Alexandria Community Pathways Concept Memo

In 2005, Councilman Krupicka and Councilman Smedberg proposed a comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle policy for the City.  Community Pathways has now become Alexandria's formal policy. 

Keep up with pedestrian and bicycle issues in Alexandria: Community Pathways

The Memo that Started It All:

M E M O R A N D U M

DATE:             MARCH 16, 2005

TO:              THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL

CC:              JAMES HARTMANN, CITY MANAGER

RICHARD BAIER, DIRECTOR OF T&ES,

EILEEN FOGARTY, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING,

CHARLES SAMARRA, CHIEF OF POLICE

AD HOC TRANSPORTATION PLANNING TASK FORCE MEMBERS,

PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS,

TRAFFIC AND PARKING BOARD MEMBERS, and

CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS PRESIDENTS

FROM:           COUNCILMEMBERS ROB KRUPICKA AND PAUL SMEDBERG

SUBJECT:      ALEXANDRIA COMMUNITY PATHWAYS

________________________________________________________________________

Alexandria Community Pathways

To Improve and Enhance Non-Motorized Opportunities for Transportation and Recreation throughout Alexandria

Our community has a strong history of maximizing the potential of its varied resources to provide for the general good.  Transportation issues have dominated community discussions in recent years. The projected growth of our region implies transportation issues will also dominate future community discussions.  Our community must work together to develop new solutions to these issues.  New solutions will require us to consider and discover alternative transportation approaches that will enhance our common safety, provide for a sensible and coherent plan for moving around our city and help to strengthen community life in Alexandria. 

The Alexandria Community Pathways program is an initiative based on the community’s desire and need for increased emphasis on pedestrian-friendly infrastructure throughout the City.  The formation of the Ad-Hoc Transportation Task Force, the hiring of a pedestrian and bicycle coordinator and other major redevelopment and planning initiatives currently underway by City staff present us with the opportunity to offer our residents a comprehensive and coherent pedestrian, bike and trails plan that makes Alexandria an even safer and more convenient place to live, work, and play.

We respectfully request that Council docket this item for discussion and instruct staff to review the memo and work with the Traffic and Parking Board, the Ad-Hoc Transportation Task Force and us to draft a proposal. 

We want to thank you in advance for your attention and careful consideration of this request. 

Introduction

This memo outlines a series of policy changes and initiatives that will strengthen Alexandria’s non-auto, community-based transportation infrastructure. 

These concepts are the result of many conversations with Alexandria residents – they deserve the credit for any good ideas found herein. 

Alexandria’s quality of life is enhanced by sidewalks, trails, bike paths, METRO and DASH routes linking our neighborhoods and community together.  We are pedestrians for at least part of the day whether we walk to our car, to the metro, to a bus, to a store, to school with our children, walk our dogs or stroll through our neighborhoods.

The recent national report, Mean Streets, Alexandria was ranked the second safest pedestrian jurisdiction in Northern Virginia.  Arlington was first.  Out of 19 regional jurisdictions, Alexandria was the 5^th safest, based on the following statistics:

• 2002/2003 Pedestrian Fatalities: 2
• Percent of Alexandria Traffic Fatalities that are Pedestrians: 38%
• Percent of Alexandria Residents Who Walk to Work: 3%

This report and others like it, make it clear that we have work to do to make Alexandria even safer and more convenient for pedestrians, bikers and other residents who choose to get a round without a car.  Few Alexandrians walk to work, to the METRO or to stores.

Recent surveys and citizen comments also highlight these issues:

• The Open Space Plan survey listed trail connections as a top concern of Alexandria Residents.
• Parks and Recreation Assessments put a high priority on trails and pathways.
• The recent Health Survey emphasized the need for Alexandria to be a healthier city and specifically focused on the problems of childhood obesity.
• Recently, residents suggested and the City Council incorporated many pedestrian and bicycle related ideas and concepts in the newly adopted City’s strategic plan.

We live in a region that is projected to add another 2 million residents and 1.6 million jobs over the next 25 years. We have to work together to decide how we are going to respond to these changes to our community. The rapid growth and strong economy in the DC Metropolitan area is inevitably going to change our City.  Congestion will increase as more residents travel from outlying counties to jobs in the District of Columbia and around the region.  The choices we make today will play an important role in whether we become a City beholden to the traffic in our region, or whether we become a City that can function and provide a high quality of life despite automobile congestion.

Alexandria should be a walking and biking city.  This is not a silver bullet for our changing region, but it is a critical component of how we improve our quality of life. Our City needs to be one where residents can easily walk or bike to obtain the services they desire.  People should not always have to get in their car for a carton of milk or to meet friends for coffee or dinner.

