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Car runs down embankment near county offices in rainy day crash

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Weather appears to be a factor in a crash that left a woman trapped in her car on an embankment this morning.

The crash happened around 11:15 a.m. on a ramp from Route 50 to Washington Blvd. The driver apparently lost control and the car came to rest halfway down the embankment, between the ramp and the Sequoia Plaza complex that houses a number of county offices.

Initial reports suggest that the driver was uninjured, but was stuck in the car due to concerns about it sliding further down the hill. Firefighters stabilized the vehicle and brought the woman to safety.

As of noon, first responders and a tow crew remained on scene, working to get the vehicle back up the hill and onto the flatbed tow truck.

This was not the only crash along Washington Blvd this morning.

An earlier two-vehicle collision nearby, on the crash-prone merge from Sequoia Plaza onto Washington Blvd, was still causing some delays at the time of the single-vehicle crash. The crash involved a Porsche SUV that appears to have rear-ended a Nissan sedan.

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Rollover crash closes Route 50 during evening rush hour

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The intersection of Route 50 and Park Drive was shut down for part of yesterday’s evening rush hour after a serious crash.

The crash happened around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Scanner traffic suggests that only one vehicle — a gray SUV, which came to rest on the driver’s side — was involved. The driver was trapped in the SUV after the crash.

Firefighters worked to stabilize the vehicle and safely remove the driver, who was initially reported to be unconscious but was alert once rescuers arrived. The driver was then taken via ambulance to a local trauma center.

In addition to shutting down the busy commuter route for an extended period of time, the crash uprooted a road sign at the intersection.

A resident who lives nearby noted that this intersection has seen numerous crashes over the years.

“Lots of accidents at that intersection,” said Michael Thomas, who lives a block or two away. “Lots of inebriated drivers departing from Outback Steakhouse. They (and others) make right turns on red from Park onto Route 50 despite the signed prohibition. And people on Route 50 drive too fast and run red lights.”

Thomas said firefighters cut open the roof the the SUV, a Toyota RAV4, to remove the driver. It was “hard to tell” what caused the crash, he said.

A crowd of local resident gathered as the rescue operation took place. The intersection reopened by 7:45 p.m., according to Arlington Alert.

The intersection of Route 50 and Park Drive was reconfigured several years ago in an attempt to improve safety.

Shortly after the rollover crash, another notable wreck was reported elsewhere in Arlington. A driver rear-ended an ART bus near the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Courthouse Road.

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Car runs into house, another overturns in Sunday crash

A car crashed into the side of a house as a result of a crash that also left an SUV overturned (photo courtesy anonymous)

Arlington County police responded to a major crash along S. Glebe Road yesterday afternoon.

The crash happened around 3:15 p.m. Sunday on Glebe near the intersection with 6th Street S., about a block south of Fire Station 1. An SUV overturned and a sedan ran into the side of a house as a result of the crash.

Initial reports suggest that the sedan driver was at first unresponsive and stuck in the car, while an occupant of the SUV was bleeding profusely from the head. None of the injuries were reported to be life threatening.

Northbound lanes of S. Glebe Road were shut down for an hour or so as a result of the crash response and cleanup.

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Crash-prone intersection near Lubber Run Community Center still awaiting school slow zone markings

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(Updated at 12:20 p.m.) A troubled intersection near Lubber Run Community Center clocked another vehicle crash last week.

The collision at N. George Mason Drive and N. Park Drive last Tuesday happened as neighbors await the installation of street markings and, eventually, signage, alerting drivers to a lower speed limit of 20 mph in the area.

“A Porsche SUV gunned it through a busy intersection and collided with another SUV,” said Phillip Berenbroick, who saw the crash. “[It] happened right as kids and parents are rushing over to Barrett Elementary [School] for 9 a.m. school start.”

And that wasn’t all. While first responders were still on scene, an Audi SUV headed from the Arlington Forest neighborhood toward Ballston on Park Drive sped through the intersection and was pulled over by police, Berenbroick said. He noted that Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons stopping traffic and allowing pedestrians to cross N. Park Drive were flashing.

“It’s super dangerous for pedestrians when cars traveling eastbound on Park Drive out of Arlington Forest try to cross through the intersection and turn northbound on George Mason,” he said. “ACPD pulled the car over and let the driver off with a warning. It was a little surprising since the accident that police and EMTs were responding to was a result of the same type of dangerous driving.”

The collision reignited one neighbor’s push for a traffic signal there, particularly given the presence of Barrett Elementary one block away. Drivers tend to go fast on the four-lane expanse of N. George Mason Drive, leaving few windows for people on N. Park Drive trying to cross or turn left, including those going to and coming from the popular Lubber Run Community Center.

