King Street that Complete Street

 [W]e... want to celebrate the exemplary Complete Streets initiatives that are transforming policy into practice and creating places for people.... [T]his report highlights a handful of the communities, people, and places that are embracing implementation and equity in their Complete Streets efforts.--Emiko Atherton, Director, National Complete Streets Coalition ("Best Complete Streets Policies" 5)

Alexandria, Virginia, has been included among "The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2017" by the National Complete Streets Coalition, a division of Smart Growth America. The award is for the re-do of King Street, the city's main artery.

The most famous section of King Street is through Alexandria's Old Town District, running about a mile from the Metro station to the Potomac River waterfront. This section won a Great Streets Award from the American Planning Association in 2011. The APA noted:

[A] 1992 plan led to redevelopment from low-scale warehouses, an auto dealership, and surface parking to offices, hotels, restaurants, and infill commercial development.... With its attractive mix of dining, retail, and other attractions for residents and visitors alike, King Street continues as an economic center and gathering place for the City of Alexandria--a role it has served since George Washington drew early plats for the street in 1749.

free trolley (funny-looking bus) service runs all day between
the Metro station and the waterfront

Alexandria's website lists several waves of follow-up to the 1992 plan: a 2005 King Street Retail Strategy for Old Town from Metro Station to the waterfront, a 2008 King Street Outdoor Dining Overlay Zone adopted to encourage restaurants to offer outdoor dining options, and retail wayfinding signs for King Street which are part of citywide program. The result is a tourist-friendly zone of small specialty shops and restaurants, built close to the street on small blocks.

The Potomac River

shipbuilder, Waterfront Park

Old Town shops tend towards the touristy

The Atheneum (1852), formerly a bank,
now headquarters of the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association

Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary (1805); where Robert E. Lee got his meds

Market Square and City Hall

Gadsby's Tavern (1770), still a working restaurant

wayfinding signs

The CVS was one of the few shops I saw catering to everyday life.
There are no grocery stores on King Street, but several nearby

Christ Church (1773), where George Washington worshipped

more functionality: the library branch

restaurants have much outdoor seating, just for days like this

Yes, there's coffee! Misha's seemed to be a favorite among the locals

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial dominates the
landscape by the Metro station...

...though the smaller War Memorial is closer

The recent recognition from the National Complete Streets Coalition was for Alexandria's efforts to improve King Street above the Metro station, where it is a thoroughfare with single-family homes and non-commercial destinations (T.C. Williams High School, the large multi-use Chinquapin Park including a recreation center, several churches and a historic cemetery). Its average daily traffic count in 2017 was about 13,000. The group notes Alexandria added crosswalks, buffered bike lanes and updated bus stops, as well as reducing auto lane width and reducing the speed limit to 25. After a year there were no crashes on the re-done road which had long averaged seven a year, auto speeds were down 18 percent, and there was zero-to-minor increase in congestion at intersections. NCSC also praised their community feedback and impact evaluation processes ("Best Complete Streets Policies" 34-36). Since King Street is also State Route 7, the State of Virginia must have been involved as well.

T.C. Williams High School, which is enormous

Chinaquin Park has multiple features, including a woodsy trail

First Baptist Church of Alexandria, largest of several churches on the route
(and they're planning an expansion)

Ivy Hill Cemetery dates from 1856

Side court with big houses

A big house. Neighborhood residents clearly had the political power
to block these changes, and they didn't. Props to them for that.

Crosswalk treatment

Another crosswalk treatment

Buffered bike lane south of the high school

The bike lane shifts as it approaches the intersection with Janney's Lane

Below Janney's Lane the bike lane becomes the dreaded sharrow

Intersection closed to cars. I don't know when this was done.

Speed indicator on the northbound side just above the Metro station.
Note the grim-looking privacy fence which runs about 1/4 mile along the sidewalk

I'm a fairly confident bicycle rider, but would I ride to Old Town from the high school or the Baptist Church? Maybe, possibly--there are still some holes in the bike infrastructure. I did walk it, on a Thursday mid-day, and found it pleasant and unfrightening. Alexandria is to be congratulated on the progress it has made.

SOURCES

City of Alexandria, "King Street," https://www.alexandriava.gov/kingstreet/

National Complete Streets Coalition, "The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2017," https://smartgrowthamerica.org/resources/best-complete-streets-initiatives-2017/

"TransAction Plan Includes and Defines Bike and Pedestrian Projects for Northern Virginia," WashCycle, 13 December 2017