Alexandria officials’ plan to lessen car traffic while increasing pedestrian and bike access in the Bradlee section of King St. may be a noble goal but their vision to significantly alter the bustling area smacks of idealized thinking. Planned communities like Reston, Va. and Columbia, Md. embraced the concepts of town centers and less reliance on the automobile decades ago, but to the degree they succeeded it was because there were wide open spaces to work with from the beginning. A major obstacle facing transportation changes in older cities is that housing, retail, and connecting roads are as long established as the residents’ patterns are of using them. There are cities & towns throughout Europe and some in the U.S. with an ingrained culture of bicycle use, which is admirable for lots of reasons. Unfortunately, existing examples of Alexandria’s efforts at increasing “Multi-Modal” transportation already appear underutilized, so it’s unclear why officials are pushing forward with a project that will no doubt be disruptive and of questionable benefit to taxpayers. One gets the sense that city officials are like mad scientists in a lab concocting something they hope will work. This latest experiment seems like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.
Thanks, Mark, for asking the questions.
Alexandria officials’ plan to lessen car traffic while increasing pedestrian and bike access in the Bradlee section of King St. may be a noble goal but their vision to significantly alter the bustling area smacks of idealized thinking. Planned communities like Reston, Va. and Columbia, Md. embraced the concepts of town centers and less reliance on the automobile decades ago, but to the degree they succeeded it was because there were wide open spaces to work with from the beginning. A major obstacle facing transportation changes in older cities is that housing, retail, and connecting roads are as long established as the residents’ patterns are of using them. There are cities & towns throughout Europe and some in the U.S. with an ingrained culture of bicycle use, which is admirable for lots of reasons. Unfortunately, existing examples of Alexandria’s efforts at increasing “Multi-Modal” transportation already appear underutilized, so it’s unclear why officials are pushing forward with a project that will no doubt be disruptive and of questionable benefit to taxpayers. One gets the sense that city officials are like mad scientists in a lab concocting something they hope will work. This latest experiment seems like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.