Penrose and Arlington Heights residents say a heavily trafficked road through their neighborhoods needs more speeding enforcement and traffic calming measures.
From Washington Blvd to Glebe Road, 2nd Street S. has seen several crashes over the last decade, including a 2012 crash at S. Wayne Street that sent three to the hospital to a fatal pedestrian crash near S. Old Glebe Road in 2022.
High speeds, traffic scofflaws and distracted drivers are the top three reasons people feel unsafe when traveling around Arlington.
That is according to the county’s latest Vision Zero mid-year report, which summarized how Arlingtonians responded to online and in-person surveys about their top concerns as travelers.
Relief is coming for a crash-prone intersection in front of the Lubber Run Community Center.
Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services says it is working on an expedited design and construction timeline to install a traffic signal at the intersection of N. Park Drive and N. George Mason Drive, near Barrett Elementary School, by the end of 2024.
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.
(Updated at 12:50 p.m.) In the last four days, a crash-prone intersection near Lubber Run Community Center has logged nearly as many crashes.
Two crashes on Monday at the intersection of N. Park Drive and N. George Mason Drive — also near Barrett Elementary School — resulted in reported minor injuries. The other, this past Friday, caused only property damage. In two of the cases, a driver was cited, according to ACPD.
On a Thursday morning two weeks ago, there was a notable police presence at the intersection of N. Vermont Street and N. Carlin Springs Road.
Officers were watching for people blowing through a new stop sign, which was added in late May at the site of a crash where a driver struck a mother pushing her baby in a stroller.
Arlington County has converted two intersections near Nottingham Elementary to four-way stops, in the wake of last year’s fatal crash on Little Falls Road.
In October, a driver struck and killed a woman at the intersection of Little Falls and John Marshall Drive. She was the third pedestrian killed along a two-block stretch of Little Falls Road near the school over the past eight years.
(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.
Lower speeds near schools could soon become countywide policy in Arlington.
On Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to consider an ordinance to lower speed limits to 20 miles per hour on streets within 600 feet of a school property or pedestrian crossing in the vicinity of the school. This would expand on slow zones around 13 schools instituted last year.
Arlington is proposing to lower speed limits near schools across the county to 20 mph as the county’s second year of Vision Zero enters the rear-view mirror.
This Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to hear a proposal to expand these slow zones to all schools, after many people said they felt safer walking, biking and driving in 13 school zones where the speed limit has already dropped to 20 mph.
Arlington County has not ruled out the possibility of a permanent roundabout on Military Road despite the confusion a temporary version has caused for the past year.
In October 2021, where there used to be a stop sign for traffic on northbound Military Road, the county added paint lines, bollards and raised temporary curbs, and partially demolished a median. The work was aimed at improving safety where Military Road intersects with Nelly Custis Drive.
