Transportation Equity

Goal: Achieve an equitable transportation system that provides safe, connected and accessible mobility options for all.

Act today

• Email the Alexandria City Council to ask that they fund increasing DASH Line 32 frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes during off-peaks and weekends. Frequent, all-day service is useful and contributes to Alexandria’s economic health; 60 minute frequency  – not so much. 
• Email the Alexandria City Council to ask for a pilot bike lane transportation project without gaps. An end-to-end bike route (or a small area gapless bike network) would be a good project. Alexandria has never built such a project.
• Use the Alex311 website to report concerns related to street safety, accessibility, traffic, bicycle lanes, and multi-use paths.

Background
For nearly two decades, Alexandria’s transportation policies have espoused multi-modal transportation and street designs for safe and connected options for all road users:

• The 2008 Transportation Master Plan added three high-capacity bus transit corridors and new Metrorail station in Potomac Yard.
• The 2014 Complete Streets policy provided safe accommodations for all road users (in principle if not in fact).
• The 2019 Alexandria Transit Vision plan set a 2030 goal of frequent all-day DASH bus service for high density neighborhoods.
• The 2021 Alexandria Mobility Plan established strategies for a mobility system that is Connected, Convenient, Equitable, Safe, Sustainable and Accessible.
• The 2021 ALL Alexandria Resolution guides the implementation of these plans.

These are positive plans, but the implementation of our multi-modal equity and climate-focused transportation policies is far from complete.

Project: Active Mobility

Action Plan: We share personal stories with City Council members and other decision makers about the value and importance of achieving the city’s multi-modal and equity-focused mobility plans. We gather and present information to support transportation equity. We participate in the City of Alexandria community outreach opportunities to ensure transportation equity concerns are heard. Our goal is to implement a mobility system that is Connected, Convenient, Equitable, Safe, Sustainable and Accessible.

Project Leads: Jim Durham, Jonathan Krall

Project status:

By “active equitable mobility,” we refer both to the activity of walking to the bus stop and the activity of new and ongoing city projects. We can influence these active projects by speaking up

• Alexandria DASH provides fare-free bus service on all twelve of its routes. Since launching a fare-free “New DASH Network” in September 2021, DASH ridership has steadily increased, most recently achieving record ridership in the past two years.  
• DASH ridership continues to increase in FY2025 (See Figure 1)

Figure 1: DASH Monthly Ridership Trends (FY2017 – 2025)

• The re-designed system was the first phase of an Alexandria Transit Vision (ATV) Plan that included a 2022 network and a 2030 Network. The New DASH Network implemented in 2021 included new routes and new service frequencies with many routes running 15 minutes or better, all day, seven days a week. 
• The current network provides frequent, all-day transit service to 73% of low-income residents in Alexandria, as compared to 29% in the old network; the ATV’s 2030 Network would serve 89% of residents living with low income!
• Transit provides a positive economic return on investment. A recent “Value of Transit” study by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission found that Alexandria’s public transit system supports 37,000 jobs and generates $180 million each year in personal income and sales tax revenues of which $64 million is attributed to DASH. Not all of that $64 million comes back to Alexandria, but it greatly exceeds the $35 Million DASH operating budget. 
• Notwithstanding the proven equity and economic benefits, the city has not made progress toward achieving the 2030 ATV plan and has yet to fully implement the 2022 ATV plan. 
• DASH Line 32 is the most important of three unfunded FY2022 ATV Plan improvements. DASH Line 32 serves the Landmark- S. Pickett Street-Van Dorn-Eisenhower Valley-Carlyle areas.  (See Figure 2)

Figure 2: Line 32 Service Improvement Route Map (UNFUNDED)

• Line 32 Full Improvement ($850,000) would improve midday, evening, and weekend service on Line 32 from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes, serving residents of whom 9% are living with low income and 54% are minorities.
• A Line 32 Partial Improvement ($480,000) would improve midday, evening, and weekend service along the section of Line 32 between Landmark and the Van Dorn Metro from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes, serving residents of whom 12% are living with low income and 63% are minorities.

