SPEEDS TO BE REDUCED ON 5 STRETCHES IN ARLINGTON: Arlington County Board members on March 19 voted 5-0 to set a public hearing for April on a proposal to reduce speed limits on five more roadways.
Under the proposal, maximum speeds will be cut from 30 mph to 25 mph on:
• Military Road from Nelly Custis Drive to Langston Boulevard.
• North Carlin Springs Road from North Glebe Road to North George Mason Drive.
• North George Mason Drive from North Carlin Springs Road to Arlington Boulevard.
• Fairfax Drive from North Kirkwood Road to Interstate 66.
• 10th Street North from Washington Boulevard to Kirkwood Drive.
They were among 12 stretches of roadway studied by county-government traffic engineers for possible reductions. In order to approve lowering speed limits, county officials much conduct a traffic-engineering study and certify that the roadways meet criteria for reductions within state law.
The public hearing is slated for April 20.
‘ART’ STAFF VOTE TO UNIONIZE: Arlington Transit bus operators, mechanics, fuel-island attendants, technicians and cleaners voted to affiliate with Amalgamated Transit Union 689 in a vote taken March 22.
The action sets the stage for negotiations between the union and Transdev, which operates the system under a contract with the Arlington County government.
“Local 689 will continue to fight to ensure that every transit worker in our region has fair wages, strong benefits, and protections on the job so that they can support their families and be treated with dignity for the hard work they perform every day,” said Raymond Jackson, president of Local 689.
Unlike employees of Virginia’s local governments, which can unionize (subject to approval of governing bodies) but cannot strike, employees of private firms do have that power. In February, the Fairfax Connector bus system was shut down for two weeks as Local 689 and Transdev wrangled over contract terms.
REGIONAL FUNDING WOULD AUGMENT ‘ART’ ROUTE 75: The Arlington County government is seeking regional funding to increase Arlington Transit (ART) Route 75 service connecting Shirlington with Virginia Square.
The $397,160 being sought as part of the Commuter Choice initiative of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission would allow peak-period, peak-direction service to expand from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes.
Funding would come from toll revenue on I-66 inside the Beltway.
The project is one of 11 from local governments that will be evaluated for funding in coming months. Because the total value of the proposals is well below the expected $40 million to $50 million in anticipated revenue, it is likely all will be approved.
DIFFERENT FUNDING SOURCE TO BE USED FOR CRYSTAL CITY VRE STATION: It won’t quite be equivalent to robbing Peter to pay Paul, but more like asking one to pick up some of the tab from the other.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission is planning to use a different funding bucket than expected to provide $8 million to fund a portion of the costs for a new Crystal City station to serve Virginia Railway Express and, potentially, Amtrak.
The funding, which will support a portion of the overall cost, initially was slated to come from toll revenues collected on drivers using Express Lanes on Interstates 395 and 95. Under the new proposal, it instead would come from a similar program using toll revenues from drivers on Interstate 66 inside the Beltway.
Reason for the switcheroo? There usually is more than enough money in the I-66 funding pot to accommodate all requests from localities under the Commuter Choice initiative, while funding requests typically exceed available funds from the I-95/395 kitty.
Since enhanced commuter-rail service is likely to ease congestion on both I-95/395 and I-66, “no legal or practical concerns” related to the change were flagged by lawyers for the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission or Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
For the upcoming round of I-66 Commuter Choice funding, 11 projects valued at $13.5 million are being evaluated. Even if rising to $21.5 million with the $8 million for the Crystal City project, the total would be less than half the anticipated funds expected to be available for proposals.
