Lower speed limits could be coming to five more Arlington road segments — including an infamous stretch of S. Carlin Springs Road.
This Saturday, the Arlington County Board is scheduled to consider reducing the speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph in five busy areas.
- S. Carlin Springs Road from Arlington Blvd to the Arlington County line
- Fairfax Drive from Little Falls Road to Langston Blvd
- Washington Blvd from Kirkwood Road to N. Glebe Road
- S. Arlington Mill Drive from S. Walter Reed Drive to Shirlington Road
- S. Four Mile Run Drive from Columbia Pike to Shirlington Road
The proposed reductions come after engineering studies conducted by the Department of Environmental Services, as well as consideration of data related to pedestrian/bicyclist activity, crash rates and new development in the vicinity.
The portion of Carlin Springs south of Arlington Blvd has been the site of numerous crashes over the years — including an incident at 3rd Street S. last November that injured three people, including two children.
Several County Board members expressed concerns when this corridor was not included on a list of five other road segments that received speed limit decreases last spring. At the time, county staff said they lacked an engineering study to support reducing the speed limit.
Since then, however, the county has collected new data through new speed cameras in front of Campbell Elementary School, which has shown a reduction in vehicles’ average speeds.
“Reduction of the speed limit to 25 mph along the length of the corridor would maintain the lower speed limit throughout the entirety of the school zone and the extent of the corridor as it connects with Fairfax County and transitions to and from the urbanized area along Columbia Pike,” a county staff report says.
If enacted after the July 19 public hearing, county officials will spend about $3,500 on new signage across the five locations.
Also at the June 14 Board meeting, a public hearing for July 19 is expected to be set on a proposal that would automatically reduce the speed limit to 20 mph on any road that the county designates as a “bicycle boulevard.”
Currently, speed reductions on roads designated as such are done on a piecemeal basis.
“Bicycle boulevards,” such as those in the Columbia Pike corridor, are among tools in Arlington’s “Vision Zero” initiative to reduce fatal accidents on county roadways.
