December 3rd: Extend the Shirlington Connector? Or something else?

[Steve O]

@chris_s 149219 wrote:

Arlington is in the midst of re-planning the industrial area around 4 Mile Run near Shirlington, including the dangerous crossing between the 4 Mile Run Trail and the W&OD Trail near the Weenie Beenie. On Saturday December 3rd, there will be a major design workshop to get the public’s ideas for the area. This won’t be the kind of boring, frustrating public meeting that you’re used to. This will be a hands-on workshop with big maps, markers, post-it notes, break-out groups, etc. Ideas that come up frequently, ideas that get written down and documented, these ideas have an excellent chance of getting included in the plan and eventually realized.

If you think the Shirlington Connector should get extended beneath the Shirlington Road bridge; if you think Arlington Mill Drive should be narrowed and the trail on the south side of the stream should be widened and beautified; if you think Shirlington Road needs a protected bike lane; bring those ideas and more to the design workshop, speak up and make sure your ideas get WRITTEN DOWN, DRAWN and/or PHOTOGRAPHED for the public record.

Four Mile Run Visioning Workshop
Saturday 12/03/2016 9:00 am-1:00 pm at Drew Model School

Refreshments will be provided (coffee/tea/pastries in the morning; snacks/lunch later)

When they first built the connector I asked Dave Goodman why they didn’t extend it under the bridge then, since it seems so plainly obvious. He stared blankly at me as though the idea had never occurred to him. Hence the need for people to come and point out the obvious. Unfortunately, I have an out-of-town guest and will not be able to attend.

[ShawnoftheDread]

My curiosity was piqued at “markers,” but you really had me at “break-out groups.”

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[chris_s]

@ShawnoftheDread 149223 wrote:

My curiosity was piqued at “markers,” but you really had me at “break-out groups.”

There may even be blocks.

[Sunyata]

Will there be additional meetings or online public comment? Unfortunately, I will be in Maryland racing that day and unable to attend (although, it sounds like a really fun meeting!).

[chris_s]

@Sunyata 149265 wrote:

Will there be additional meetings or online public comment? Unfortunately, I will be in Maryland racing that day and unable to attend (although, it sounds like a really fun meeting!).

Yes, if you can’t make Saturday but want to get your ideas directly in to the consultant team, they are having “Open Studio Hours” on both Sunday and Monday, from 10am-6pm at 2700 S Quincy St (2nd Floor). The consultant team will be spending those days sifting through all of the ideas, drawings & comments from the Saturday meeting & starting to compile it into a draft plan and you’re welcome to stop in and talk to them directly. If that whole weekend is out, there will definitely be more opportunities to weigh-in in the future, but it will be later in the process when things are less open-ended – for instance once there is a draft vision for people to react to.

I will point out that 2700 S Quincy appears to be the office space directly above Cap City Brewing in Shirlington…

[elbows]

Sorry to pepper you with questions, but is it better to 1) arrive at 9 and leave at 10ish or to 2) arrive at 11:30 and leave when its over? I have something set up late morning that has required months of planning and I can’t miss all of it.

[chris_s]

@elbows 149267 wrote:

Sorry to pepper you with questions, but is it better to 1) arrive at 9 and leave at 10ish or to 2) arrive at 11:30 and leave when its over? I have something set up late morning that has required months of planning and I can’t miss all of it.

My gut says 11:30-1 is going to net you more of the core of the workshop, but let me check into it and see if I can get any more detail on the schedule.

[chris_s]

Tomorrow!

[chris_s]

Many thanks to the folks who came out – “extend the trail under the Shirlington Road bridge” was a recurring theme that was extremely hard to miss in the table reports.

[Judd]

Thanks for promoting Chris. It was really interesting to participate and I actually learned a lot about how the parks and zoning work in Arlington. There were also a lot of pieces of infrastructure that I was not aware of since it’s tucked behind a bunch of buildings.

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[Judd]

Thanks for promoting Chris. It was really interesting to participate and I actually learned a lot about how the parks and zoning work in Arlington. There were also a lot of pieces of infrastructure that I was not aware of since it’s tucked behind a bunch of buildings.

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[kwarkentien]

@chris_s 149862 wrote:

Many thanks to the folks who came out – “extend the trail under the Shirlington Road bridge” was a recurring theme that was extremely hard to miss in the table reports.

