The West Alexandria Coordinated Development District (CDD) includes approximately 2.9M SF of mixed-use development including residential, office, retail, and civic uses within the City of Alexandria, Virginia. The site is located approximately 0.5 mile north of the Van Dorn Metrorail station, on the east side of S. Van Dorn Street, and is bisected by S. Pickett Street between Edsall Road and S. Van Dorn Street.

The CDD spans into two separate Small Area Plans (SAPs). Wells + Associates reviewed the proposed CDD in coordination with both SAPs to make sure the site was in conformance with the proposed street grid, streetscape requirements, and multimodal environment envisioned for the future of the areas. These facilities included sidewalks, bike lanes, parking lanes, and transit facilities. Where necessary, our team justified deviations from the plan based on site constraints.

W+A was a key player on the multidisciplinary project team, taking the lead in assessing the multimodal transportation impacts of this development.

Traffic Impact Study: Multimodal Planning and Vehicle Trip Reduction

Wells + Associates’ engineering and planning team was a key player on the multidisciplinary project team, taking the lead in assessing the multimodal transportation impacts of this development. The multimodal traffic impact study evaluated impacts on pedestrian, vehicular, bicycle and transit systems and provided solutions which appropriately shared infrastructure between all travel modes. The envisioned grid of streets analyzed under future conditions included a mix of private and public streets with varying classifications and a future multimodal bridge connection from the site to the Van Dorn Metrorail station focused on reducing vehicle trips in the area.

W+A conducted comprehensive Synchro and VISSIM analyses for a number of on- and off-site intersections including the incorporation of future BRT routes on S. Van Dorn Street and Duke Street. Our firm determined appropriately phased improvements based on the projected buildout of the site in order to progressively mitigate the transportation impacts of the proposed development. Improvements included capacity turn lane improvements, traffic signal warrant analyses, and signal timing modifications.

As part of this effort, W+A coordinated directly with City of Alexandria staff and the surrounding community through a series of meetings in order to deliver a support project.