Improving Access to Powhatan Springs Park, Upton Hills Park, and Dominion Hills Rec Area
Level of Effort: 10 minutes, at home, in your PJs
Deadline: EXTENDED: Wed 10/29 11:59pm

Arlington County is installing a traffic signal at Wilson Blvd & N Livingston St, to replace an aging mid-block crossing designed to improve accessibility to Powhatan Springs Skate Park. The improvements look good, and will improve north-south connectivity in this area which has few safe crossings over Wilson Boulevard, but the project fails to make appropriate improvements to the bike lane.  Per the NACTO Guidance enshrined in the County's Bicycle Element of the Master Transportation Plan, the bike lanes on Wilson Boulevard should be PROTECTED, not just buffered, due to the large number of vehicles that travel on Wilson. This omission is likely due to inflexibility from the Fire Marshal, despite explicit authority granted in the Virginia Fire Code that would allow flexibility in these situations to meet the public safety goals of the jurisdiction (such as Vision Zero!).

The bike lane should be upgraded to a protected bike lane throughout the project area, in line with NACTO Guidance. Wilson Blvd in this area has an average daily traffic of 15,000 according to 2024 VDOT counts, well over the 6,000+ NACTO threshold that requires a protected bike lane.

The Fire Marshal has explicit authority under Virginia Fire Code 503.2.2 to modify the required access widths of the road to "meet the public safety objectives of the jurisdiction", so he can allow less than the normally-required 30' of clear width to meet our Vision Zero obligation here.