A larger, more accessible bus loop may soon be coming to the East Falls Church Metro station.
The Arlington County Board on Saturday approved a $527,681 project-coordination agreement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. This is part of a $12.7 million plan to provide the station with additional routes, expanded passenger capacity and improvements to parking and crosswalks.
Arlington County is looking to make safety upgrades to an intersection between Rosslyn and Courthouse that has seen four pedestrian-involved crashes in four years.
The intersection of Wilson Blvd and N. Rhodes Street has long been seen as dicey, according to complaints from cyclists and commuters and previous ARLnow coverage. Resident complaints, plus a review of crash data, have prompted the county to make changes now.
New shelters are expected this summer at eight bus stops on Columbia Pike.
The project was delayed last year because of structural problems with the original shelter design, but the delay presented an opportunity to increase the original contract and complete more stations at one time.
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).
More New Transit Stations Along the Pike — “Arlington County Board members on July 16 are expected to approve a contract revision that will allow for installation of eight transit stations along Columbia Pike, rather than the four originally envisioned when the contract was first consummated. The proposal calls for upping the contract total from $1.65 million to $2.72 million to accommodate the doubling of pre-fabricated transit stations to be installed at various spots along the route.” [Sun Gazette]
Missing Middle Form Closes Today — A feedback form for Arlington’s Missing Middle Housing Study is closing today, as the County Board is set to hold a work session on the draft proposal to allow relatively small-scale multifamily housing where only single-family homes can currently be built. The work session, which comes amid both vocal opposition to and support for the proposal among dueling groups of residents, starts at 3 p.m. today. [Arlington County, Arlington County]
After a year of work surveying residents, two civic associations are going to the county with a request: to make a stretch of N. Carlin Springs Road safer for pedestrians.
Drivers routinely go 40 mph on the 30 mph road, which is used by kids walking to Kenmore Middle School, says Christopher George, who spearheaded the community initiative. People have to cross four lanes of traffic without marked crossings to get to two heavily used bus stations, which lack ramps to make them accessible to people with disabilities.
A scary incident involving a bus driver and a passenger in Shirlington turned out a bit less serious than it appeared at first glance.
It happened the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 22, on the 2900 block of S. Quincy Street, the location of the Shirlington Bus Station.
Locally-owned Good Company Doughnuts & Café in Ballston is trying to save its bustling outdoor patio from being downsized by a county transportation project.
Arlington County is installing a bus shelter in front of the business at 672 N. Glebe Road before the winter. Good Company co-owner Charles Kachadoorian says the shelter will obscure much of the storefront from the street and halve the available outdoor seating, both of which will hurt business.
(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) A multi-year project to improve transit along Columbia Pike has been delayed by design problems associated with the proposed bus shelters.
As a result, the first eight of 23 new transit stations, which the Department of Environmental Services was aiming to deliver this spring, will likely be installed next spring. In the meantime, temporary shelters have been installed at these locations, and bus service is set to return to half of them tomorrow (Friday).
Commuters in Ballston now have access to new bus bays on Fairfax Drive, outside the entrance to the Ballston Metro station.
The refreshed bus bays feature “new bus shelters, sidewalks, and planters,” said Eric Balliet, a spokesman for Dept. of Environmental Services. He added that work along Fairfax Drive should be “substantially complete in August.”
Beyer Lauds Vaccine Mandate for Feds — “Requiring vaccinations for the full federal workforce is the right thing to do for the health of the workforce and the nation they serve. Including all civilian federal employees and contractors in this mandate is huge, it will mean this covers a very large number of workers. This policy rightly prioritizes federal workers’ health.” [Press Release]
No Mask Mandate in Va. So Far — “Virginia recommends that even vaccinated individuals wear masks indoors in certain circumstances, but with different locations experiencing different levels of COVID-19 transmission, the state has stopped short of issuing a mandate.” [Tysons Reporter]
