Politics & Government

T&ES Director: Alexandria Will Move Forward with King Street Bike Lanes

Plan calls for the removal of 27 on-street parking spaces and the narrowing of travel lanes on King Street between Russell Road and Janney's Lane.

Alexandria’s director of Transportation and Environmental Services says the city will move forward with implementing its plan for bike lanes on a segment of King Street between Russell Road and Janney’s Lane.

Director Rich Baier notified residents of King Street of the decision in a letter dated Friday, Dec. 20.

The modified plan calls for the narrowing of travel lanes and the removal of 27 on-street parking spaces to create buffers and install bike lanes on the busy stretch.

Find out what's happening in Old Town Alexandriawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The project is intended to slow vehicle speeds and provide a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists as well as safer routes to the nearby schools.

Speeding in this stretch of roadway is a frequent problem and 30 vehicular crashes have been recorded in the last five years.

Find out what's happening in Old Town Alexandriawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“As a professional engineer tasked with ensuring the safety for all users of our street system and after reviewing the data and researching alternative proposals, I believe that the modified plan is the best plan to achieve the common goals of improving safety and balancing the needs of multiple users of King Street,” Baier wrote in a four-page letter that detailed data and community outreach surrounding the project. “I reached this conclusion after much thought and analysis, taking into account the comments and concerns raised by the community. A delay of this decision to further study and discussion is not recommended. I do, however, believe that the City and the community can, and should, continue to evaluate additional measures to improve pedestrian safety throughout adjacent neighborhoods, and my staff will work them to do so this spring.”

Baier wrote that he walked, drove and road his bicycle up and down the stretch of King Street to experience the roadway from all perspectives.

“It was this experience that affirmed by belief that it is imperative to implement a plan that improves the safety concerns highlighted as part of this project,” Baier wrote.

After hearing concerns from residents in the fall, an initial plan that called for the removal of all 37 on-street parking spaces along the stretch of roadway was amended to keep 10 spaces and install bicycle sharrows next to the parking.

Parking counts from city staff determined the vast majority of the on-street spaces go unused.

The city’s Traffic and Parking Board voted to defer the project at a November hearing, despite the majority of speakers expressing support for the plan.

Many residents along the stretch of King Street said they believed the plan would actually make the roadway increasingly unsafe by reducing space for vehicles, eliminating the buffer created by parked cars and adding more cyclists into the traffic mix. Some questioned how deliveries and repair personnel could access their homes, while others lamented the loss of some convenient on-street parking for guests.  

Cyclists from across Alexandria as well as representatives from the city’s Environmental Policy Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, the Washington Area Bicycle Association and the Coalition for Smarter Growth spoke of a need for bicycle lanes to increase road accessibility for cyclists and create more transit connections. Several cyclists said they reluctantly bike on the sidewalks on King Street because the roadway poses too many problems.

Discussion of the plan has included numerous letters to the editor in local papers and on Patch. Frank H. Buckley, a law professor and King Street resident, penned an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal about the issue. Buckley’s “bike wars” column inspired a news segment from NBC Washington and drew critical responses on cycling advocacy blog Wash Cycle and DC Streets Blog.  


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