Arlington has a county-wide policy setting a permanent 20 mph speed limit on neighborhood streets within 600 feet of a school. Arlington County expects markings alerting drivers will cost $150,000 and will be added over the next 2-3 years.

Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons, which give pedestrians are more “protected” window to cross the road, were installed at the N. Park Drive intersection in late 2020 as part of a transportation study related to the community center project.

Currently, the speed limit on N. George Mason Drive in the area is 30 mph, reduced to 25 mph when a light near the community center is flashing. Later this spring, speeds on the road will drop another 5 mph — to 20 mph — when lights are flashing, in response to a new county-wide policy.

As part of the updated school zone policy, the speed limit on parts of Park Drive near Barrett will be reduced to 20 mph at all times.

Also this spring, the intersection is expected to get new “SLOW SCHOOL XING” markings after it is repaved, according to Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Claudia Pors.

“The Water Sewer Streets crew is putting together the schedule for what streets are getting repaved this season, so the timing of when the N. George Mason Drive and Park Drive [intersection gets] paved will depend on them,” said Pors.

The intersection of N. George Mason Drive and N. Park Drive will be repaved this paving season (via Arlington County)

In all, there have been 23 crashes at George Mason sand Park since 2017, of which nine occurred in the two years the Lubber Run Community Center has been open, according to data from Arlington County Police Department. Last week’s crash does not register because it does not reporting criteria outlined in state code.

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County to propose safety upgrades at an intersection that has seen two pedestrian-involved crashes this year

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A South Arlington intersection that has seen two pedestrian-involved crashes this year, including one last week, is set to be updated to improve safety.

In the evening on Tuesday, March 14, an adult man was struck by a driver at the intersection of S. George Mason Drive and S. Four Mile Run Drive, causing bleeding from his head, per initial reports. His support dog ran off but was later returned, according to social media.

Planned renovation to this intersection are part of the South George Mason Drive Multimodal Transportation Study, which will bring changes along the major road from Arlington Blvd to the county border. The county and a resident involved in the process say complexities at this intersection have slowed down progress on this initiative, which was first expected to wrap up last fall.

“This project is part of the larger S. George Mason Drive project, but the county discovered fairly quickly that this intersection specifically was going to cause them to have to slow down the project to allow for additional study and design,” Douglas Park resident Jason Kaufman said.

A virtual meeting a few months behind schedule was scheduled to be held last night from 7-8:30 p.m., around the same time as the contentious Missing Middle vote, to discuss new designs for the proposed changes along S. George Mason Drive.

Concept plans from last summer proposed treatments including narrower roads, widened sidewalks and vegetation buffers between pedestrians and road users. One option included protected bike lanes while another mixed cyclists and drivers.

A county webpage for the project says staff have conducted an in-depth analysis of S. George Mason Drive where it intersects with S. Four Mile Run Drive, as well as with Columbia Pike, in preparing its plans.

The high-traffic intersection is a major artery for three neighborhoods that links road users to the City of Alexandria, I-395 and Shirlington. A service road, also called S. Four Mile Run Drive, runs parallel to the main road, basically creating a “double intersection.” The W&OD Trail runs parallel to and in between these two roads, crossing six lanes of traffic on S. George Mason Drive.

“Anyone that bikes, rides, drives, scoots or traverses through that intersection on a daily basis is aware of its challenges,” Kaufman said. “There are a number of conflict points that are dangerous. That intersection has one of the highest incidents of accidents in the county, including accidents that are considered ‘severe’ for the purposes of Vision Zero calculations, and it needs to be fixed.”

S. George Mason Drive and S. Four Mile Run Drive (via Google Maps)

The county considers this intersection a “hot spot,” based on a review of crash data from 2019 and 2022. Between 2017 and 2019, there had been more than 15 vehicle crashes and at least two cyclist-involved crashes, per a 2020 report. The county’s crash dashboard lists two crashes with severe injuries, one in 2015 and another in 2017, and ARLnow reported on a hit-and-run with severe injuries in November 2021.

That’s in addition to last week’s crash.

For all road users, navigating the intersection requires hyper-vigilance, but people are rarely able to pay attention to “an overwhelming number of inputs,” says Douglas Park resident Kristin Francis.

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W-L student on scooter struck by driver while crossing intersection

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A teenage girl on an electric scooter was seriously injured after colliding with a driver near Washington-Liberty High School earlier this afternoon.

Shortly after 1 p.m. on Tuesday, police were dispatched to Washington Blvd and N. Quincy Street, in the Virginia Square area, for the report of a crash with injury, a police spokeswoman told ARLnow.

“The preliminary investigation indicates a juvenile on an electric scooter was travelling southbound on N. Quincy Street when she proceeded through a red light and collided with a westbound travelling vehicle,” ACPD spokeswoman Alli Shorb said in a statement.