Our efforts to address these issues and transform Alexandria into a nationally recognized pedestrian and bicycle friendly City require a comprehensive and plan and framework.  Therefore, we propose the creation of the Alexandria Community Pathways program.  Instead of a focus on cars, this program will focus on people, neighborhoods, parks, schools, recreation areas and trails.  The Alexandria Community Pathways program is designed to establish clear goals, timelines and a consolidated pedestrian, trail and bicycle plan that can be incorporated into Alexandria’s Strategic Plan.   

Focus Areas

Below, we offer the following list of areas, programs and neighborhood concerns as a starting point.  We ask City staff to provide its guidance and expertise and work with us to draft an Alexandria Community Pathways proposal.    

Education: Education and community involvement has to be the starting point for the Alexandria Community Pathways Program.  We should establish a plan to communicate, encourage and educate Alexandrian’s about the pedestrian and bicycle opportunities in the City.

Schools:  Different school zones have different traffic rules, different speeds, and a variety of pedestrian environments.  If we want to see children (and their parents) walking to school, they need safe routes to walk.  There is much we can do to encourage walking to school.  Through the Alexandria Community Pathways program we should establish uniform guidelines for traffic, pedestrian and bicycle conditions near public and private schools.  This is not only good for transportation, but it is also an important public health priority.  As discussed in the recent City Health Assessment, obesity is one of Alexandria’s top public health issues.  The more often kids can walk to school and in their neighborhood, the better our opportunity to improve the health of our children.

Traffic Calming: Alexandria’s innovative traffic calming program is one of the most effective and successful neighborhood improvement programs in our City.  This year the City had funding for only six of 15 qualifying programs.  In the fiscal year 2006 budget, we expect to lose some or all of the federal transportation-related funding.  With rising regional congestion, Alexandria’s traffic calming initiatives have become more critical to the quality of life in our neighborhoods.  Traffic calming has been proven to reduce cut through traffic and the prevalence of speeding cars.  Traffic calming makes streets safer for walking and biking.  Spending less on such a successful program is the wrong thing to do. 

We need to increase our investment in this important pedestrian and bicycle safety initiative.  To that end, we would like Council to evaluate a short term funding increase in the traffic calming program.  Such an increase would eliminate the current backlog of projects, allowing all 15 approved projects to be completed.  In addition, we suggest a change in the current policy that does not allow neighborhoods or their associations to pay for or contribute to their own traffic calming projects.  If a project meets the City’s guidelines, a neighborhood or the association should have the ability to fund or partially fund the project with their own resources.  We are also mindful that guidelines would have to be established for neighborhoods and their associations seeking such approval. 

Aesthetics:  Alexandria’s Community Pathways should be inviting and attractive.  People should feel safe and comfortable walking and biking through our City.

Cross Walks: Throughout the City, many crosswalks are faded, hard to see, or non-existent.  In many cases, there are no pedestrian signals to aid a walker’s efforts. In order to make our City safer for walkers, we believe it is time to push a concerted effort to clearly mark the major intersections in Alexandria so that automobiles as well as pedestrians can identity the crossing areas.  In order to create safe Alexandria Community Pathways, we need to identify the most dangerous intersections with no crossing signals and start a multi-year effort to increase the number of crossing signals. Our crosswalks should use materials that help make the crosswalks safe and accessible for the disabled community.

Multiuse Paths: Alexandria is fortunate to have a strong and active bicycle community.  The City completed the Bicycle Transportation and Multi-Use Trail Master Plan in 1998.  We should set out a goal to complete the major areas of this plan in the next six years.

Police on the Street: The City increased the number of traffic officers last year.  This has enabled us to monitor and patrol more areas of the City particularly during the A.M. and P.M. rush hours.  We need to closely monitor these efforts and establish metrics that relate traffic to police in the City.  We should have clear metrics to ensure we have the appropriate support to manage our many difficult intersections.

Sidewalks: At four feet, the average sidewalk in Alexandria is just wide enough for a wheelchair or a double stroller.  All it takes is a tree root, a power pole, an overgrown bush, broken bricks or some cracked cement to make the sidewalk nearly impassible for strollers and wheelchairs or two people passing side by side.  We need to increase the standard width for an Alexandria sidewalk and set a City goal that all new sidewalks and upgraded sidewalks will conform to new standards.  In addition, we need to restrict brick sidewalks to historic areas and areas presently with them.  Bricks are difficult and costly to maintain, the unevenness of brick makes it dangerous for many walkers (especially physically impaired walkers) and snow removal is more difficult. We should establish new, attractive, but less cumbersome sidewalk standards.  In addition, we need to look at ways to continue to provide sidewalk dining in the City, without impairing pedestrian access.

