Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study

Welcome

The Alexandria Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study is being conducted by the City of Alexandria for the purpose of investigating the feasibility of implementing dedicated corridor transit service in the city in three corridors–North-South, Duke Street, and Van Dorn/Beauregard. This webpage will be frequently updated throughout the study process and will provide meeting dates, times, and locations; information for review; and general information.

What's New 

Please check back at this location frequently for updated project information and notifications.

• Transportation Commission Public Hearing – May 2, 2012 
  The City of Alexandria invites members of the public to attend the Alexandria Transportation Commission meeting on May 2, 2012 from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm, City Hall (Council Conference Room, 2nd floor), 301 King Street. A Public Hearing will be held regarding the recommendation for Corridors A (Route 1/North-South) and B (Duke Street). The facility is transit accessible via DASH routes AT2, 3, 4 and 5. For more information please contact Steve Sindiong, Transportation Planner at 703-746-4047. Meeting materials can be accessed here.
  

Project Overview

The Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study builds on the 2008 City Council adopted Transportation Master Plan recommendation for providing enhanced transit service in the North-South, Duke Street, and Van Dorn/Beauregard corridors.  The Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study will involve the following for each corridor:

• Development of concepts to provide enhanced transit services
• Evaluation of different transit mode technologies (bus, enhanced bus, bus rapid transit, and streetcar)
• Evaluation of alternatives for transit operations considering median and side running configurations
• Evaluation of the tradeoffs between mixed traffic and dedicated lane facilities
• Identification of overall corridor implementation action plans to inform and guide future study and engineering efforts for each corridor
• Coordination with environmental permitting agencies to discuss the likely scope of future environmental documentation to be required based on the type of funding to be sought
• Coordination with adjacent localities and regional agencies

The goal of the Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study is to identify and adopt a transit enhancement strategy (concept) for each study corridor and provide an action plan to guide future study. The project will involve planning, a conceptual level of engineering, concept-level environmental study, and public outreach and coordination.  The project is preliminarily anticipated to be complete by the end of 2011.

Frequently Asked Questions

Since the inception of the study, a number of questions have been asked about the project. The most common questions have been compiled with the answers which can be found here.  

Study Corridors

Metrorail’s alignment through the city limits its ability to serve the broader population of Alexandria. Reaching the goal of offering improved transit services and facilities to more areas of the city requires additional corridors to be considered for enhanced transit services.  Understanding this, the Transportation Master Plan identified the following three key corridors (study corridors) for high-quality, frequency, and capacity transit service expansion in the city:

• North-South (Corridor A) —This corridor traverses in a north-south direction in the general vicinity of Route 1 and connects to future transit corridors in Fairfax and Arlington Counties.  The North-South corridor would serve commuters, residents, and employees with origins and destinations along the corridor; would function as an alternative to Metrorail services (Blue and Yellow lines); and would improve access to key destinations within the city and in Fairfax and Arlington Counties such as Old Town, Potomac Yard, Crystal City, the Pentagon, and Ft. Belvoir. See the High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group Recommendation here
• Duke Street/ Eisenhower Avenue (Corridor B) —This corridor would connect Alexandria to Fairfax County to the west. It has the potential to serve the Eisenhower East area, Landmark Mall, Foxchase, Alexandria Commons, the King Street Metrorail station, and portions of Old Town.  The alignment of the Duke Street corridor in an approximate east/west orientation also would allow it to connect to the North-South and Van Dorn/Beauregard corridors. See the High Capacity Tansit Corridor Work Group Recommendation here 
• Van Dorn Street/Beauregard Street (Corridor C) —This corridor would run along Beauregard Street and Van Dorn Street in an approximately east/west direction.  On the north, the corridor has the potential to tie to Columbia Pike, Fairfax County, and the Pentagon area.  On the south, the corridor would directly connect to the Van Dorn Street Metrorail station.  Key destinations along the corridor include the Van Dorn Street Metrorail station, Landmark Mall/Van Dorn Street commercial areas, Kingstowne, the Mark Center (and BRAC-133 site), Shirlington, and the Pentagon. See the High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group Recommendation here

Implementation of dedicated transit services in each corridor would improve connectivity between the city’s major population and employment centers and have the potential to connect to neighboring jurisdictions.

• Study Area Map 
• High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group

Transit Corridor Feasibility Study Comment  Board

We invite the public to provide their comments to us on the Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study.  This forum has been set up to provide members of the public to comment on the project throughout the planning process.  Staff will respond to comments regularly as they are received.  These comments will be reviewed and considered by staff, the consultant and the High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group as it proceeds with developing the plan.

Meetings

•  Public Meetings
  • Transportation Commission Public Hearing – May 2, 2012 
    The City of Alexandria invites members of the public to attend the Alexandria Transportation Commission meeting on May 2, 2012 from 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm, City Hall (Council Conference Room, 2nd floor), 301 King Street. A Public Hearing will be held regarding the recommendation for Corridors A (Route 1/North-South) and B (Duke Street). The facility is transit accessible via DASH routes AT2, 3, 4 and 5. For more information please contact Steve Sindiong, Transportation Planner at 703-746-4047.
    
• High Capacity Transit Corridor Work Group 
• Transportation Commission
  • Transportation Commission Public Hearing on Corridor A Recommendation  - May 2, 2012
    The Transportation Commission held a public hearing to provide input on the recommendation for Corridor A (Route 1 / North-South). The meeting presentation can be found here. The recommendation made by the Transportation Commission can be found here.
  • Transportation Commission Public Hearing on Corridor B Recommendation  - May 2, 2012
    The Transportation Commission held a public hearing to provide input on the recommendation for Corridor B (Duke Street). The meeting presentation can be found here. The recommendation made by the Transportation Commission can be found here.
  • Transportation Commission Public Hearing on Corridor C Recommendation  - September 7, 2011
    The Transportation Commission held a public hearing to provide input on the recommendation for Corridor C (Van Dorn / Beauregard). The meeting presentation can be found here. The recommendation made by the Transportation Commission can be found here.
• Planning Commission & City Council
  • Planning Commission Public Hearing on Corridor C Recommendation - September 8, 2011
    The City of Alexandria Planning Commission held a public hearing to provide input on the recommendation for Corridor C (Van Dorn / Beauregard). The meeting presentation can be found here. The recommendation made by the Planning Commission can be found here.
  • City Council Public Hearing on Corridor C Recommendation - September 17, 2011
    The City of Alexandria Council held a public hearing to provide public comment on the recommendation for Corridor C (Van Dorn / Beauregard). The presentation can be found here. The Council docket and minutes can be found here.

Schedule

• Project Process Chart 

Project Documents

• Corridor A Study Report (December 2011) 
• Corridor B Study Report (April 2012) 
• Corridor C Report

Contact

For additional information, please contact the following:
Steve Sindiong, Principal Transportation Planner
Phone: (703) 746-4047
Email: steve.sindiong@alexandriava.gov