Fw: Vision Zero: May Updates
Cynthia Palmer
Hi, Vision Zero External Stakeholder Group Members – May updates below!
Share the May campaign: Look for bikes!! (see attached for graphics)
Arlington is a bike-friendly community—look for and expect bikes as you drive and exit your vehicle to help make our streets safe for everyone. Learn more about why bike safety matters.
Thank you for your help sharing the Annual Safety Feedback Engagement!
Our team received 661 online responses, 13 mail in responses, and had 1,007 in-person interactions. We are thankful for your valuable feedback on transportation safety in Arlington. We will publish the engagement summary in late summer 2025
Check Out the New Website
You may have noticed some changes with the Vision Zero website this month! We reorganized to make it a more intuitive/user friendly experience. If you have questions, comments, or feedback—please don’t hesitate to share it my way.
Speed Before/After Studies: What We’ve Learned
Since adopting Vision Zero, we’ve taken various steps to improve safety on Arlington’s arterial roads. We’ve been tracking how these changes have impacted driver speeds. Speed is important to Vision Zero because the higher the speed, the higher the potential for injury or death. See below for before/after studies and results:
- In 2020 and 2021, we installed “$200 Additional Fine” signs on 12 roads. We found that the addition of signage alone had minimal impact on driver speeds.
- In 2021 and 2022, we reduced the speed limit on 14 roads. We found that reducing the speed limit alone had little to no impact on driver speeds.
- From 2018 to 2022, we reconfigured the lanes on 14 roads. We found that changing the physical characteristics of the road helped to reduce driver speeds.
In summary, findings showed that neither the addition of signs nor speed limit reductions alone were effective in significantly lowering driver speeds. Findings indicate that projects that physically change the roadway such as, roadway narrowing, addition of bike lanes, curb modifications, new crosswalks, and all-way stop controls helped to reduce speeds.
Speed Reduction Pilot: What We’re Trying Next
As learned in the before/after studies above, changing features on the roadway are most effective at reducing speeds. However, big changes like roadway reconfigurations hinge on the repaving cycle or capital investment, and other improvements (like curb modifications, crosswalks, or traffic control changes) may not be applicable along every road. Therefore, Arlington’s transportation team is launching a countywide Speed Management Pilot Project to test new, context-appropriate ways of encouraging safer motor vehicle speeds on our arterial streets. Beginning this summer, you’ll see new kinds of signage and roadway markings along several higher-volume, higher-speed roads across the county. We will collect data to measure effectiveness and develop a proven set of tools for managing vehicle speeds and reducing the risks of severe and fatal crashes in our community. View the Pilot Infosheet for more information.
Pilot Project Installations
You may have caught it already, but three of the four Downhill Bike Lane / Right Turn Conflict pilots and the Route 50/Highland St pilot have been installed by county crews! We are actively monitoring these locations and look forward to installing the fourth downhill bike lane / right turn pilot location and the third round of tactical speed hump locations later this spring and into the summer. For updates on these and other pilot projects, please visit the pilot projects page.
New Toolbox PDF Version is Published! (Website Updates in Progress)
Over the last several months, we’ve had a multidisciplinary team reviewing and editing the county’s Multimodal Safety Engineering Toolbox to ensure it aligns with most up to date guidelines and standards. We’ve also added a few tools and features to the Toolbox. The updated PDF and Exec Summary are currently available on the website. We’re still working to update each of the tool pages within the website and expect that the full online update of the toolbox will be complete in June. Once the website is fully updated, we’ll share the official publication of the Toolbox with the Vision Zero listserv.
Columbia Pike Bike Boulevards
We’ve been collaborating on various improvements to help make the Columbia Pike Bike Boulevards more bike friendly, safe corridors. Check out the website for updates on new all-way stop locations and other improvements coming to these corridors soon!
Any questions, thoughts, or feedback—please don’t hesitate to shoot my way.
Christine Sherman Baker, AICP, Vision Zero Program Manager
Department of Environmental Services
Arlington County
2100 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22201
Office: 703-228-3780
Cell: 571-289-7553
Please note that any email sent to/from Arlington County email addresses may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
