While this project was not originally intended to address traffic backups, the design options have been shown to reduce congestion at this intersection. Changes that will reduce congestion make changes to northbound Callahan Drive and Russell Road so that these two approaches can move through the intersection at the same time safely. Options for the operation of the access road to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial have also shown to reduce delays at this intersection by potentially removing the ability to make left and right turns out of the access road onto King Street. The details of the time saving measures staff have developed will be posted in a narrated presentation in October 2020 using new data collected in January 2020. 

Alexandria’s Vision Zero Action Plan calls for eliminating all deaths and serious injuries by 2028. Using a data-driven approach to identifying opportunities to make the system safer, the Action Plan identified a number of corridors and intersections where future changes could help reduce crash risks. The intersection of King Street, Callahan Drive, and Russell Road was identified as a high-crash intersection, with a history of serious injury crashes for pedestrians, bicyclists, and automobile occupants.

No. The bicycle accommodations discussed during 2015 and shown above in the draft concepts, can be accomplished within the existing right of way without reducing any travel lanes. The only changes to lane configurations in the design options are intended to benefit vehicle traffic congestion by separating turning traffic movements on Russell Road and Callahan Drive. 

Yes, we considered this lane configuration, but found that it could not be implemented for safety reasons. Designers concluded that a truck could not continue through from the left lane without overlapping into the right lane through the intersection, creating a high risk of sideswipe crashes. However, we expect to achieve similar reductions in traffic backups on Russell Road by allowing traffic to move concurrently with northbound Callahan Drive.

• A new crossing of King Street on the west side of the intersection.
• Safer, more direct crossings of both King Street and Callahan Drive.
• Enhancing pedestrian safety by removing high-speed “slip ramp” vehicle right turns.
• A leading pedestrian interval (or LPI) for all crossings, a safety measure that provides a few seconds of head-start for crossing pedestrians.
• Upgraded Sidewalks to provide more space, accessible ramps, and connection to the Masonic Temple steps.
• A westbound bike lane where riders can safely position themselves on the approach to the intersection.
• An eastbound bike lane, including a section that is fully separated from the roadway, that gives riders a designated space through the intersection.

The improvements mentioned above are shown in the draft design plans below with one of the Design Options that improves traffic conditions.  View the concept plan 

A left-turn lane from eastbound King Street to northbound Russell Road is needed at the intersection for overall traffic operations. The space required for a left-turn lane prevents us from extending the bike lanes eastward to directly connect to the intersection. However, after implementation of these intersection changes, we will evaluate changes in eastbound King Street traffic to see if the existing left turn lane can be shortened, in order to allow the bike lanes to be extended from their current start/end at W Rosemont Avenue, down to W Cedar Street. 

In late October, in response to resident requests, staff agreed to lengthen the amount of green time for southbound traffic on Russell Road to 30 seconds in response to community concerns about congestion. Given reduced congestion during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff was willing to test and evaluate these changes until a final plan was approved and implemented. Now that traffic has returned to mostly normal, staff has agreed to continue with approximately 30 seconds of green time for southbound traffic on Russell Road. As with every intersection, as traffic patterns change, staff will modify signal timing accordingly.

Three community meetings were held to discuss design ideas and community concerns. Presentations and comment summaries from those meetings are posted at the bottom of this webpage. Staff have begun to reintroduce the project and talk with the community during 2020. Currently, staff is holding a virtual open house and comment period to gather feedback about neighborhood preferences for design options that seek to improve vehicular traffic conditions while building pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements that are funded by the project grant. 

There have been a few factors that have led to project delays. First, the City encountered delays creating design options for the lane configuration that was responsive to community concerns about traffic congestion. After conceptual designs were created, the City conducted a thorough analysis of traffic signal operations scenarios, to see how the community’s traffic concerns could be addressed alongside the pedestrian safety objectives of the project. The resulting analysis helped to validate the proposed design, and shows how it will improve safety and mobility for all modes. Further delays came from the  King Street-Old Town Metrorail Station Access Improvement Project and the Summer 2019 Metro Platform Improvement Project as well as other factors. Since late 2019, staff have been working to do our due diligence to use data collected in January 2020 and rerun the traffic modeling to accurately reflect typical traffic conditions.

Staff was working to reintroduce the project through an outreach process that was planned to occur in early 2020. In February, staff met with the community in a small meeting with the Rosemont Civic Association to discuss the project and other transportation issues in the neighborhood. With the global COVID-19 pandemic, community meetings were put on pause to address the public health crisis. Staff are now restarting the project to move forward starting in Fall 2020.

The project has been delayed due to utility coordination with Dominion Power.  The project will be advertised for a construction contract in Winter 2023. After awarding the construction contract, staff expect to begin construction in the Spring of 2023. We anticipate, that construction could be completed by the end of 2023 or early 2024.