(Updated at 1:40 p.m.) A two-car accident has occurred at the busy intersection of Lee Highway and N. Lynn Street, in Rosslyn.
One car ran into a pole, while the other car ran into a guardrail. One minor injury was reported.
The accident happened at the southern Lee/Lynn intersection, away from pedestrians on the Custis Trail.
A new neighborhood eatery called Billy’s Cheesesteaks (3907 Lee Highway) opened this week in Cherrydale.
The restaurant replaces the four-year-old Cherrydale Deli, but remains under the same ownership. Though some of the same deli items remain on the menu, Billy’s will focus specifically on — you guessed it — cheesesteaks.
The menu includes an “authentic” Philly cheesesteak, with steak, onions and Cheez Whiz. Other offerings include the smoky-sweet Arlington cheesesteak (steak, onions, provolone and Billy’s steak sauce), the Bacon Steak (steak, ham, onions, provolone and bacon) and the Pizza Steak (steak, marinara, provolone). Lettuce, tomatoes and mayo are available, but only on request.
Owner Bill Hamrock says North Arlington needed a decent cheesesteak place.
“I think there’s a need for it in the area,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any place close by that does them well.”
Customers can substitute chicken in any of the cheesesteaks, and a vegetarian option will be coming soon, according to Hamrock. Other offerings at Billy’s range from homemade pizzas, sandwiches, pitas, subs, sides, salads and chili.
Next week, Billy’s will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Hamrock said. Also coming soon: a delivery service for Billy’s and the next-door Mediterranean restaurant Pasha Cafe, which Hamrock also owns.
The Arlington County Board’s recent vote to change the name of Old Jefferson Davis Highway to “Long Bridge Park” was preceded by a thorough dissing of the former namesake by Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman, the Sun Gazette reports this morning.
“I have a problem with ‘Jefferson Davis,'” Zimmerman said of the former Confederate president. “I don’t believe Jefferson Davis has a historic connection to anything in Arlington… He wasn’t from Virginia. I don’t really see why we need to honor him.”
Though last week’s vote may be a victory for the anti-Jefferson Davis crowd, it only renames a narrow, pothole-ridden backroad that connects Crystal City with a future county park. The much larger and more heavily-traveled State Route 1 will continue to be known as Jefferson Davis Highway.
Meanwhile, another state route — Route 29 — is named after an even more prominent, but slightly less controversial Confederate leader: Robert E. Lee. While Jefferson Davis Highway runs north-south through south Arlington, Lee Highway runs east-west across north Arlington. Both serve tens of thousands of commuters each day.
Though the Civil War figures prominently in the history of Arlington, should these roads be renamed for something or someone not associated with slavery and the losing side of a horribly costly war? Or should we preserve our history, warts and all?
A child has been struck by a vehicle on the 6800 block of Lee Highway, in the East Falls Church/Westlee area.
Initial reports suggest the child is alert and conscious, but may have several broken bones. The vehicle that struck the child reportedly left the scene but has since returned.
Westbound Lee Highway is closed due to the emergency response.
The Arlington Bike Advisory Committee is holding a site visit and safety discussion at the intersection of Lynn Street and Lee Highway in Rosslyn tonight.
The meeting is being held following a number of recent bicycle/vehicle collisions at the intersection, which serves vehicles exiting I-66 and approaching Key Bridge, as well as cyclists and pedestrians on the Custis Trail.
“Arlington County staff will be on hand to explain and discuss future plans to improve the intersection,” according to organizers.
Anyone interested in attending the site visit is asked to show up at the northeast corner of Gateway Park, near the intersection, at 6:30 p.m. The gathering will move to the Continental lounge around 7:15 p.m., organizers say.
Two painted “stop” markers have been removed from the bike trail that runs along the north side of Lee Highway, at the dangerous intersection with Lynn Street in Rosslyn.
The markings were removed from the Custis Trail by Arlington’s Transportation Engineering and Operations Administration last week, according to spokeswoman Shannon Whalen McDaniel. On Friday, ARLnow.com reported that a cyclist struck and injured at the intersection last month said he was issued a warning for failing to stop at the marker.
“The markings were removed because they provided a restriction to bicyclists that conflicted with the traffic signal at this intersection,” Whalen McDaniel said today. “This was recommended as part of a comprehensive trail traffic control study over a year ago. All users of the streets and sidewalks should exercise care at intersections and obey all regulations, signals, and signage.”
Flickr photo by @I_am_Dirt, via @BikeArlington
Cafe Parisien, located at 4520 Lee Highway in the Lee Heights shopping center, has closed.