Initial reports identified the person who was hit as a 16-year-old girl. Police, firefighters and EMS personnel were all on the scene this afternoon, treating the teen and redirecting traffic away from the intersection.

Shorb said “the juvenile sustained serious, non-life threatening injuries and was transported to an area hospital.”

Though police said a scooter was involved, a blue e-bike could be seen lying on its side near the ambulance that carried the teen to the hospital.

The driver of the involved vehicle remained on scene and was not charged with any crime, based on the preliminary investigation, Shorb said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

In a School Talk email to families, Principal Tony Hall identified the struck teen as a W-L student. He said EMS treated the teen on scene, resulting “in an ambulance and increased police presence near the school.”

“We are in contact with the family of the student,” he said. “There is no cause for concern to the greater W-L community at this time.”

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Glebe Road intersection near the Pike could get ‘desperately needed’ safety upgrades

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A high-traffic intersection one block north of Columbia Pike could get some safety upgrades, including a traffic signal.

Arlington County is embarking on a project to develop plans to upgrade the intersection of S. Glebe Road and 9th Street S., located between the Alcova Heights and Arlington Heights neighborhoods.

In addition to replacing a rapid-flash beacon with a traffic signal, the county says changes, in collaboration with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation, could include extending the curbs, updating the crosswalks and refuge medians, and fixing deteriorating ramps that do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The forthcoming project responds to community feedback, a 2022 safety audit of Glebe Road — a VDOT-maintained artery — and a 2020 analysis of “crash hot spots,” according to a county webpage. The latter two reports include data, photos and community comments describing unsafe conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and drivers.

“Glebe Road from 14th Street N. to Columbia Pike is part of Arlington County’s High Injury Network,” the county says. “These corridors experience high concentrations of critical crashes compared to other corridors in Arlington.”

Per the safety audit, the intersection saw two pedestrian crashes and five left-turn vehicle crashes between January 2018 and February 2021. It also found that many people drive over the speed limit by at least 5 mph between 8th Street S. and 9th Street S., going an average of 38 mph.

“Community feedback received as part of the Vision Zero Action Plan development identified Glebe Road and 9th Street S. as an unsafe crossing,” the county said.

Arlington is working toward eliminating traffic-related serious injuries and deaths by 2030 as part of its initiative known as Vision Zero. Transportation advocates and the Arlington County Board called for swift action to realize plan goals and make roads safer after a rash of crashes involving pedestrians last year.

Some residents heralded the project on Twitter as sorely needed and a long time in coming.

Back in 2018, cyclists who participated in a “protest ride” to advocate for better cycling conditions, called specifically for improvements to 9th Street S., which is part of the Columbia Pike Bike Boulevards, a bicycle route parallel to the Pike.

https://twitter.com/ARLINGTONAF/status/1633545704135172096

This spring, there will be a public engagement opportunity in which the county will solicit feedback on existing conditions, including site constraints such as utility poles that block parts of the sidewalk.

County staff are preparing engagement materials, and “when that’s ready, the engagement will open,” Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Claudia Pors said.

The engagement will first ask people to share how they currently use these streets as well as any ideas or concerns they have.

“This input will be used to refine to goals and develop concept options,” the webpage says.

This spring and summer, county staff will again request feedback on a concept plan, which will be incorporated into a final design plan that the county anticipates can be prepared this fall.

Arlington County has completed, started or has planned other transportation upgrades along Glebe Road, per the 2022 audit, including new or re-programmed traffic signals and new ramps.

Other projects on Glebe Road (via Arlington County)
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TRAFFIC ALERT: Major backups on GW Parkway after crash near Key Bridge

Backups from crash on GW Parkway (via Google Maps)

(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) All southbound lanes of the GW Parkway are blocked by a crash near Key Bridge.

Drivers should expect significant delays in the area, with the backup in the southbound lanes now extending to Chain Bridge.

The parkway has been the scene of numerous crashes around a bend in the road near the bridge, especially during rainy weather days like today.

In another rainy GW Parkway crash earlier today, a vehicle ran off the northbound GW lanes and into the woods near Windy Run. Three occupants were able to get out of the car, per scanner traffic, and at least two were hospitalized.

Map via Google Maps

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NEW: Vehicle overturns on N. Glebe Road ramp

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A driver ran off the road and into the woods along the ramp from N. Glebe Road to Military Road during this evening’s commute.

The crash was reported shortly after 5:15 p.m., just up the hill from Chain Bridge. The driver and lone occupant of the vehicle, which ended up on its side, was reportedly able to crawl out.

The ramp is expected to remain closed pending the vehicle being removed from the woodline.

No significant injuries have been reported.

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GW Parkway to again close for removal of wrecked car near river

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The northbound lanes of the GW Parkway will be closed this Sunday between Spout Run in Arlington and Chain Bridge Road in McLean.