Route One & Potomac Yard Metro Stop: Route One is already one of the busiest roads in the City.  Families are afraid to let their children cross the road to go to school.  Residents in North Old Town and the Northeast neighborhood are reluctant to walk to the Braddock Road Metro for safety concerns.  Fortunately, we have opportunities for improvements. The Potomac Yard and Braddock Road development and redevelopment planning initiatives provide an opportunity for improved pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.  In addition, the Potomac Yard project includes an opportunity for additional mass transit. 

To help make Route One a true Alexandria Community Pathway, we need to make it safer to cross the street.  We also need to create as much pedestrian and bicycle connectivity to Potomac Yard as possible.  This new development will bring many new services that can benefit residents of Alexandria.  It will also bring traffic.  We should do all we can to encourage people to walk and bike to Potomac Yard, including the creation of pedestrian bridges, paths and other infrastructure.

It is also critical that we exhaust every reasonable option for mass transit at Potomac Yard, especially the construction of a Metro station.  Potomac Yard and Braddock Road will not be successful if we do not improve pedestrian, bicycle and transit usage within Potomac Yard and along the Route One corridor. Mass transit in Potomac Yard will help foster the kind of pedestrian orient community that is essential for the Alexandria Community Pathways program. Our vision and strategic plan for Route One should include robust transit infrastructure for Potomac Yard.  To this end, we need to finalize our plans with Arlington as soon as possible.

Central City: Seminary Road and Quaker Lane both experience substantial problems with speeding vehicles.   This fact, coupled with a lack of good pedestrian infrastructure (sidewalks, bike lanes, convenient cross walks) makes the central part of Alexandria one of the least pedestrian friendly places in the City.  The Alexandria Community Pathways program should identify the top central city pedestrian and traffic calming improvements and establish plans to fix them over the next six years.

West End: The West End of Alexandria is notoriously difficult for pedestrians and bikers.  The Landmark Mall study as well as all development and redevelopment projects in the West End of the City must have a focus on improving pedestrian and bicycle safety.  We need to make the Holmes Run Tunnel under I-395 more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. The Alexandria Community Pathways program should identify the top West End pedestrian improvements and establish a plan to fix them over the next six years.

The Green Crescent – Open Space Plan: The centerpiece of the Open Space Plan is the bold vision of a green crescent of open space and pathways throughout the City.  From the West End to the waterfront, to Four Mile Run, this Green Crescent is the centerpiece of both our Open Space Plan and the Alexandria Community Pathways program.  It is essential that our open space efforts not lose sight of this vision of a green crescent and that we put the appropriate emphasis on seeing it completed.  As recently discussed in a report from the Center for the Advancement of Health, the degree to which city people walk or ride bicycles for their daily transportation needs depends largely on how much green space exists in the City.

Pedestrian and Bike Connectors: The growth of the Hoffman Center and other Eisenhower Valley locations as a destination for Alexandrians and businesses provides us with an opportunity to improve pedestrian connectivity between the north side of Duke Street and Eisenhower Valley.  We need to ensure we have a multiple safe options for pedestrians and bikers to get into Eisenhower Valley.  Already identified in the City budget, the Hoofs Run tunnel under Duke Street is one example of an area that will benefit from better lighting, the clearing of brush and additional repairs to improve the visibility and safety of this pathway.  As part of the Alexandria Community Pathways program, we should work with the community to identify additional opportunities to improve pedestrian access within and between Eisenhower Valley and the rest of the City.

Alexandria Community Pathways Program Project - Concept List

Below is the beginning of a list of action steps the City should consider in order to implement the Alexandria Community Pathways Program.

1)      Create a Community Pathways Day to encourage people to walk, bike and take advantage of the many Community Pathways in our City.

2)      Have Alexandria’s Office of Management and Budget prepare a special budget report addressing all Alexandria Community Pathway related efforts in the City.

3)      Establish clear budget priorities related to the Alexandria Community Pathways Program.

4)      Ensure new development meets clear pedestrian and bicycle criteria – it should create safe pedestrian pathways and in the ideal mixed-use projects, should provide convenient services that are easily accessed by walkers and bikers.

5)      Increase traffic calming spending so more neighborhood pedestrian and traffic calming projects can move forward.  Move money from other, less critical projects.  Consider changes to the budget to speed up completion of top 15 traffic calming projects.

6)      Ensure the Six Year CIP includes plans to complete most components of the City Bicycle Master Plan.

7)      Re-establish the central city traffic calming & pedestrian focus started a few years ago by former Councilman Speck and through T&ES.

