road construction

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

DCA Tower AWOL as Planes Land — Two airline pilots landing at Reagan National Airport were unable to make contact with the lone air traffic controller on duty in the tower early Wednesday. The FAA is now investigating what caused the tower to go silent for nearly half an hour. Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered a second air traffic controller to start working the overnight shift at DCA. [Washington Post]

School Board Opposed Strict Misconduct Guidelines — Should teachers be forbidden from sending text messages to students? What about becoming Facebook friends? Those are two questions the Arlington County School Board may have to answer if the Virginia School Board approves a set of sexual misconduct guidelines today. Last month School Board Chair Libby Garvey wrote the Virginia Dept. of Eduction to oppose a stricter, more prescriptive set of guidelines. [Arlington Connection]

Meade Street Bridge Redesign Options Discussed — Earlier this week Arlington County staff members sat down with residents to discuss options for improving safety on the Meade Street Bridge, which connects the area near the Iwo Jima memorial to Lynn Street and Rosslyn. Among the options being considered are narrowing vehicle lanes, widening the pedestrian sidewalk and adding decorative “luminous bodies” to the side of the bridge. [Ode Street Tribune]

Route 50 Lane Closure May Be Lifted Next Month

By ARLnow.com

The lane closure on westbound Route 50 near Courthouse is expected to be lifted next month, according to VDOT.

On-going utility work has kept the far left-hand westbound lane closed well past its originally planned July 2010 reopening date. We heard in September that the lane would likely be closed through the end of last year. Alas, construction crews are still working and westbound Route 50 is still reduced to just two lanes.

VDOT spokeswoman Jennifer McCord says the lane will reopen in mid-April “if the weather cooperates.”

Photo courtesy Todd DuBois

The Columbia Pike Construction Cone Slalom

By ARLnow.com

Road crews are out in force on and around Columbia Pike today.

At Columbia Pike and South Wakefield Street, a contractor is laying down lane striping in the middle of the Pike. Traffic is down to one lane in each direction. The good news is that this torn-up section of the Pike has recently gotten a few patches of fresh asphalt to smooth out what were some pretty nasty bumps.

A short walk away, on South Taylor Street, an Arlington County crew is repaving a section of the road that was damaged by a water main break. The road is closed between Columbia Pike and 9th Street.

On the eastern end of the Pike, in front of the new Penrose Square apartments, cars are doing the construction cone slalom once again. One lane in each direction gets around on-going utility work in the middle of the road.

Pike Roadwork Planned as Penrose Square Nears Completion

By ARLnow.com

Construction crews are starting to wrap up work on the massive Penrose Square development on Columbia Pike. As the project nears completion, county officials are preparing to do some rehab work on the rough stretch of pavement in front of the development.

Penrose Square is now leasing its upscale apartment homes. The move-in date for tenants is set for mid-May. Billed as a “town square” for Columbia Pike, Penrose Square will feature about 300 apartments, a new, 47,000 square foot Giant supermarket, a handful of shops and a public park.

The construction of Penrose Square has required extensive utility work on the section of Columbia Pike in front of the development. As a result of the constant digging, the Pike has become rough and gravelly between South Wayne Street and South Barton Street.

Arlington County Department of Environmental Services spokeswoman Mylisa Kennedy says the county expects to start repaving the roadway in April. Sidewalk and curb work, meanwhile, is set to start next week.

The Penrose Project is in the final stages of the infrastructure upgrades and installations. All wet utilities have been installed and over 90 percent of the dry utilities, or undergrounding, has also been installed. We will begin to demolish and install new sidewalk, curb and gutter on Columbia Pike beginning Monday February 21st and we expect to begin the final paving the first week in April. In the meantime, staff will continue to monitor and restore the roadway to keep it safe for vehicular traffic. Hopefully, this will all be restored and looking better in the coming weeks ahead.

Crumbling Glebe Road Bridge Slated for Replacement

By ARLnow.com

Two years after concrete began falling from the “structurally deficient” Glebe Road/Route 50 bridge, VDOT expects to advertise its plan to replace the crumbling overpass next week.

The bridge has raised concerns recently as chunks of concrete began falling anew. On Friday, rush hour traffic was snarled when a chunk of concrete fell from the bridge onto a westbound lane of Route 50 around 4:30 p.m. Police shut down the bridge and one lane of Glebe Road for more than an hour as a result.

The falling concrete actually left a hole in the roadway from which one could look down and see the highway below, according to Arlington County Director of Transportation Dennis Leach. Over the weekend, VDOT patched up the part of the bridge from which the concrete fell.

ARLnow.com has also heard a thus-far unconfirmed report that falling concrete struck a vehicle last Sunday. No injuries were reported.

VDOT will be installing a protective shield “as soon as possible” to make sure more debris doesn’t fall on Route 50, according to agency spokeswoman Jennifer McCord. The shield will either be a protective netting or some sort of wooden structure, she said.

