Solutions for the City of Alexandria, VA
Creating
Smarter Growth in Alexandria
Alexandria contains the most beautiful
and historic colonial community in the nation and early suburban neighborhoods
of great beauty. In many cases, new development has been added with care, but
bad designs from the 1970's and some recent developments have prompted concern.
Traffic -- our own and cut-through from neighboring jurisdictions -- is a major
problem. Protecting adequate green space is important.
Smart growth approaches for Alexandria
should include:
- Work with neighboring jurisdictions
to reduce cut-through traffic by increasing transit access for residents of Prince
George's and Fairfax Counties.
- Connect rail across the new Wilson
Bridge. This can be done even while narrowing the overland portion of the highway
to 10 lanes to reduce impact on Alexandria.
- Extend bus rapid transit or light
rail from Huntington Metro south along Route 1, while expanding other bus service
in Fairfax.
- End free parking in the District
of Columbia, Arlington and Alexandria to encourage commuters to use transit; and
maximize the employers providing tax-free transit benefits like Metrocheck.
- Ensure all of Alexandria is pedestrian
and transit friendly to reduce our own internal traffic.
- Incorporate a better grid of streets
into proposed developments, especially in the Carlyle/Eisenhower Metro area.
- Fix Duke Street. Add bus rapid transit
or light rail and bike lanes to reduce east-west auto trips and increase pedestrian
crossing opportunities; including an at-grade crossing at the library (not an
overpass).
- Add Metrorail stations and bus rapid
transit/light rail through Potomac Yard between Braddock Metro and the Pentagon.
Develop according to the principles
of New Urbanism (see www.cnu.org).
- Create well-designed mixed-use development
near Braddock, King, Eisenhower, and Van Dorn Metro stations on a scale appropriate
for each. Marching, misaligned apartment towers at Braddock or "superblock"
office buildings proposed for Eisenhower don't fit the bill.
- Convert strip shopping centers into
more traditional main street centers by placing cars in structures and building
2 to 6 story buildings mixing retail, office and residential. Reducing the size
of surface lots will make pedestrian access safer and more common.
- Place public buildings in prominent
places and with the correct orientation to the street. While architecturally distinctive,
the new Charles Beatley Central Library on Duke Street should have been set on
a town green or public square; not sideways facing parking and a CVS.
- Include adequate public parks in
the form of formal town greens, neighborhood pocket parks and interconnected corridors.
- Identify and save key open space
parcels and redevelop existing paved-over areas instead.
Ensure housing for a mix of income levels.
- Allow well designed, and appropriately
regulated accessory apartments.
- Ensure replacement affordable housing
for any displaced public housing residents.
- Require all new developments over
a certain size to include at least 15% moderately priced dwelling units.
- Fully fund housing trust funds and
maximize participation in federal housing programs.
- Approve well-designed multifamily
condos and apartments at four and six stories to provide more housing than $500,000
to $1 million townhouses with two-car garages.
Finally, ensure full and fair
public participation in the design and development process, while using "new
urbanist," visually-based planning and design.
Let's use these smart growth approaches
to make all of Alexandria as pedestrian friendly and as time honored as our historic
Old Town.
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Coalition for Smarter Growth
4000 Albemarle St, NW, Suite 310
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 244-4408 (202) 244-4438 fax
www.smartergrowth.net
© 1999-2005 Coalition for Smarter Growth. All Rights Reserved.
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