Arlington is revving up for a street improvement project that neighbors say has left them in the ditch. Construction along Arlington Ridge Road between 23rd Street and S. Meade Street is scheduled to begin Aug. 8, but neighbors are begging the county to stop the project.
“It’s something we did not request. All we requested was they deal with one corner and give the kids some safe space. The county came in with an elaborate plan. They clearly were marching to their own drummer,” said Chick Walter, president of the Arlington Ridge Civic Association.
Neighbors asked for help from the county in 2009 to slow
traffic on one intersection; now the county is planning about $200,000 worth of improvements, including new sidewalks, curbs, gutters and lane closures.
Neighbors posted signs that read, “Arlington County Ignores Neighborhood,” and started a website called Save Our Streets to protest the county’s project.
“We are appalled that you continue to ignore the legitimate objections of the citizens of South Arlington to the proposed [project],” neighbors wrote in a July 25 letter to County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman. “There must be some payoff of which we are not aware. … The anger in South Arlington against the County Board and the county staff is palpable.”
But Arlington Director of Transportation Dennis Leach said the county has hosted 10 community meetings about the proposed project.
“There’s been a lot of work, and a tremendous amount of community involvement,” he said. “We’re trying to do the right thing. We’re following county policy of complete streets. But we can’t make everyone happy.”
Leach said the county is focusing on pedestrian safety, since children walk to nearby schools through the area. He said the county had already spent a “considerable” amount of money on improvements in the area over the last five years.
“If we did that level of investment for every neighborhood, we probably wouldn’t have any money left. This is a community that has been extremely active in controlling driver speeds,” he said.
But neighbors wish the county would stop spending money, saying their tax dollars should do more than pay for street improvements that will only make things worse.
“We rather see our tax dollars be spent on valuable projects that make sense and increase safety, especially given the fact of the economic conditions in which we live and operate today,” the neighbors’ website reads.
