To Whom It May Concern,

As you may be aware, the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services, Division of Transportation has been working to design streetscape improvements including wider sidewalks, improved crosswalks, street trees, pedestrian-scale ornamental lighting and the undergrounding of overhead utilities along Columbia Pike (Rt. 244) from South Wakefield Street to Four Mile Run. A realignment of South Four Mile Run Drive “Minor” at the intersection with Columbia Pike to improve safety and additional parking in the adjacent public parking lot are also proposed as part of this project.

I am pleased to inform you that a Public Hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 27, 2006 at the Arlington Mill Community Center at 4975 Columbia Pike. The meeting will be from 6 to 9 p.m. with a brief presentation and question and answer period beginning at 7 p.m. Project details, as well as information pertaining to the Public Hearing, are available on the Arlington County web site.

If you have questions, please feel to call the Arlington County Transportation Planning Bureau at (703) 228–3681 or (703) 228-4611 (TTY).

Sincerely,

William Roberts
Capital Projects Manager

Comment:

We have been hearing from the County staff for a couple of years as they have been working up this project, and those of us working on Columbia Pike followup groups have reviewed prior designs and given them considerable feedback as it developed. You have read about it in the Barcroft News and we have occasionally discussed it at BSCL meetings. This is a good point in the process for this type of hearing, while changes can still be made if needed.

If you follow the Web link to the Concept Plan you will note that there is a left turn lane into the Barcroft Shopping Center for cars coming east from Baileys Crossroads, but that lane does not extend to make a left turn lane at Buchanan St. The neighborhood had requested it this way to avoid adding to cut-through traffic. In fact, many Barcrofters would use it too, so you may want to go to the hearing if you feel strongly that way.

We have asked for a traffic study to see if correcting the realignment of Four Mile Run Minor at the Goodwill store would increase our cut-through traffic, but have not received anything. Lacking a study, we have only our fears to go on. Most people agree that the intersection needs cleaning up to improve pedestrian safety, since the crosswalks are misaligned and the FMR crossing distance is beyond the County safety standard.

The project will finally get our bus shelter in front of Bob and Ediths, widen the sidewalks, improve lighting, and underground the utilties from Wakefield to Four Mile Run. It is the beginning of upgrading our little piece of the Pike.

There will be questions about this project on our Neighborhood Conservation Questionnaire, now expected to be ready by the end of the summer. In the meantime, you can go and tell the County planners your views on June 27th. They have an able crew working on this project and it should be a good meeting.

Randy Swart

Comment after the meeting

Here is Randy's chatlist message after the meeting

Features:

• realignment of the Buchanan intersection.

• left turn lane from Columbia Pike westbound to Four Mile Run

• left turn lane from Columbia Pike eastbound into Barcroft Shopping Center parking lot.

• wider sidewalks

• improved crosswalks

• street trees

• better lighting

• undergrounding of overhead utilities

In the past, our neighborhood has opposed the realignment of the intersection where Buchanan and Four Mile Run Minor meet the Pike (by the Goodwill store) because the County was unable to show us that it would not increase cut-through traffic through Barcroft. Harvey Berlin asked questions at the meeting that revealed that the cut-through studies we had requested had not been done.

But there is a compelling case for realignment due to a high level of pedestrian injuries and crashes. And traffic calming has reduced our traffic by about 15% while it reduced the impact of the cars on Buchanan and Wakefield by slowing them down. I think we need to take another look at our position.

I testified that I thought Barcroft's concerns could be met by keeping the lanes on Four Mile Run Minor to two, matching exactly the Buchanan lanes. The County design shows an additional left turn lane there for cars turning onto Columbia Pike westbound. That skews the intersection by one lane, forces relocation of the crosswalk twelve feet too far west, and increases the pedestrian crossing distance.

The intersection would be safer for pedestrians if both Buchanan and Four Mile Run Minor had two lanes and aligned correctly. And from the neighborhood's perspective, eliminating the extra lane would constrain the amount of increase in cut-through cars by making them wait longer if there is a big increase over time in the number of cars coming through. That offers us some protection from excessive growth in cut-throughs, particularly in rush hour.

County staff has already had discussions on whether or not the left turn lane is needed. If they eliminate it, my personal opinion is that the design they have is a good one that will improve our section of the Pike and is worthy of our support.

If any of this is unclear, take a look at the County link above, or send me an email.

Randy Swart

This page was revised on: August 3, 2006.