Support Bike Lanes along Duke Street

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With your help back in May, we successfully rejected a bad design for the Duke Street service road at West Taylor Run, part of the larger Duke Street In Motion initiative that envisions bus rapid transit and a continuous shared-use path from the new West End Inova Hospital campus to the King Street Metro. Advocates like you passionately spoke in favor of a one-way conversion of the service road to make room for a two-way bicycle facility that will ensure continuity along this vital corridor, and the Traffic & Parking Board was successfully swayed.

Now we face the final hurdle – a vote by City Council (likely) on November 12th. Unfortunately, opposition to making the service road one-way has grown louder since May and so we need to make sure City Council hears from folks like us, loud and clear, that support for the project remains strong and widespread.

Please take 5 minutes to message City Council by November 11th, using the steps below:

Go to Alex311, then:

Dropdown Menu selection: ’ALL Members’
Select: Legislative or Policy Issue
Select: ‘Yes’ for upcoming meeting
In ‘Additional Information’, paste your comments (suggested feedback below):

Please vote to make the Duke Street service roads one-way to provide a safe walking and bicycle route. Duke Street in Motion will create a FOUR MILE LONG walking and biking route between the new Inova Hospital and the King Street Metro. The project’s success, however, hinges on continuity; forcing bicyclists to ride with traffic for 0.5 mile between Cambridge Road and Hilton Street will discourage people who are interested but concerned about vehicular traffic from biking in the first place. While this safety project does require a trade-off in convenience for a small number of resident drivers, it is also true that Alexandria’s climate plan, Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan, and Vision Zero plan all support the creation of this vital link. We need to make it safer and more convenient to walk to the new transit stops for the Duke Street In Motion project and its promise of fast, convenient service to be fully realized and accessible to greatest number of residents. The Traffic & Parking Board supported both projects after significant public testimony and opportunity to weigh in; no one from the West Taylor Run neighborhood spoke out in opposition. Now it’s your turn to support – make Duke Street a safer place to walk, bike and use transit by voting for the one-way conversion.

More about Complete Streets

Complete Streets are streets designed to accommodate all users, and that prioritize historically underinvested modes of transportation like transit, walking, and biking. An incomplete street might lack adequate sidewalks, low-stress bike infrastructure, or safe and comfortable access to transit.

Effective Complete Streets policies change the way a jurisdiction plans and builds transportation infrastructure—sidewalks, low stress bike infrastructure, and transit should be included in any new or rebuilt street by default, rather than as an add-on when there's space or demand.

While most regional jurisdictions have a Complete Streets policy of some sort, they lack teeth and permit transportation departments to continue to build streets that put cars first and squeeze other modes into the margins.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.