Reply to Washingtonian article about Alexandria

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "Washingtonian article about Alexandria"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And West Street to Commonwealth is basically one long block. Could have been time to get through the signal. Really, this is a city (yes), a backup for one long block by the metro station, at peak of PM rush hour is a cause for the City to revise it's approach? I don't think so. Perhaps you would be happier in Ashburn? Or Omaha?[/quote]

Huh, you're too slick for me because I sure don't "get" your reference to Ashburn or Omaha.

But since from West to Commonwealth is over 0.6 of a mile, I also don't "get" your reference to one long block.  That sure is a long block!  I guess we make them different here in Alexandria, don't we!  I have a hard time believing that anyone can make that in one light … and I don't necessarily think it would be wise for anyone to try.  But why don't you do it?  Let me know in advance and I'll arrange for Alexandria PD there to observe your effort!  That would help me towards my goal of getting at least one more moron off the streets![/quote]

A block for me is defined by cross streets, not distance. And that the backup was likely due to the light was precisely my point. IOW not due to lack of street capacity beyond. I mean if the City can improve the functioning of the intersection, without making it worse for safety, great. But I can't see slowing down development because sometimes drivers need to wait through a light cycle.

My reference was that those are the kinds of places built to have zero delay at intersections.  Living in a dense, close in area, with all the advantages it has, comes with some (IMHO) minor tradeoffs. [/quote]

So … it is clear from your post that you are not familiar AT ALL with our fair city if you don't recognize that it is over half a mile from West to Commonwealth and that there are 8 cross streets between them.  I don't understand at all why you are entering into this conversation if you don't even have a vague understanding of the place.  It is time for you to go back under your rock and stay there.  Good bye.[/quote]

Sorry I looked at Google maps quickly and misidentified Mt Vernon and Commonwealth.  I generally take King Street to Old Town when approaching from the northwest, not Braddock, and where Commonwealth hits the metro line resembles on a map the way Mt Vernon approaches Braddock just west of RR line.  Sorry for that confusion.

It still seems to be a small distance that was congested, and quite likely that it cleared up in 10  minutes.  And it does not incline me to oppose development in order to protect traffic flow. And I do not think West Alexandria is "under a rock".  [/quote]

You really need to work on comprehension.  No one is opposing development, least of all us.

We are opposing the horrible traffic, which has gotten [i]dramatically worse [/i]in the past 2 years without any reason other than poor traffic management.  The lights are out of synch, there are no police officers in high volume corridors preventing "blocking the box," there are people leaving their cars in HOV lanes left and right with no towing or tickets, etc.  King Street needs to go back to 4 lanes at 35 mph and Quaker Lane needs to go back to 35 mph.  We need to get all of the additional volume off of roads like Braddock, which people are using to get around the huge blockage on King Street.  Duke Street and the area around Rt. 1 is a nightmare.

The horrible traffic and parking issues are hindering development in Alexandria, not helping.  And people like you, who can't even tell main thoroughfares apart, somehow think that you represent the voice of Alexandria.  Hah!  Just when I thought we couldn't get any lower, I get surprised again.  No wonder we have problems![/quote]

1. Plenty of people in the City oppose new development, and give traffic as a reason.

2. If you have suggestions for improving traffic signals, or locations where blocking the box is a particular problem, you should use call click connect

3. The King street traffic calming is a success, it has reduced collisions, and there has not had a major impact on traffic (King Street traffic still flows well, with backups only at signals where it backed up before.

4. Duke needs to be addressed. Ultimately with a transit lane, I think.  Rte 1 is a route into DC from Fairfax, and there is nothing that will stop that from being congested, IMO.  [/quote]

There is NO DATA to support that King Street traffic calming is a success because there were NO PRIOR COLLISIONS!!!  It is a figment of your imagination.

Adding a transit lane to Duke Street will not solve the problem because busses are not the issue.  The issue starts at Duke and Rt. 1 where drivers cannot turn left because there are cars blocking the box AND there needs to be 2 left turn lanes.  Access to the Beltway needs to be widened so that the cars waiting to merge onto the bridge or onto 495 south have some place to sit.  There needs to be enforcement so that cars are not merging at the last single second and causing accidents right at the end of the merge route.  Moving down the line, the lights are synchronized such that they are not synchronized.  There are not any major cross streets, except for Quaker and even for that Duke is a feeder heading West and traffic flow from South to North on Quaker is very light, so that is not an impediment.

The major issue seems to be that people in charge seem to believe that if they make traffic hell then traffic will go away.  What they don't realize is that there are citizens, citizens paying a lot more tax than most people, who are getting caught in the crush and we are MAD about it.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics