6th Street N. at N. Edison Street and N. Emerson Street Improvements
Location
6th Street North at North Edison Street and North Emerson Street, in the Bluemont neighborhood
Status
Planned
This area was selected for improvement because the intersection of 6th Street North and North Emerson Street has a sharp bend that leads to the intersection of 6th Street North and North Edison Street, which is extremely wide. The large width of this neighborhood intersection makes it easy for cars to travel quickly through this area, even while turning, and makes for a longer pedestrian crossing.
North Edison Street is a bike route that leads to the Bluemont Junction Trail, one block north of the project area.
Staff welcomed feedback on design alternatives through a comment form on the project page and at the June meeting of the Bluemont Civic Association. Based on this feedback, revisions were made to incorporate community concerns into the final design:
The County is targeting fall 2018 for the implementation of these tactical/interim improvements.
About the Project
The Neighborhood Complete Streets (NCS) Program asked residents to tell the County where street improvements are needed on our neighborhood streets. In spring 2017 we received more than 360 applications for safety improvements, which resulted in a list of 169 eligible potential projects.
Staff began the process of scoring projects based on criteria approved by the Arlington County Board. The demand for improvements to neighborhood streets exceeds our ability to analyze all the submissions with traffic studies to confirm speeding and quantify the volume of vehicle traffic in each of the 169 locations. Collection of traffic data is ongoing, but will take some time before we have a complete scored and ranked list of projects.
In the interest of providing needed safety enhancements on Arlington’s neighborhood streets, the Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission selected three pilot projects:
- 6th Street North at North Edison Street and North Emerson Street (Bluemont)
- North Buchanan Street at 13th Street North and 14th Street North (Waycroft Woodlawn)
- 6th Street South at South Adams Street (Penrose)
All three projects involve improvements to problem intersections (where vehicle crashes have happened) in locations with bicycle or transit routes and other pedestrian generators nearby. These projects were ranked high on the NCS project list based on available data. Limitations to scope, schedule and budget were considerations in the selection of these three pilot projects, as we continue to evaluate the full list of submitted problem street locations.
Public Process
In June 2018 an online comment form was available for residents to provide input on the design options. The comment period ended June 29.
Staff also took comments on the design options at the Bluemont Civic Association meeting on June 27, 2018. The following design options were presented during the public engagement process, with comments incorporated into the selected design:
County staff and the Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission encourage ongoing feedback about the changes once they are implemented.
Funding
The 2016 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) dedicated funding for these improvements through the Neighborhood Complete Streets Program.