Welcome!

There are three parts to this public engagement opportunity for the Fairfax Drive and Kirkwood Road Intersection project:

  1. Project Background and Goals
  2. Concept Design
    • See the concept design, its features and how community feedback informed the design.
  3. Your Feedback on the Concept Design
    • On this page, we have questions for you about your thoughts on the design.

This engagement opportunity is open through June 19. Your feedback will help finalize the plan, along with other available information, such as plan guidance and crash data. Thank you for helping improve our projects to better meet your needs!

Questions? Comments? Email Erin Potter, Public Engagement Specialist at epotter@arlingtonva.us.

Project Background

The Fairfax Drive and Kirkwood Road Intersection Project will deliver multimodal safety improvements to the intersection and a portion of Kirwood Road between Washington Boulevard and Fairfax Drive. This engagement presents a concept design for the intersection based on community feedback heard about the VA 237 corridor in 2019. This project originated through the Master Transportation Plan, the Clarendon Sector Plan, community-reported transportation safety concerns, and other related roadway data.

Project Goals

  • Improve safety of the intersection for people walking and rolling, taking transit, biking, and driving
  • Improve connectivity of the intersection for people walking and rolling

Project Basis

Planning guidance from this project comes from the following County Board-adopted plans and policies

Master Transportation Plan

  • Streets Element: The Complete Street policy informs the scope of this project to improve safety for all road users

Clarendon Sector Plan

  • The plan identifies the project intersection and the surface parking behind it as improvement areas to better connect the western end of Clarendon to the central Clarendon area.
  • Recommends a vision that is “dynamic, flexible, [and] pedestrian-oriented” for Clarendon’s western end.
    • “Fairfax Drive’s condition east of Kirkwood Road should be redesigned as a shared street and linear park with an enhanced bicycle facility to allow greater pedestrian/bicyclist circulation and to create a more seamless connection to the Central Clarendon area.”

Vision Zero

Vision Zero policies call on County Transportation staff to take a proactive approach to safety to eliminate severe and fatal crashes from our transportation network by 2030.

  • High Injury Network: The VA-237 Corridor (Fairfax Drive from N Glebe Road to 10th Street N 10th Street N from Fairfax Drive to N Barton Street) is part of Arlington County’s High Injury Network. These corridors experience high concentrations of critical crashes compared to other corridors in Arlington.

VA-237 Corridor Acquisition

  • In 2018, Arlington County acquired jurisdiction of the VA-237 corridor (Fairfax Drive from Glebe Road to 10th Street N; 10th Street N from Fairfax Drive to Barton Street) from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).
  • The county then launched a three-week online public feedback form to gather input on travel behavior along the corridor. 
  • The input received helped identify where improvements can be made in terms of safety, mobility, and accessibility.
    • The project intersection was one of the top intersections identified for improvements.

Arlington Public Schools (APS) Walk Zones