8)      Re-mark all major crosswalks with disabled appropriate materials.  Ask Civic Associations to help us identify the top priorities.

9)      Place crosswalk signals at major intersections throughout the City.  Ask Civic Associations to identify the top priorities.

10)  Identify the most critical cross-walks and pedestrian areas of the City and ensure they are marked with signs that require motorists to stop.  Reinforce this step by enacting a program to fine the motorists that fail to obey the signs.

11)  Design “Alexandria Community Pathways” signs to mark and identify pedestrian features throughout the City as well as to educate residents about the program.

12)  Direct the City’s Legislative Director to work with the region and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission to ask the State legislative bodies to pass a new Pedestrian Safety Law in 2006.  Too many pedestrians feel it is unsafe to cross our streets.  Cars must STOP, not just yield, for pedestrians at all crosswalks.

13)  Continue participation in the State’s safe routes to school program.

14)  Ask the City’s Traffic & Parking Board to recommend speed controls, standard speed limits and other pedestrian safety measures near every school.  Work to ensure children have a safe way to walk to school within at minimum of a six block radius of each school, though our goal should be that every child has a safe pathway to school.

15)  Create a formal transit plan for Potomac Yard. Ask our Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force to look into this and bring back recommendations to the City Council.  A significant portion of the infrastructure costs savings from Potomac Yard should be set aside for transit and pedestrian improvements along the Route One corridor and Braddock Road Metro area.

16)  Ensure that pedestrian and bike pathways receive meaningful improvements with every (re)development project considered.  The City should establish clear standards for all projects to follow.  The guidelines in the Bicycle Master Plan should be re-evaluated in the current context of our City. We seek guidance from the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force on this issue.

17)  Have the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force establish a new, wider sidewalk standard for all new sidewalks built or repaired in Alexandria.  The current minimum width is 4 feet – establish a new standard that provides for a truly accessible pedestrian experience and good quality urban design.  Don’t allow signs and poles to interfere with sidewalk accessibility, without specific approval from the City.  Require easements from property owners when necessary.  Limit residential encroachments into pedestrian right-of-ways.

18)  Ask the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force to develop standards for landscaping, lighting and other pathway infrastructure to ensure safety and convenience.

19)  Ask the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force to recommend ways to improve existing and identify additional opportunities for pedestrian and bicycle connectivity within and between Eisenhower Valley and Duke Street

20)  Ask the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force to recommend top priorities for pedestrian improvements on the West End, in the Central City and Eisenhower Valley, along Route One and throughout the City.

21)  Ask the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force to recommend changes to our streetscapes to give priority to pedestrians.  Specifically, they should identify streets that should be narrowed in order to create a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly environment. 

22)  Create a policy that allows neighborhoods or their associations to pay for or contribute to their own traffic calming projects.  If a project meets the City’s guidelines, a neighborhood or the association should have the ability to fund or partially fund the project with their own resources

23)  Evaluate techniques to improve the pedestrian experience on lower King Street –including partial street closures, one-way streets, wider sidewalks, and other concepts.

24)  Establish a time-line, financing concepts and other tasks to bring a Metro and/or other transit infrastructure to Potomac Yard and Route 1.

25)  Community Participation – Create an area on the City’s Web site where people can submit suggestions for pedestrian and bicycle-related safety improvements and ensure that the procedures are in place so that City staff can track and promptly follow-up on the suggestions.  Develop other opportunities for the community to participate in this program.

26)  Conduct a pedestrian and bicycle survey every three years.  Enlist support from neighborhood associations and businesses to conduct the survey.  

27)  Consider changes to the mission and title of the City’s Traffic and Parking Board to ensure the board’s mission includes all modes of transportation as well as pedestrian safety.  This new board should track all Alexandria Community Pathways projects through quarterly and annual reports to the Council.

28)  Ensure that the prioritization of open space through the Open Space Committee includes criteria specifically related to the City’s vision for a Green Crescent of parks and pathways around the City.

29)        Establish metrics to help us measure our progress.  Potential metrics include:

a.       How many Alexandrians walk to work?

b.      How many Alexandrians bike to work?

c.       How many Alexandrians can walk to a grocery store?

d.      How many Alexandrians can safely walk to school?

e.       How many do walk to school?

f.        How many cars are there per Household in Alexandria?

g.       How many cars are there per registered driver in Alexandria?

h.       How many traffic officers are there per car in Alexandria?

i.         How many intersections are without marked cross walks?

j.        How many intersections are without crossing signals?

k.      How many miles of sidewalk are four feet wide or less?

l.         What is the average speed through Alexandria’s neighborhoods?