Arlington County

Winner of the first EPA Smart Growth Award and the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s Capital Region Visionary Award, Arlington County is a national leader in transit-oriented development, affordable housing, transit, and street design. Today, Arlington boasts 50 million square feet of transit-oriented development in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor alone and has done so without increasing traffic. Nearly 40% of trips in this corridor are made by transit, walking, and bicycling.

The County continues to make major investments in transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and affordable housing with a focus on getting the details right and maintaining an inclusive community

Our Work in Arlington, VA

Plan Langston Boulevard

Arlington County is developing a comprehensive vision and policy framework for the future of Langston Boulevard, which is Route 29 and formerly known as Lee Highway. During the spring/summer 2021, the county held listening sessions and walking tours on the preliminary land use scenarios that offered different land use mixes that would enable diverse housing options, enhancements to open space and stormwater management, safer streets and better transit. Community feedback will help inform County staff what concerns and priorities to address as they move to the next phase of developing a Preliminary Concept Plan. Learn more >>>

Image: Arlington County website

Missing Middle Housing Study

Arlington County has initiated a Missing Middle Housing Study to explore how different housing types could help increase the County’s housing supply and diversify the range of housing choices. “Missing middle” refers to the range of housing types that fit between single-family detached homes and mid-to-high-rise apartment buildings. Having different types and sizes of homes helps provide more options at different price points. A phase I report that was just released summarizes the priorities and concerns identified by community feedback, which will be used to determine the housing types to study as part of Phase II. Learn more >>>

Image: Arlington County website

Latest Happening

With streetcar dead, Arlington ponders: What’s next?

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Whatever happens on Columbia Pike, both sides agree that it needs to happen soon. In the next 30 years, county leaders say, 65 percent of Arlington's population growth will be along Columbia Pike and Route One -- the two areas where the streetcar lines have now been cancelled.
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Arlington County Board cancels streetcar; Fisette cites “political realities”

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The proposed streetcar would have run a 7.4 mile path between Fairfax County and Arlington, much of it along Columbia Pike in Arlington. The route was estimated to cost between $250 million and $400 million. “The Coalition of Smarter Growth is disappointed by the Arlington Board’s decision,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the group, in a statement following the announcement, “but far more so by the deeply negative and frequently inaccurate campaign against the streetcar.”
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For Fisette and Hynes, streetcar vote was painful but necessary

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The Coalition for Smarter Growth, which backed the project, trained its anger not so much on Fisette and Hynes as on “the deeply negative, and frequently inaccurate, campaign” by opponents. “Failure to invest in modern, high-capacity transit will mean more traffic and less economic development,” the group said in a statement.
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Arlington officials halt efforts on streetcars for Columbia Pike, Crystal City

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Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth in the District, said that opposition to the streetcars went against Arlington’s history as a place that has fostered transit-based development. “Arlington represents, perhaps, the top national smart-growth story,” Schwartz said. “It went from a declining inner-ring suburb to a very economically successful community.” Opposition was rooted in resistance to the idea of streetcars in general, Schwartz said, and public transportation projects’ reliance on local tax dollars. “Unfortunately, transit projects face many more hoops and require more local funding than highway projects,” Schwartz said.s
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RELEASE: Cancellation of Arlington’s Columbia Pike Streetcar

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 18, 2014 CONTACT Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth 202-675-0016 ext.121 703-599-6437 (mobile) stewart@smartergrowth.net ARLINGTON, VA -- Coalition for Smarter Growth Executive Director Stewart Schwartz issued the following statement today in response to news that the Arlington County Board has cancelled the Columbia Pike
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