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Morning Notes

Published January 9, 2019 at 8:45AM | Updated January 9, 2019 at 9:16AM

Snow Coming This Weekend — Gas up the snowblowers: accumulating snow is likely this weekend. By county ordinance, all snowfall under 6 inches must be removed from sidewalks within 24 hours of the last flakes. That gets bumped up to 36 hours for 6 or more inches of snow. [Capital Weather Gang]

New ‘Best of Arlington’ List — The 2019 “Best of Arlington” list is in. Among food-related winners, Ambar was named Best Restaurant, Barley Mac was named Best for Date Night and Matt Hill of Liberty Tavern Group and Hungry was named Best Chef. [Arlington Magazine]

News

Metro Moves to Allow Bikes on Trains During Rush Hour

By Alex Koma

Published January 2, 2019 at 10:45AM

Metro will now start allowing riders to bring bicycles on trains all day long, ending the rail service’s long-standing prohibition on bikes during rush hour.

WMATA announced today (Wednesday) that it will no longer prohibit cyclists from using its trains from 7-10 a.m. and 4-7 p.m. each weekday. The change will officially go into effect on Monday (Jan. 7).

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 27, 2018 at 8:40AM

In Planning: New Rail and Pedestrian Bridges — “The only solution, they say, is to add two tracks and create a four-track crossing over the Potomac to handle more commuter and intercity rail service as well as expected increases in freight transportation over the next decades… A stand-alone bike and pedestrian bridge would be built upstream from the new rail bridge, allowing people to walk or bike across the Potomac.” [Washington Post]

Metro Stations Getting Brighter — “A boost in lumens looms for three Arlington Metrorail stations next month.” [WMATA, Twitter]

News

County Officials See Plenty of Room on Roads, Metro Stations Near Amazon’s Future HQ

By Alex Koma

Published December 7, 2018 at 2:45PM

To combat growing concerns about how Amazon’s new influx of workers might put a strain on Arlington’s congested roads and Metro’s troubled rail system, county leaders are increasingly embracing the same argument — so many people have left Crystal City and Pentagon City over the years that the area’s transit network is ready to welcome new residents.

There’s little doubt that the 25,000 workers Amazon plans to eventually bring to the region will have an impact on commute times for drivers, and crowd more people onto local trains and buses. But Arlington officials stress that they already planned to move plenty of people through and to the newly dubbed “National Landing,” only to see thousands of federal and military employees flee the neighborhood years ago.

News

Amazon’s Arrival Brings Plans for Transportation Transformation Around New Headquarters

By Alex Koma

Published November 14, 2018 at 4:45PM

A map of proposed transportation projects around Amazon's new headquarters in Crystal City (via HQ NOVA)

For pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike, Crystal City has never been the easiest neighborhood to navigate — and Amazon’s looming arrival in the neighborhood has stoked fears that things could get worse in the area long before they get better.

But now that the tech giant has officially picked Arlington for its new headquarters, county officials are free to unveil their grand plans for allaying those concerns and fundamentally transforming transportation options along the Crystal City-Pentagon City-Potomac Yard corridor.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published October 25, 2018 at 8:45AM | Updated October 26, 2018 at 10:38AM

Vida Fitness Coming to Rosslyn Development — “Vida Fitness has signed a lease for 27,000 square feet at The Highlands in Rosslyn… The Highlands is a 1.2-million-square-foot mixed-use development from D.C.-based developer Penzance. The project’s groundbreaking [was Wednesday] and the first phase is slated for completion in the second quarter of 2021.” [Commercial Observer, Twitter]

Naked Man at Va. Square Metro Station — A naked man walked into the Virginia Square Metro station during yesterday evening’s rush hour. Police quickly responded, took the man into custody and requested medics to the scene to evaluate him for a possible drug overdose. [Twitter]

News

NoVa Officials Remain Willing to Send County Cash for New Crystal City, Ballston Metro Entrances

By Alex Koma

Published October 23, 2018 at 2:45PM | Updated October 24, 2018 at 1:48PM

18th Street S. outside the Crystal City Metro stop (photo via Arlington County)

A major funder of transportation projects across Northern Virginia isn’t giving up on Arlington’s long-stymied efforts to build second entrances for the Crystal City and Ballston Metro stations, though any substantial progress remains elusive.

For years, the county has planned on paying for the new entrances by pairing its own money with some funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, a group that doles out sales tax revenues to transportation projects around the region.

News

Rosslyn Road Changes Could Mean Big Improvements for Walkers, Cyclists, New Headaches for Drivers

By Alex Koma

Published October 9, 2018 at 1:45PM

Approved for funding: Proposed changes to the "Core of Rosslyn" (via Arlington County)

Plans to make Rosslyn a bit easier to navigate for pedestrians and bicyclists are coming together, though county officials are concerned that some of the proposed changes might further snarl traffic in the area.

The county unveiled its latest designs for future of the “Core of Rosslyn” at a public meeting last Tuesday (Oct. 2), which includes plans to convert several streets around the Rosslyn Metro station into two-way roads, remove the Fort Myer Drive tunnel under Wilson Blvd and add a host of new connections for cyclists and walkers.

News

Metro Needs Better Reliability, Not Service Increases, to Attract Riders, NoVa Officials Say

By Alex Koma

Published October 4, 2018 at 4:45PM

As Metro’s leaders wrestle anew with the question of how to bring riders back to the troubled transit service, Northern Virginia officials are offering their own suggestions: focus on reliability, and create new fare card plans to entice riders.

In a new report to Gov. Ralph Northam and the General Assembly set to be considered tonight (Thursday), the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission plans to urge Metro to use those strategies to boost ridership, and put WMATA on sounder financial footing in the process.

News

Theft Investigation Briefly Interrupts Service at Ballston Metro

By ARLnow.com

Published October 3, 2018 at 2:50PM

A theft near the Ballston Metro station this afternoon led to Metro trains briefly being halted on the Orange and Silver lines.

The suspect reportedly fled into the station and possibly ran down the Metro tunnel from Ballston to Virginia Square. Metro Transit Police is checking the area but it is unclear whether the suspect has been located.

Opinion

Morning Poll: Has Metro Track Work Impacted Your Commute?

By Alex Koma

Published August 21, 2018 at 8:45AM

In the days leading up to Metro’s latest round of major track construction work, officials rolled out a series of grim warnings about what the work would mean for commuters on the Silver, Orange and Blue lines.

With the Blue Line completely shut down between Arlington Cemetery and D.C., and huge delays on the other two lines, Metro warned commuters to only choose the service if they didn’t have any other option. County Board Vice Chair Christian Dorsey even predicted “extreme crowding” and “incredible chaos” at station platforms along D.C.’s urban core.

News

Metro Warns Silver, Orange, Blue Line Riders: Stay Away, Starting Saturday

By Alex Koma

Published August 9, 2018 at 9:45AM

Metro officials are sending an unusual, and perhaps alarming, message to commuters ahead of two weeks of major construction on the Silver, Orange and Blue lines: stay away, if you can.