Vision Zero in Arlington County -- October Updates
Arlington County VA Government sent this bulletin at 10/22/2021 01:00 PM EDT
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Toolbox Community Conversation - New Date to be Announced
The Vision Zero team continues to work on the first draft of the Multimodal Engineering Safety Toolbox, but its release is going to take a little longer than expected. Despite a revised meeting date sent last week, the team will need to postpone further. Please look for more information about the Toolbox release and public engagement in coming weeks. Thanks for your patience!
Proposed 20-MPH School Slow Zones
Staff are preparing to present to the County Board this month and next on a request to adjust Chapter 14.2 of the County Code to set permanent 20-mph speed limits on 58 street segments within 13 school zones. They will be the first permanent 20-mph speed limits on neighborhood roads in the County.
The team is excited about this important step, which contributes to the speed management (Vision Zero Action Item B5) and establishing school zone guidelines/standards (Vision Zero B6). We are calling them "demonstrative slow zones" and limiting the scope to only 13 school areas while assessing whether the speed limit reduction and the engineering materials and treatments are effective in reducing speeds before implementing them Countywide. For more information, check out the School Slow Zones Story Map or visit the Tools & Guidelines page of the Vision Zero website.
Arlington Boulevard Safety Improvements in Collaboration with VDOT
Many major arterials in Arlington are owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), which makes VDOT a key partner in safety initiatives. Arlington Boulevard is one such route and part of the Vision Zero High Injury Network.
To address glare-related crashes, we collaborated with VDOT to add back-plates on all traffic signals along Arlington Boulevard, minus two locations to be addressed in upcoming projects. We also added a separate phase for left-turning traffic at the intersections with Manchester Street, Park Drive and Pershing Drive to reduce left-turn conflicts, a common crash factor in this corridor. Arlington and VDOT will continue to work together on more vital projects like this.
New Short-Term Parking Areas to Minimize Pick-up/Drop-off Conflicts
In partnership with local business improvement districts and alliances, the County's parking team identified 26 locations in Arlington's commercial corridors to introduce permanent short-term free parking spaces. These 15-minute spaces are intended for any quick use parking (pick-up, drop-off, loading, unloading, etc.) and are a step toward reducing curbside conflicts. The fewer cars we see blocking travel lanes or bike lanes, the safer our curb spaces will be for people driving, biking and walking. Look out for these spaces coming soon to National Landing, Rosslyn, Ballston, Clarendon/Courthouse, Langston Boulevard and Columbia Pike.
Completed Projects / What We're Working On
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Learn more about ongoing and complete quick-build and pilot projects.
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The VZ Team is working on safety audits of the High-Injury Network corridors. Look out for more information in the findings and next steps in a future newsletter.
