Challenge

Army Navy Drive serves as a vital east-west connector through Pentagon City in Arlington County, VA. It had an auto-oriented, six lane cross section with no bicycle or transit facilities, despite relatively low auto volumes and increasing demand for non-auto travel between the Pentagon, Pentagon City, Mount Vernon Trail, and Washington DC. Arlington County explored design concepts that would incorporate protected bike lanes, dedicated transit lanes, and improved pedestrian connectivity while minimizing delays and queuing for drivers through the corridor.

Solution

Kittelson conducted a multimodal transportation analysis of existing and future conditions to evaluate baseline no-build conditions and design alternatives. The analysis included travel demand modeling using the MWCOG regional model, planning-level traffic analysis techniques to evaluate lane configuration options, and VISSIM microsimulation to analyze the interactions between modes and the effects of closely spaced traffic signals. The analysis was conducted through iterations of working meetings with the County to test and revise alternatives.