Sorry I wasn’t able to stop by. I think this would be a great addition, but do be aware that the boundary lines between Arlington and Alexandria get very messy at this point and such a change may need to include the City as well as the County. The current end of the connector is in the City (as are the office building at 2800 S Shirlington Road, the off-ramp from the I-395 access road leading up to the light at S Arlington Mill Drive, the Exxon station, and the two cement plant properties to the northeast of the Exxon). I believe the line is *at* the curb of Shirlington Rd where the connector ends but it may extend into the roadway to some extent. In any event, any plan to put an “under” bridge under Shirlington Road will likely need input/approval/$$$ from the City of Alexandria, which is sure to complicate any work on this.

[Arlingtonrider]

Based on my visit to the open studio yesterday, a bridge over Shirlington Road seems to be under consideration as well.

[kwarkentien]

@kwarkentien 149881 wrote:

Sorry I wasn’t able to stop by. I think this would be a great addition, but do be aware that the boundary lines between Arlington and Alexandria get very messy at this point and such a change may need to include the City as well as the County. The current end of the connector is in the City (as are the office building at 2800 S Shirlington Road, the off-ramp from the I-395 access road leading up to the light at S Arlington Mill Drive, the Exxon station, and the two cement plant properties to the northeast of the Exxon). I believe the line is *at* the curb of Shirlington Rd where the connector ends but it may extend into the roadway to some extent. In any event, any plan to put an “under” bridge under Shirlington Road will likely need input/approval/$$$ from the City of Alexandria, which is sure to complicate any work on this.

See this map for the “boundary” as listed:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12902[/ATTACH]

[lordofthemark]

@kwarkentien 149881 wrote:

Sorry I wasn’t able to stop by. I think this would be a great addition, but do be aware that the boundary lines between Arlington and Alexandria get very messy at this point and such a change may need to include the City as well as the County. The current end of the connector is in the City (as are the office building at 2800 S Shirlington Road, the off-ramp from the I-395 access road leading up to the light at S Arlington Mill Drive, the Exxon station, and the two cement plant properties to the northeast of the Exxon). I believe the line is *at* the curb of Shirlington Rd where the connector ends but it may extend into the roadway to some extent. In any event, any plan to put an “under” bridge under Shirlington Road will likely need input/approval/$$$ from the City of Alexandria, which is sure to complicate any work on this.

I am very sure that input/approval from the City for this would be an easy one – BPAC would be for, T&ES likes this sort of thing, and it has no negative impact I can see on Alexandria homeowners. $$ from the City would be a good bit harder – the City’s own trails program is under stress, and while a few cyclists from the forgotten corner of the City use this connection, I think this would really be seen as an Arlington project (90% percent or more of cyclists using it are going to/from Arlington, 99% of the pedestrians, and most of the drivers who would benefit)

Note, the principle transportation discussion the facilitators were trying to facilitate for Shirlington Road, was traffic calming/complete streeting the road itself. By either a lane diet, or a 4 to 3 road diet, to create a wider sidewalk and/or in street bike lanes. Clearly Shirlington Road will be one point of access from Shirlington to a more intensely used (even if not very tall) Four Mile Run Valley, and that will aggravate existing bike/ped conflicts on the sidewalk on Shirlington.

Other transportation issues that came up – 1. Creating some kind of boardwalk or meander to link up the short E-W streets that traverse the built up area, and to orient uses towards the Run. 2. Alternatively, an improved sidewalk (possibly a meander?) on the Four Mile Run Drive side of the 4MRV 3. Improving access between the 4MRV on the one hand, and the W&OD and the residential areas up the hill on the other, by improved pedestrian crossings across 4MRV (someone suggested a ped bridge). 4. Improved connection from 4MRV to Shirlington via a new bike ped bridge, and improved signage/visibility for the existing one. 5. Improved connections from Shirlington to the 4MRT (I pointed out the difficult placement of crosswalk and curb cuts) 6. Possibly some kind of circulator bus (would depend on density of course) – to link more distant parts of 4MRV with the Shirlington Bus station, with Shirlington, and with parking (there was a lot of discussion of parking – topography prevents undergrounding it, most of the area is more than 1/4 mile from the bus station (and I seem to be almost the only person who considers the bus station almost the equivalent of metro) and so parking will be a constraint on density and mix of uses.

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