Spring 2025 Engagement Opportunities

• City Council FY2026 Budget public comment period and hearings.
  • March 15, 2025 – City Council FY 2026 Budget Public Hearing
  • April 8, 2025 – FY 2026 Budget Add Delete Public Hearing Meeting
  • April 22, 2025 – Budget Work Session #6-Preliminary Add Delete
  • April 30, 2025 – FY 2026 Budget Adoption/Tax Rate Adoption

• Public comment period and hearing for the FY 2026-FY 2035 Alexandria Transit Strategic Plan (ATSP)
  • Comment via an online form (March 17 to April 18)
  • Speak at the April 9 ATC Board meeting, either in person or remotely 

• Join the DASH Advisory Committee (DAC) to provide a critical link between DASH, its customers and the Alexandria community.

An Ongoing Engagement Opportunity

The City of Alexandria’s Complete Streets Program is aimed at providing safe access for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. More information is available in the Complete Street Program Annual Report and FY2025-2029 Work Plan.
Action: submit requested improvements to street safety and accessibility to the Alex311 website

Notable Upcoming Projects & Associated Engagement Opportunities

• Braddock Road Trail Access and Corridor Improvements: Submit feedback here by March 21, 2025
• West End High-Crash Intersection Audits for seven locations: three on King Street, two each on Seminary Road and Van Dorn Street. Outreach planned for March 2025.
• Seminary West Safety Improvements. Outreach planned for Spring 2025.
• Edsall/Yoakum Corridor Improvements. Outreach planned for Spring 2025.
• Mill Road Corridor Improvements. Comment period coming soon.

For a complete list of current projects, look under “Major Projects” on the Complete Streets Program webpage

Challenges: The value and importance of improving transit, walking, and biking as useful transportation options, particularly for marginalized communities, is not widely acknowledged. Through advocacy and action, we seek multi-modal transportation that serves all Alexandrians.

Project: Accessible Mobility

Action Plan: We will look for opportunities to raise two basic ideas. 1) Alexandria deserves to have a working bicycle facility, without gaps, and designed for transportation. 2) Alexandria deserves working, ADA compatible sidewalks.

Project Leads: Jonathan Krall, Jim Durham

Project status:

Any vision for accessible pedestrian mobility must include an ADA-compatible sidewalk network. To our knowledge, no city in the USA has mapped its ADA-compatible sidewalk network so that individuals can easily see the limits of their mobility and advocate to improve it. 

Any vision for accessible bicycle mobility must include connected bicycle facilities without gaps. Specifically, Alexandria needs a pilot project to allow people to experience a working bicycle transportation facility. That is, one that makes sense to the people who use it and that does not have gaps. The project should include funds to survey users and to correct and improve sections of the facility that are perceived to be problematic by users.

Two possible forms of this project come to mind. One would be a continuous east-west bike route from one end of Alexandria to the other. The other would be a local connected bike network in a small area, such as Old Town or Del Ray.

An ideal east-to-west, end-to-end route would be on one of the major roads. In fact, we can draw a north-south line bisecting Alexandria that is crossed by only 5 roads: Braddock Rd, King St, Janney’s Ln, Duke St, and Eisenhower Ave. You can see it here.

An ideal local bike network would be designed to bring people from the Mt Vernon Trail (from the north and south) and to local businesses. Such a network would include continuous bike lanes on some busy streets, such as Mt Vernon Ave, King Street, Commonwealth, or Prince St. It would also include at least one greenway, such as was once planned for Royal St, but with measures, such as traffic diverters, to encourage the separation of bicycle and motorized traffic.

Challenges: For both of these visions, the biggest challenge is that they do not appear in any of the Alexandria mobility master plans. We need to share these visions and promote these ideas.

In addition, in order to obtain the required project data, the bicycle facility pilot project would need to be built. Actually built – not partially built with a big gap in the middle because of a future redevelopment plan. Because roads are built and connected together, even though adjacent properties are redeveloped all the time, we believe this is possible.

To join a project team, please write to one of the project leaders or to grassrootsalexandria@gmail.com.