King Street Access Road Reconfiguration At Bradlee Center Approved By City Council

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A new reconfiguration of the access road near Bradlee Shopping Center was approved by Alexandria City Council Tuesday.

The changes concern the King Street access road between South Taylor Street and Menokin Drive. From S. Taylor Street to N. Dearing Street as well as N. Dearing Street to Menokin Drive, traffic would be one way westbound with a bus lane and bike lanes. Two-way traffic on the access road would be maintained from N. Quaker Lane to S. Taylor Street.

City Council voted 6-1 vote, with only Vice Mayor Amy Jackson voting against.

Jackson said the Quaker, King and Braddock intersection has been a "bugaboo" for the city to seek improvements. The vice mayor believes the one-way access change won't fix the intersection for pedestrians, buses and cars.

"Why don't we focus on the crux of the problem, which is that intersection and has always been a major problem," said Jackson. "But if we want kids to not be playing leapfrog in the intersection at Quaker, King and Braddock, that's what we should put our energy into. Because I feel like all the other energy for all the bike lanes and the pedestrian infrastructure and the one way traffic and the busses going one way that it will be great eventually, but I don't see how this is connecting to our schools."

Mayor Justin Wilson noted the Quaker, King and Braddock intersection continues to be a concern and noted one of his children was born while waiting at the intersection.

For background, Wilson said the city had looked into improving the intersection through the capital improvement program process a few years ago. He said the city will have to look at fixing the intersection in the future, although it could prove costly and require more right-of-way.

"As we got farther into the engineering process, it got very, very, very expensive, mostly because I think any comprehensive fix to that intersection is going to involve taking property, the adjacent property," said Wilson. "There's just not enough real estate in that intersection to do the kind of fixes that would really solve some of the connectivity things."

Councilmember Sarah Bagley, who says she uses her bicycle to get around, said there are potential customers who may not go to Bradlee Center businesses because of lacking safe bicycle infrastructure. She says cars will continue to have access, but the improvements will give other users better access too.

"I can't tell you how many times I arrive at an event, a restaurant, a meeting on my bike, and I'm approached by people who say, I'd love to have ridden here, but I'm just afraid to do so," said Bagley. "So there is demand, but we won't see it until we create safe spaces for it. That's true on this project, and it's going to be true on many other projects that are coming forward."

"I acknowledge that for those individuals between Dearing and Menokin, this does change the way they're going to get to Bradlee Center," said Bagley. "What I ask those people to consider, and what I am weighing in my decision tonight is the overall safety improvements, storm water improvements, flow of traffic, bus transit movements."

Wilson noted the area is a challenge to improve for all road users due to limited right-of-way. The shopping center and access road are not far from Alexandria City High School's two campuses.

"I would argue that with the outside of Old Town, I don't know that there is a place in our city that has a greater concentration of pedestrians than this area on a regular basis," said Wilson. "This is a heavy pedestrian corridor and, and I think honestly, that's probably only gotten heavier with some of the changes that have happened at the high school lately, and so I think making sure that everyone can traverse this area as safely as they possibly can."

The project also provides an opportunity to make stormwater improvements that could help address the velocity of flow toward the Chinquapin facility downstream.

"I think there's a real opportunity here, because we have public land, it's green, and we can do a lot more than we are currently doing to slow down that water and reduce the erosion downstream," said Wilson.

Councilmember Canek Aguirre noted enforcement may be needed to ensure stopped vehicles won't block the one-way access road.

"A lot of times there's Uber Eats and delivery cars, and they're currently parking and taking up the lane," said Aguirre. "So if there could be some level of enforcement that we're looking out for to make sure that people aren't just stopping there, and hopefully they're going to notice that it's one lane, and if they stop there, they're blocking everybody."