The closure, from about 6 a.m.-4 p.m., is for the removal of “an abandoned vehicle that is below the road near the Potomac River.”

From the National Park Service:

On Sunday, March 5, 2023, the National Park Service (NPS) will close both northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway to remove an abandoned vehicle that is below the road near the Potomac River. The NPS expects to close the lanes between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Spout Run Parkway to Chain Bridge Road, VA 123. The southbound lanes will remain open. The NPS will also temporarily close parts of the Potomac Heritage Trail near the vehicle for up to half an hour at a time while the work is happening.

The abandoned vehicle is located below the parkway next to the Potomac River near Donaldson Run. The car left the road during a snowstorm in January of 2022. The driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash and rescue happened during snowy conditions on Jan. 3, 2022.

“The driver — the only occupant of the vehicle — was trapped inside the car and suspended upside down, with a broken arm and leg, according to initial reports,” ARLnow reported at the time. “After being extricated from the vehicle, the man is now being brought to a waiting ambulance at Columbia Island Marina via D.C. fire boat.”

This is not the first time in recent memory such a closure of the Parkway has been planned. Indeed, drivers have been running down the Parkway’s steep embankments with some regularity, posing logistical challenges for the Park Service.

In March 2021, a portion of the GW Parkway was closed over the weekend as crews remove two vehicles that ran down embankments and crashed near the river.

Other such crashes since the start of 2021 include:

The northern portion of the Parkway, where many of the crashes have taken place, is in line for a significant rehabilitation project. As we previously reported:

For the first time since it was built in the early 1960s, the northern section of the GW Parkway will be getting a major overhaul.

The National Park Service announced yesterday that it had awarded a $161 million contract to rehabilitate the Parkway from Spout Run in Arlington to the Capital Beltway in McLean. After a design process in 2022, construction is expected to take place between 2023 and 2025.

Drivers are being cautioned that there will be traffic impacts during construction.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) touted the project in a statement, saying such work is overdue. This stretch of the Parkway has had to close at least three times over the past seven years due to sinkholes.

The Park Service, in today’s press release, noted that the Parkway has turned into a major commuter and travel artery, after first being envisioned as a scenic parkway.

The George Washington Memorial Parkway is a scenic roadway and memorial to the first president of the United States. When the NPS completed the northern part of the parkway in 1962, the NPS used the most up-to-date road engineering methods by integrating a wide, gently curving roadway with a grassy median, low stone guide walls and soaring steel-and-concrete arched bridges. Today the George Washington Memorial Parkway facilitates travel for more than 33 million vehicles per year, with the northern section seeing the heaviest traffic of about 85,000 daily users.

As a critical link in the national capital region’s transportation network, closing the parkway is never a decision the NPS makes lightly.

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Virginia State Police chase ends in Arlington, results in arrest and multiple felony charges

Virginia State Police vehicle (photo by John Calhoun/JC Photography)

A police chase ended last night in Arlington with a state trooper injured and the alleged fleeing driver in custody.

The chase started on I-395, when a Virginia State Police trooper’s automated license plate reader flagged a Cadillac that was wanted by Fairfax County police. During the chase, a trooper’s vehicle was rammed and crashed along northbound I-395 in Arlington.

The suspect then abandoned the car on the GW Parkway at Route 50, near the Roosevelt Bridge, according to state police. He was subsequently taken into custody and identified as a 31-year-old D.C. man.

More from a VSP press release today, below.

At 8:55 p.m., a Virginia State Police trooper’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) alerted to a 2006 Cadillac sedan that Fairfax County Police was looking for. The trooper activated his emergency lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop, but the Cadillac refused to pull over and sped away northbound on I-395. A pursuit was initiated.

As state police attempted to contain the vehicle to bring it to a stop, the Cadillac rammed one of the trooper’s vehicles. The impact caused the trooper’s vehicle to run off the side of the interstate and strike the Jersey wall. The Cadillac, meanwhile, kept going.

The pursuit ended when the Cadillac stopped on the George Washington Parkway near Route 50. The driver fled on foot. The driver was apprehended a short time later and taken into custody. A passenger was also taken into custody and later released. A handgun was recovered from inside the Cadillac.

State police charged the driver of the Cadillac, Nelson Bowman, 31, of Washington, D.C., with one felony malicious wounding on law enforcement, one felony assault of a law enforcement officer, one felony count of eluding police, one felony count of illegal possession of a concealed firearm, one felony count of hit and run, one felony count of destruction of property and one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice

The trooper who struck the Jersey wall was transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation and treatment of minor injuries.

The investigation remains ongoing.

The suspect is facing a half dozen felony charges, from eluding to assault on police to a gun charge.

He has previous criminal convictions, including an Arlington home break-in for which he received prison time and was currently on probation, according to court records cited by a Twitter user who tweets about public safety incidents.

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