D.C. and suburban Maryland also packed a punch in Arlington, ripping through the northern corner of the county with heavy rain and high winds. Other parts of Arlington only received moderate rainfall.

“Large trees were blown down along George Washington Parkway at Spout Run Parkway, some up to 4 feet in diameter and up to 50 feet tall,” the National Weather Service noted in a damage report. “Several trees blew down near the intersection of VA-120 North Glebe Road and Military Road.”

The tree damage along Glebe shut down lanes between Military Road and Chain Bridge for several hours that night and again on the morning of July 4.

A reader also reported tree damage near the corner of Military Road and 38th Street N.

“I heard what sounded like a jet engine speeding up, then came an acceleration of tremendous wind and rain,” Marcia Nordgren told ARLnow. “I had zero visibility. Then my trees and branches came down. It appears that they twisted.”

Nordgren said she thought it might have been a tornado that came through, but there was no tornado observed on weather radar — which would have prompted a Tornado Warning — and the National Weather Service tells ARLnow that it is not planning to send a storm survey team to Arlington to investigate the damage.

Meanwhile, the area is set for another series of active weather days between today and Thursday. This afternoon and evening scattered strong to severe thunderstorms are expected in the D.C. region, NWS says.

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