BRAC Traffic Not Too Bad, City Says

Horror stories of how the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) project at Mark Center would affect traffic congestion have not materialized, Alexandria city staff said Tuesday.

Alexandria City Council received an update on BRAC-related traffic at its Tuesday session. Richard Baier, director of the city’s Department of Transportation and Environmental Services, said police are currently monitoring intersections near the BRAC building to ensure smooth traffic flow.

“We have not seen the traffic manifest in a way … that was described,” he said. “Now that’s not to say the traffic is working well out there.”

The traffic impact on I-395 has been minimal, as has local cut-through traffic, Baier said. “There is cut-through traffic, but it is not to the level that people have predicted.”

The BRAC parking strategy and the police presence have helped ease potential traffic problems, he said. About two-thirds of the building’s eventual 6,400 occupants have moved in to date.

Council also discussed adding a total access lane from the HOV lanes to the top lane of Seminary Road. Vice Mayor Kerry Donley said the lane would benefit transit, as buses must currently travel in non-HOV lanes, and peak morning traffic.

However, Donley said a right turn off of the northbound lane onto Seminary Road East would bring few, if any, benefits. “Why build it if it’s not going to be utilized?” he said. “ … There’s no activity center to the east.”

Councilman Frank Fannon asked whether traffic markings at Beauregard Street and Seminary Road would be redesigned in order to reduce the chance of collisions at the intersection. Baier said staff are working with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to improve signage at the intersection. Additional signage would also help mitigate problems for drivers in the far right lane, he said.

VDOT will hold a public hearing on the proposed traffic improvements from 7 to 9 p.m. today at Francis C. Hammond Middle School, 4646 Seminary Road.

In other business on Tuesday, council:

• Voted to authorize staff to install signs discouraging smoking in 122 city bus shelters, including temporary signs, if need be, while the city works to install more durable signs.

• Heard a report on real property assessment changes during 2012. Overall assessments increased 3.5 percent, or $1.15 billion, from January 1, 2011, to January 1, 2012.

• Approved a new waste disposal service agreement for the Covanta Energy Alexandria/Arlington Resource Recovery Facility, an energy-from-waste operation at 5301 Eisenhower Ave.