Three years of pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly upgrades along Army Navy Drive culminated in a ribbon cutting in Pentagon City today (Wednesday).
Four members of the Arlington County Board, the chair of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and other transit advocates attended the ceremony at the intersection of Army Navy Drive and S. Hayes Street, along the 0.6-mile stretch of road that received improvements between S. Joyce Street and 12th Street S.
“By reducing congestion, expanding transportation options, and enhancing safety, this project helps everyone traveling through Arlington and beyond enjoy a more reliable and connected regional transportation network,” NVTA Chair Phyllis Randall said in a release.
The $11 million “Complete Street” project broke ground almost exactly three years ago and has brought numerous changes to this heavily trafficked thoroughfare.
These include new crosswalks where none previously existed, new striped medians, more uniform sidewalks and new traffic signals and markings. The southernmost travel lane was converted into a two-way protected bike lane, while bus stops were improved for smoother boarding and disembarking at locations that connect to the Pentagon City Transitway Extension project.
Overall, the project was intended to support a network of upgrades making it safer and easier to travel around National Landing without using a car, from the forthcoming pedestrian and cycling bridge over the Potomac River to another planned pedestrian bridge connecting Crystal City and Reagan National Airport.
National Landing BID President Tracy Sayegh Gabriel described it as part of her larger goal of making this part of Arlington “one of the most connected urban districts in the nation.”
“The Army Navy Drive Complete Street project is more than a transportation project,” Gabriel said at the ribbon cutting. “It’s a statement about the kind of community we’re building, one that celebrates and invests in multimodality and next-generation mobility.”
County Board Chair Takis Karantonis underscored the significance of such infrastructure to promote and support commercial hubs like the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, corporate investments like Amazon’s HQ2, and civic assets including nearby parks and recreation facilities.
“This here is part of the basic infrastructure that shows that we take it very seriously when we embrace transportation design from the point of view of urban development,” he said.
The project was funded through the NVTA and a combination of local, federal and private sources. Karantonis said that he hopes such investments will encourage others across the region to attempt similar undertakings.
“This is a commitment, a political project and an actual infrastructure project that is supported by Northern Virginia as a whole,” the chair said. “And that makes us very proud to have accomplished that, because the next thing that we do is, we’ll bring others, other colleagues from Northern Virginia, here and say, ‘You see that? You want that? Let’s work together and get it done.'”
