Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan

Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
Name	Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
Location	Alexandria, Virginia
Adopted	2016
Agency	Alexandria City Council; City of Alexandria Department of Transportation and Environmental Services

Contents

Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan

The Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is a municipal planning document guiding active transportation in Alexandria, linking multimodal networks across the Potomac River, the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and the Capital Beltway. The plan coordinates infrastructure, policy, and programming to integrate cycling and walking with regional systems such as Washington Metro, WMATA, Virginia Department of Transportation, Arlington County, and Fairfax County while aligning with federal initiatives like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the United States Department of Transportation.

Overview

The plan provides a roadmap for developing bicycle facilities, pedestrian improvements, and wayfinding that connect to nodes including King Street, Old Town Alexandria, Braddock Road, and corridors toward Eisenhower Avenue. It situates Alexandria within broader planning frameworks including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority regional bicycle and pedestrian priorities, and references standards such as the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and the National Association of City Transportation Officials design guides.

Origins trace to earlier municipal efforts tied to the Alexandria Waterfront Plan and local adoption processes involving the Alexandria Planning Commission and Alexandria City Council. Stakeholders included representatives from Alexandria Renew Enterprises, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and advocacy groups connected to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and League of American Bicyclists. The planning process integrated input from adjacent jurisdictions—District of Columbia, Prince George's County—and alignment with federal grant programs such as the Transportation Alternatives Program and the Federal Transit Administration’s planning grants.

Primary goals mirror objectives championed by organizations like AmericaWalks, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, and AARP Livable Communities: increase walking and biking mode share, reduce crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists reported by the National Transportation Safety Board, and improve accessibility for users of WMATA and intermodal services like Amtrak at nearby stations. Objectives include network connectivity across neighborhoods such as Rosemont, Del Ray, Potomac Yard, and Parker-Gray Historic District, improvements near institutions like George Washington University Hospital and schools affiliated with Alexandria City Public Schools, and enhanced accessibility conforming to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The plan catalogs facility types consistent with NACTO practice: protected bike lanes on arterials like Mount Vernon Avenue, shared-use paths connecting to the Mount Vernon Trail, neighborhood greenways in historic districts including Carlyle, pedestrian refuge islands at crossings near T.C. Williams High School, and intersection treatments aligned with FHWA guidance. It specifies wayfinding systems linked to destinations such as Carlyle House Historic Park, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria Archaeology Museum, and transit hubs including the King Street–Old Town station. Bicycle parking standards reference models used by Portland Bureau of Transportation and City of New York Department of Transportation.

Implementation relies on capital programming through Alexandria’s budget process, grant applications to entities like the Virginia Department of Transportation and Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, and partnerships with regional implementers including Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. Funding strategies combine local bonds approved by the Alexandria City Council, federal discretionary grants from the United States Department of Transportation, and philanthropic or corporate sponsorship modeled after initiatives by The Trust for Public Land and the National Endowment for the Arts's public space programs.

Community outreach mirrored public engagement practices of the National Charrette Institute and employed tools similar to those used by Project for Public Spaces and Transportation for America. The plan emphasized equitable access for populations represented by Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority residents, older adults associated with AARP, students coordinated with Alexandria City Public Schools, and multilingual outreach to communities connected with local Hispanic business associations. Equity metrics referenced federal civil rights frameworks including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Evaluation metrics include crash reduction data interoperable with databases maintained by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and crash reporting protocols of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, mode-share shifts tracked by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ travel surveys, and mileage and facility inventories aligned to OpenStreetMap conventions. Reported outcomes guide iterative updates coordinated by the Alexandria Department of Transportation and Environmental Services and reviewed by bodies such as the Alexandria Planning Commission, with performance tied to regional targets from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and funding milestones set by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.