I hope all of you are managing to stay cool during this heat wave. While our Association does not meet during the summer months, we are busy keeping up to date with developments regarding the repaving of Seminary Road. As I reported to you earlier, the Traffic and Parking Board voted 3-2 in June to recommend to City Council that Seminary Road remain 4 car travel lanes with 2 new HAWK crosswalks added at locations along Seminary Road. As of now, this proposal is what will be presented to City Council on September 14th, unless the Council requests another date for the public hearing.

There has, however, been an appeal filed by a Seminary Hill resident who opposes the 4 car travel lanes. The appeal asks that city staff present more options, most specifically Alternative 3 favored by the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (not an official city body), than the one approved by the Traffic and Parking Board. City staff has informed us that they are currently working with the City Attorney to receive guidance about what exactly they need to do. As you are aware, Seminary Hill Association, along with 7 other civic associations, supports maintaining Seminary Road with 4 car travel lanes. Seminary Road is a major east-west artery in our city and reducing car travel lanes to accommodate the demands of a very small, but highly organized bike lobby is not what a proven majority of our residents think is a reasonable approach to increase safety on a road that is already deemed very safe according to the city's own data.

Recent articles posted by Greater Greater Washington, an organization dedicated to promoting "walkable urban communities", and written by the leader of the bike lobby group in Alexandria, feign surprise and amazement that residents in a suburban area of Alexandria with extremely limited mass transit options and almost no bikers would not embrace a plan crafted by and for bikers, to create dedicated bike lanes for less than one mile at the expense of the thousands who travel this road by car every day. These bike advocates seek to convince readers that those who support 4 car travel lanes are insensitive to safety concerns and have a reckless disregard for our fellow residents. Nothing could be further from the truth. Seminary Hill Association's Alternative 4 has safety as a primary concern, while acknowledging that car travel is, and will remain, the primary means of transportation in this area of the city. SHA's Alternative calls for adding needed pedestrian crosswalks, and we strongly advocate for more enforcement of the lowered 25 MPH speed limit, which is a proven tool to control the speed of those drivers who choose not to obey our traffic laws. ALL of us are in favor of safety improvements for pedestrians along this one mile stretch of roadway, but SHA, along with the thousands of area residents represented by the 8 civic associations and others who have signed a petition urging retention of the 4 car travel lanes, do not believe road diet is necessary nor appropriate for this portion of Seminary Road. SHA will urge City Council to uphold the recommendation of the Traffic and Parking Board. We encourage residents who share this point of view to contact our City Council members and express your thoughts to them via personal contact, or the city's  Call, Click, Connect system. You can also sign the citizen petition to retain the four lanes at: www.ipetitions.com/petition/central-alexandria-citizens-petition.

The Transportation and Enviornmental Services Department has asked that I forward their press release about preliminary work that will begin in preparation for the repaving of Seminary Road. As you will see from their release, this work does not have any impact on what decision Council will make about the configuration of the roadway, so they want to be sure there is no confusion about what we will see happening in the coming month on Seminary Road. Here is the text of their message to the community:

City of Alexandria Street Resurfacing Program

Within the next several weeks, the City of Alexandria, through its Public Works Services Division, will be conducting concrete curb, gutter and sidewalk maintenance on Seminary Road from (North Quaker Lane to Library Lane).  This work is being done in advance of our street resurfacing program and is focused solely on ADA compliance, trip hazard mitigation, and drainage improvements and is unrelated to the Complete Streets considerations which are being presented to Council in September.  Once the concrete work is completed, our Contractor will mill and repave Seminary Road.

Residents who may be directly affected will receive advance notice of curb, gutter and sidewalk maintenance by way of displayed construction project signs and/or door hangers.

The hours of operation are between 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.  Please be aware that there may be short term lane closures and parking restrictions on the streets. City staff will be on site managing the project, and at the end of each workday, roads will be fully open to traffic.

For additional information about the City of Alexandria street resurfacing program, please visit alexandriava.gov/PublicWorks

You may direct questions or concerns to our Call.Click.Connect staff at 703.746.4357.

Thank you for your interest and attention to this matter during your summer vacation time. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this or other SHA matters.

Carter Flemming, President, Seminary Hill  Association