The French restaurant first closed its doors about a week ago, one of the neighboring shopkeepers said. Most of the interior has been emptied out and a sign announcing that the space is for lease is now displayed in the window.
The closure was sudden, and customers have told ARLnow.com that they had no indication the restaurant was even considering closing. A long-time fixture of the Lee Heights shopping strip, Cafe Parisien lacked a web site, but it did earn a write-up in the Washingtonian Magazine ‘Cheap Eats’ column in 2005.
“The menu is heavy on sandwiches, salads, quiches, and crepes,” Washingtonian said. “Everything is house-made, except for the cheesecake.”
A cyclist who collided with a vehicle last month at the dangerous intersection of Lee Highway and N. Lynn Street was issued a police warning, while still in his hospital bed, for failing to “obey a highway sign.”
The accident happened on the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 10. The cyclist said he was heading eastbound on the Custis Trail, crossing Lynn Street in Rosslyn with the green light, when a car quickly turned in front of him as he was traveling across the intersection. He slammed on the brakes but still hit the vehicle’s rear driver’s side quarter panel.
The cyclist, who did not want to be named, said that police followed his ambulance to the hospital, asked him to write a written statement, and then handed him a warning as soon as he had finished the statement. The warning was for failing to “obey a highway sign.”
As explained to the cyclist, he was culpable in the accident because he did not stop at a painted “stop” sign on the sidewalk just before the intersection. Further, he was considered a “cyclist” while on the trail, but became a “vehicle” when he entered the intersection, and thus did not have the right-of-way to oncoming traffic.
“You just can’t tell me that it’s all my fault for being hit,” the cyclist told ARLnow.com. “Naturally, if you’re a cyclist heading into an intersection, you’re not concerned with what’s below you but with what’s in front of you.”
The cyclist says he later found out that the driver who turned in front of him was not issued any sort of citation. As a result, not only will he be financially responsible for his own bills — the hospital bill for his hand, arm and shoulder injuries, plus the replacement cost of the $2,000 carbon fiber bike — but he may be held responsible for damage to the driver’s vehicle.
“That leaves me holding the bag. I have no recourse whatsoever,” he said. “Drivers have carte blanche.”
His situation is not unique in the area. The Falls Church News-Press reported over the weekend that a cyclist who was struck by a car and injured at the intersection of Great Falls Street and the W&OD Trail was charged for “disregarding a stop sign,” despite the fact that there were once signs at the intersections stating that bike trail users had the right-of-way.
As for the cyclist struck in Rosslyn, he says he’s now writing to county officials to try to lobby for some short- and long-term solutions for making the Lee/Lynn intersection safer for trail users.
“I go through it all the time and it is a very dangerous intersection,” he said. “Bicyclists take their lives into their own hands when crossing crosswalks.”
(Updated at 8:30 a.m.) Both lanes of eastbound Lee Highway have been closed at George Mason Drive this morning.
The closure is due to power lines that were knocked down by a tractor trailer, according to police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal. Dominion is on the scene and expects to have the lines repaired by 10:30 a.m. More than 150 Dominion customers are without power in the area due to the downed lines.
Eastbound Lee Highway traffic is being diverted onto southbound George Mason Drive. Cars are not being allowed to turn left at the intersection, to ensure that traffic moves smoothly through the area.
Courtesy photo
(Updated at 6:00 p.m.) Power is gradually being restored after a widespread outage in parts of North Arlington.
More than 9,800 Dominion customers were without power at the height of the outage this evening. The affected several neighborhoods, including Ballston, Virginia Square, Cherrydale, Donaldson Run and parts of Clarendon and Rosslyn. Arlington’s 911 center received numerous calls of tripped alarms and stuck elevators as a result..
A vehicle accident with injuries was reported on Wilson Boulevard and N. Oakland Street. It’s not clear if the accident was related to the power outage, but numerous non-functioning traffic lights were reported around the area.
Power and traffic lights went out along a long stretch of Lee Highway, from Rosslyn up to Glebe Road. Via Twitter, Arlington Public Library said that power was out at Central Library and at the Cherrydale branch.
Another cyclist has been struck at the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Lynn Street, in Rosslyn.
The cyclist was struck by a vehicle on Lynn Street, just past Lee Highway approaching the Key Bridge, around 3:30 p.m. Only minor injuries were reported, but initial reports suggest the cyclist is going to be brought to a hospital.
This is the second reported bicyclist accident at the intersection in three days. Arlington County is the early stages of designing and implementing safety improvements at the intersection. The project is not expected to be complete until 2014.
