Stop VDOT's $29 Million Turn Lane
Level of Effort: 5 minutes, at home in your PJs
Deadline: Monday 5/17 11:59pm
Arlington Boulevard from Fillmore St to Irving Street has a crash problem. Impatient drivers take chancy turns on to and off of unsignalized side streets and rear end folks waiting in the left lane to make a safe left turn onto those side streets. Instead of solving the problem NOW, with quick, cheap tactical interventions, VDOT's ironically named "Strategically Targeted Affordable Roadway Solutions" instead recommended a $29 million de facto widening of Arlington Boulevard. The safety improvements in their preferred alternative come from a median at Hudson, Highland, Garfield and Fenwick preventing turns into and out of those side streets, as well as a left turn lane at Irving Street providing those turning left from eastbound 50 a safe place to wait.
The kicker? Arlington Boulevard already has sufficient space for all of those improvements. A simple restriping, and medians installed via either water-filled temporary barriers, jersey walls, or modular curbs could be installed this year and give us those same safety benefits. Unfortunately, VDOT has never seen a roadway widening they didn't love, so $29 million of your State Tax dollars, 18 trees, and 1.6 acres of new impervious surface area will go toward this median and turn lane unless you speak up.
I am writing today in opposition to the ARLINGTON BLVD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS project.
This area is in need of safety improvements and it needs them NOW, not 6 years from now. The new turn lanes and medians called for can fit on the existing asphalt already in place via a simple restriping and the addition of medians via modular curbing or jersey walls.
VDOT’s report shows that, had these improvements existed from 2014 to 2018, there would have been 16 fewer crashes with injuries or fatalities. So, the fact that we’re waiting for these improvements until 2026 or 2028 means we can expect between 24 and 32 additional, preventable crashes with injury or fatality in the meantime.
Please do the right thing and stop this insanely slow and expensive project. VDOT can and should implement the medians and right turn lanes NOW on existing asphalt. It will save lives, save money, save time, save trees and save pervious surfaces needed to filter and slow stormwater.