The lights were installed a couple of months ago, but have remained covered up. Concerned about pedestrian safety, some residents have been emailing ARLnow.com to ask when the lights would begin functioning. One reader compared crossing the intersection to maneuvering through a video game.
“Too many people play ‘Frogger’ at night trying to go to and from the Gold’s Gym,” the reader wrote.
The traffic light sat the busy Clarendon intersection of Washington Boulevard, 10th Street and Fillmore Street is expected to remain dark throughout the morning rush hour following a car accident Thursday night.
Around 7:15 last night a car hopped the curb and took out the traffic signal control box near the Virginia ABC store. One minor injury was reported.
A new set of traffic lights and pedestrian crossing signals are being installed at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and N. Wakefield Street.
The traffic signals are located next to the Murphy Funeral Home and a new residential development, in the Bluemont neighborhood near Ballston. A developer agreed to pay for the traffic signals in 2008 as part of the development’s site plan process. At the time, county staff argued that increased traffic from the development would necessitate the installation of traffic signals.
New traffic signals were being installed today at the busy intersection of Wilson Boulevard and N. Pollard Street in Ballston, near the Gold’s Gym and the Wiinky’s burger restaurant.
The installation comes about three months after the Sun Gazette reported, in an article entitled “Residents Find Developer Payments Don’t Translate Into Traffic-Signal Installation,” that a developer had agreed to contribute $150,000 toward the addition of traffic signals at the intersection back in 2004. At the time of the article, the County Manager Barbara Donnellan promised to investigate why the traffic signal had not yet been installed.
We’re hearing that the light is expected to remain out of service overnight.
Police have reportedly set up cones in the intersection’s turn lanes in order to allow traffic to move more smoothly. As a reminder, any non-functioning traffic signal should be treated as a four-way stop.
The intersection, which sits between two existing sets of traffic lights at Four Mile Run Drive and at S. Dinwiddie Street, is adjacent to the under-construction Arlington Mill Community Center and a future 122-unit affordable housing complex.
On its web site, Arlington County says the new traffic signals — which haven’t been switched on yet — are necessary because of construction. Don’t expect the lights to stay on for long, though. Arlington Mill Drive is expected to be closed during the latter stages of the community center’s construction.
Clarendon residents have taken note of two big, recent changes along Washington Boulevard.
About a week ago, a set of new traffic signals at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and N. Garfield Street were switched on. The traffic lights are helping to bring some order to what was previously a somewhat tricky intersection for Garfield Street traffic.
Candlelight Vigil for Hit and Run Victim — Friends of Zorigoo Munkhbayar gathered on the Rhodes Street Bridge Sunday night to mourn the 23-year-old’s tragic death. Munkhbayar was hit by a car — which then fled the scene — as he was walking down Route 50 early Friday morning. [Ode Street Tribune]
Residents Still Waiting for Promised Traffic Lights — Some residents are asking: Why haven’t traffic lights been installed at the intersections of N. Qunicy Street and 9th Street and Wilson Blvd and N. Pollard Street? After all, Arlington County has already collected tens of thousands of dollars from developers with the express purpose of installing traffic lights at the intersections. [Sun Gazette]
Traffic lights are coming to the intersection of Washington Boulevard and N. Garfield Street in Clarendon.
The lights and illuminated crosswalk signs have been installed at the intersection, but have black plastic covering them as the county prepares to turn the signals on. Several pedestrian safety improvements were recently made at the intersection, but it’s still difficult for drivers on Garfield Street to see oncoming traffic on Washington Boulevard.
(Updated at 12:45 p.m.) The traffic light at the busy intersection of Army Navy Drive and S. Hayes Street is dark after a older model Mercedes sedan crashed into the traffic signal control box.
Police were directing traffic at the busy intersection, which is located across from the Pentagon City mall. The intersection handles Pentagon City traffic exiting and entering I-395. Backups are minor at this time, but police are not allowing drivers to make left-hand turns. County crews were seen erecting portable stop signs just before noon.
The construction cone slalom on Columbia Pike has converged into one relatively narrow, pock-marked chute of two-way traffic.
On one side of the Pike, two lanes are blocked by much-needed repaving work. On the other side, next to the still under-construction Penrose Square development, one lane is blocked by Dominion trucks that are preparing to replace an underground transformer that apparently blew this morning (a tipster reports hearing a large bang and seeing a flash in the area around 9:30 a.m.).