McCord says VDOT expects to advertise a long-delayed plan to replace the bridge next week. The agency will expedite the bidding process so that work on the new bridge can begin as soon as this summer and be complete by August 2012, officials said.

The $6 million project will completely replace the bridge deck while widening it by 27 feet. The increased width will allow for a 17-foot shared use path on one side, a 10-foot sidewalk on the other and five travel lanes in between, including a new northbound turn lane. The bridge will feature “wrought-iron picket fencing, gateway pillars and decorative LED lighting,” according to McCord.

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Board Approves Street Plan

By ARLnow.com

The county board has approved an overhaul to its Master Transportation Plan that will provide new guidance for the design, construction and usage of streets in Arlington County.

The plan focuses on making sure that Arlington’s streets are safe and accommodating to a number of modes of transportation, including walking, biking, transit and driving.

“Arlington’s goal is to create ‘streets for people,'” County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said in a statement. “Today’s action is the culmination of years of work by citizens and staff to craft County policies that will achieve our vision for ‘complete streets,’ streets that will support sustainable development and encourage healthier lifestyles.”

Under the new plan, streets will be classified into ten subgroups of arterial and local streets based on adjacent land use. The plan calls for all types of arterial streets to have a bike lane, a designated shared bike and vehicle lane or an adjacent trail. It also calls for “urban center local” streets to include a shared lane.

To improve safety, the speed limit on “downtown” streets will be reduced to 25 miles per hour. Speed limits would also be reduced in work zones. Meanwhile, pedestrian walkways will be improved through enhanced signage and high-visibility markings.

Street repaving will be done more frequently (on a 15-year cycle) and the quality of street repairs will be improved. Major streets and streets in poor condition will receive repaving priority, while streets lacking maintenance-saving improvements like gutters and curbs will be repaired instead of repaved.

The board approved the plan by a vote of 5-0. See more details here and here.

Flickr pool photo by Chris Rief

VDOT Plans to Expand Eads Street Off-Ramp

By ARLnow.com

VDOT is planning to widen the ramp from the HOV lanes of I-395 to Eads Street in Pentagon City.

The project would add an extra turn lane to the ramp, which often gets backed up during the morning rush hour. The ramp serves commuters heading to both Pentagon City and to the Pentagon itself. The left turn necessary to head to the Pentagon parking lots is a bit tricky, leading to some of the backups.

VDOT advertised the project in yesterday’s Washington Post. The agency says it will hold a public hearing on the project if anyone requests it in writing.

The proposal seems rather uncontroversial. The ramp is tucked away in the existing I-395 concrete jungle next to the Pentagon, several blocks from the nearest residential building. A VDOT report found no significant adverse impacts resulting from the project.

Utility Work Prolonged on Columbia Pike, Rough Ride Remains

By ARLnow.com

Utility relocation work along Columbia Pike in the Barcroft area has been delayed after workers discovered conflicts with pre-existing underground utilities.

As a result, the project — which started last summer and was originally slated to take 15 months — has been prolonged by an estimated three months. Planners will now have to redesign the relocation process. Work is not expected to resume until “late spring,” according to a letter from the county to local residents and organizations.

The delay will also affect the Metro and ART bus stops that were closed and relocated as a result of the project.

Separately, the county announced that it’s working to repair the torn-up and uneven stretch of the Pike between Four Mile Run Drive and South Wakefield Street. However, cold temperatures are expected to keep the necessary asphalt work from being completed until mid-February.

Residents have been complaining about the potholes and sinkholes and other car-rattling pockmarks in the roadway.

“Right now the road is in a very bad state,” said Takis Karantonis, director of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization. “Folks have complained often to us.”

I-66 Slow Near Ballston

By ARLnow.com

I-66 is currently slow in both directions in the area of Glebe Road, near Ballston.

Traffic heading eastbound is facing delays due to some sort of road work that shut down one lane near Spout Run. That lane closure just cleared.

Traffic heading westbound is heavy all the way from Fairfax Drive to the construction zone at the Beltway.

Morning Poll: Arlington’s Highway Opposition

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s opposition to the I-95/395 HOT Lanes and the I-66 widening projects has inspired a special report from WTOP called “Arlington’s Way of the Highway.”

While noting the praise heaped on Arlington for being a model of smart growth, WTOP reporter Adam Tuss says that the county’s resistance to highway transportation projects has opened it up for criticism.

“There are others that scoff at the county, saying its officials take a parochial transportation view and only think about Arlington at the expense of the entire D.C. region,” Tuss reports.

County board chairman Jay Fisette, meanwhile, defended the county’s expensive lawsuit against the HOT lanes project by saying that the county is concerned about “the impact on our local communities and also insuring the movement of people.”

Do you think the county is doing the right thing, or does is Arlington selfishly ignoring the region’s “greater good?”


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