Politics & Government

Letter to the Editor: Meehan on King Street Traffic-Calming Plan

Alexandria resident Kellie Meehan wrote a letter to the city's transportation director concerning the King Street traffic-calming plan. The letter has not been returned.

To the editor: 

The following is a letter I sent to Rich Baier, director of Alexandria's Department of Transportation and Environmental Services, on Nov. 29 in regards to the traffic-calming plan on King Street. I have yet to receive a reply.

Good afternoon Mr. Baier,  

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I have a few questions and concerns after the Parking & Transportation Board meeting last Monday evening and I suppose you are the person to address them.

In the meeting it was stated by Ms. Poole that parking spaces were added to streets off of King St. to help those residents who may lose parking along King St. Where specifically and how were parking spaces added to Carlisle and Park Road? My understanding of the current "no parking zone" along these streets is that it is there for the turning radius of the garbage and recycling trucks getting into and out of the alleys and for the recycling and garbage trucks turning from King St. onto those side streets. I don't know that parking spaces could safely be added in these areas.  

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Some of these streets have permit parking (zone) requirements. How will that be addressed to assist those residents along King St. that currently don't have and are not required to have parking permits? 

Also, most of these side streets don't have sidewalks. Sidewalks would assist residents to get from their parked cars and more safely cross King Street.  How will this be addressed?  

One of the board members, Mr. Lewis, asked Ms. Poole if all pedestrian safety improvements could be implemented regardless of how the board votes. Ms. Poole's response was "no, this is a comprehensive plan." I'd like to know why the pedestrian safety measures couldn't be implemented. The bike box, the speed board, the timed crosswalk at Highland all seem to help bicycle and pedestrian safety and meet the "Complete Streets" goals (The crosswalk at Upland apparently isn't covered in this plan and has been approved by the board previously).

A point that I didn't hear raised at the meeting is that if one of the stated purposes of the "Complete Streets" program and thus this proposal, is to connect the Janney's Lane bike lanes to the King St. Metro, then the plan in any concept, does not do that. The proposed bike lanes would abruptly end at W. Cedar St., well before the King St. Metro and before the intersection with Russell Road and Callahan Drive.

The proposal would be encouraging all cyclists, including Capital Bikeshare users/riders who are generally inexperienced riders, usually not wearing helmets and not always familiar with bike safety regulations, to use a bike lane that would just terminate. I guess the end of the bike lane would have them merge into traffic where the street becomes its narrowest, has a turn lane, a cut-in from the drive in front of the Masonic Temple and overall is a dangerous area and intersection.

The current concept 2 proposal also changes the lane/sharrow/buffer three times in a half-mile stretch. Is that reasonable for non-experienced bikers to be able to navigate? Is it reasonable for the city to encourage this? 

If there is a plan to change the intersection of King St., Callahan and Russell Road, that should be part of this discussion. City residents should not just be told by city staff that this is too complicated and too much to go into. It is part of the plan and residents should know about it, know the bigger picture of this area and see how changes to this intersection would be integrated into or with the current bike lane proposal.  

If the purpose of "Complete Streets" is to address safety issues for the disabled as well as all pedestrians, do the sidewalks along King St. meet current ADA requirements? Specifically the placement of light and telephone poles, cables to hold poles, road signs, bus stop signs, light fixtures, trash cans, etc. in the sidewalks. VDOT says sidewalks should be a minimum of 5 feet in width. Do the sidewalks along King St. meet that requirement?

The City should measure the width of the street throughout the entire stretch of King St. It was brought up at the meeting that the street in some portions is 29 feet wide. In VDOT publications and information, for a street carrying the volume of traffic that King St. handles, the street should be a minimum of 36 feet, curb to curb with a 1.5-foot clear zone (That does not include bike lanes or parking lanes). Shouldn't the City determine if King St. even meets with the VA Dept. of Transportation guidelines and regulations for the major artery that it is. 

And there should be further discussion on the width of buses, trucks and emergency vehicles that use this stretch of King St. routinely. It was brought up at the meeting that the width of a bus from mirror to mirror is at least 10-1/2 feet wide.  That is the exact width of the lanes in this proposal. Is it reasonable to expect that all vehicles will drive in the exact middle of the lane at all times and have no room for error?  

VDOT also states that bike lanes should be no less than 4-feet wide. And bicycle safety publications state that the width for a bike lane on an arterial/collector with speeds of 30 mph or less is 5 feet.

Which criteria does King St. meet and which would be safest for bicyclists and drivers especially considering the types and size of vehicles that use King Street? 

Another issue that I did not hear addressed at the meeting is that residents of this stretch of King Street have their garbage and leaves collected in front of their homes. Currently they place their garbage and recycling cans at the curb in the parking lane.  If the proposal for the bike lanes is approved, where will they place them so as to be legal and not block or obstruct either the sidewalk or bike lane?

Kellie Meehan


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