Traffic Congestion on the Top of the Agenda for Waterfront Work Group

The Waterfront Plan Work Group made some great strides Wednesday morning on issues related to parking, traffic and congestion.

A central issue to the debate over ways to best redevelop the city’s riverside is how to reduce traffic congestion, especially at the heart of Old Town around King and Union streets, by encouraging people to park elsewhere.

The group, meeting at , agreed to the idea of implementing some new parking technologies such as encouraging the use of smart phone apps to guide visitors to open parking spots.

Group member Bob Wood suggested that Alexandrians who have cars with city stickers get reduced rates at garages. “Use some economic incentives,” he said, adding that many beach communities offer reduced rates in city-run parking garages for residents living near the attractions.

Mindy Lyle suggested increasing parking rates on the street, noting that in Washington, D.C., street-metered parking is about equal in terms of price to garage parking. The higher metered rates encourage drivers to seek garage parking.

Bert Ely questioned whether increasing rates would elicit complaints from local merchants who say it could deter potential shoppers from the neighborhood, but Lyle suggested that merchants could validate parking in garages for shoppers to offer a free or reduced price.

“The Old Town merchant community needs to be surveyed about this,” Ely said. “The devil is in the details.”

Old Town Civic Association representative David Olinger said: “Cars don’t make vibrancy.”

Urban planner Elliot Rhodeside advised the group to think more broadly: “Create opportunity to break away from the mold that exists today. There may be other methods of transport in the future.”

The group also agreed to the notion of an Art Walk concept along the water’s edge provided the art “is not ticky-tacky,” a discussion in which one work group member asked “What is art?” eliciting groans from the audience where someone else asked “What the hell does ticky-tacky mean?”

The group also agreed that the waterfront plan should address the area’s burgeoning group of bicyclists.

“We need to encourage that the waterfront is not seen as hostile to bicyclists,” said Rhodeside.

While most members agreed overall, they saw a need for better signage and ways to get cyclists off of busy Union Street and on to Royal Street where they can pick up the Mount Vernon Trail.

“There’s a bike renaissance going on in the region. We need to encourage it, be a part of it,” Rhodeside said.