Washington Boulevard (Arlington)

Washington Boulevard is a major arterial road in Arlington County, Virginia and Washington, DC. The western portion is designated State Route 237, the eastern portion is State Route 27 and the center is an arterial road with no designation.

Route

At its easternmost end, Washington Boulevard begins on Columbia Island in Washington, DC. There it's state route 27, or South Washington Boulevard, connecting the George Washington Memorial Parkway and Arlington Memorial Bridge with Interstate 395 after crossing into Virginia. It then runs past The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery before turning north and west from I-395, crossing Columbia Pike and passing alongside Fort Myer. It connects with Arlington Boulevard where it becomes North Washington Boulevard. From there, it continues north as an arterial road and crosses Wilson Boulevard in the Clarendon neighborhood. It continues west, passing just north of Ballston, then crosses Interstate 66 and ends near Falls Church where it joins I-66.

The Washington Metro stations directly along Washington Boulevard are East Falls Church and Clarendon. The Ballston and Virginia Square stations are located two blocks from Washington Boulevard.

Washington Boulevard is part of the Pentagon road network. The portion of Washington Boulevard east and south of Arlington Boulevard was designated State Route 27 when it was transferred to the Virginia Department of Highways on December 17, 1964.

History

The first section of Washington Boulevard was built just north of the Fairfax line of the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church between Falls Church and Clarendon in the 1920s. Between I-395 and Clarendon, Washington Boulevard was built on the right-of-way of the Washington, Arlington and Falls Church's South Arlington Branch in the late 1920s. The road was completed when the section from I-395 to Memorial Circle was built in the early 1940s.

September 11 attacks

On September 11, 2001, many commuters and drivers witnessed the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 as it passed directly over Washington Boulevard and crashed into The Pentagon. Witnesses included Daryl Donley and Steve Riskus, both who took some of the first photographs after the plane crashed.[1] As the plane passed over Washington Boulevard, it clipped several light poles; one light pole landed on the windshield of a taxicab driven by Lloyd England. That section of Washington Boulevard was closed for several weeks following the attacks.[2]

Other incidents

At 3:40 a.m. on December 22, 2004, a tank truck overturned and exploded on Washington Boulevard at the interchange with I-395, near the Pentagon. The accident killed the driver, and sparked initial concerns that this explosion was another terrorist attack. The driver was headed to the Citgo gas station, near the Pentagon.[3]

Construction projects

Plans to renovate the bridge where Washington Boulevard passes over Columbia Pike were put on the drawing board in 1990.[4] The bridge dated from the 1940s. In 2001, public meetings were held and plans drawn up.[4] Under budget constraints, plans for the bridge were scaled down.[4] In March 2005, new plans were put forth, which lacked new bicycle paths and other touches, but would reconfigure the interchange with the goal of easing traffic congestion. [4]

Construction on a replacement bridge began in early 2012 and was completed in December 2015. The bridge was dedicated as the "Freedmans Village Bridge" in September 2015.[5][6]

Washington Boulevard Trail

The Washington Boulevard Trail is a pair of multiuse trails along the south side of the Boulevard between the Mt Vernon Trail in DC and the Arlington Boulevard Trail in Arlington.

The first of the two trails built was the easternmost section from the Mt Vernon trail to Columbia Pike. It runs 1.2 miles through Lady Bird Johnson Park and then along the edge of the Pentagon and the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. The trail section was first proposed in 1993 but it took decades to complete.[7] The first section, from Memorial Circle to the existing sidewalks along the Pentagon grounds was completed in the late 1990s. In 2006, as part of a renovation of the Pentagon following 9/11, a section was built adjacent to the new security wall. Another section along the Pentagon Memorial was built in conjunction with that project and opened in September 2008. From 2015 to 2018, VDOT rebuilt the Washington Boulevard Bridge over Route 27 and when they did, they built the section of trail from the Pentagon parking lot ramp to the security wall section built in 2006. At the same time they built a short section from the Pentagon Memorial to Columbia Pike. That work was completed in December 2017.[8]

The second trail is a 0.7 mile long mutli-use trail along the south side of Washington Boulevard from Rolfe Street at Towers Park to Arlington Boulevard and the Arlington Boulevard Trail. It was first proposed in Arlington’s 1994 Bicycle Transportation Plan.[9] The first section of the trail, from Arlington Boulevard to Walter Reed Road, was built in 2009-2010.[10] The section section, from Walter Reed to Rolfe St. was built between February and November 2018, with the final ribbon cutting on the trail occurring on November 30, 2018.[11]

In the future, the two sections are to be connected by a path built in conjunction with a project to expand Arlington National Cemetery. That project will realign Columbia Pike and add a sidepath to connect the two pieces of the Washington Boulevard Trail, as well as a section of sidepath built between Rolfe and Orme Streets in 2015 as part of the Freedmans Village Bridge. [12]

References

  1. ^ Wheeler, Gary (September 11, 2001). "Witnesses: Airplane hit the Pentagon hard". Gannett News Service.
  2. ^ Washington, Adrienne T. (October 5, 2001). "Reopening airport helps; now let's aid the displaced". Washington Times.
  3. ^ Jackman, Tom (December 23, 2004). "Gas Truck Driver Dies in Fiery Va. Wreck". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ a b c d Schulte, Brigid (March 3, 2005). "New Life for Bridge's Renovation". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ "Route 27/244 Interchange". Virginia Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  6. ^ "Governor McAuliffe Dedicates New Washington Boulevard Bridge Over Columbia Pike in Arlington". www.virginiadot.org. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  7. ^ Hong, Peter (9 December 1993). "Ambitious Bike Plan Proposed: Board to Consider Adding More Paths And On-Road Lanes". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ Cranor, David. "VDOT project widens Washington Boulevard Trail over Route 27, Phase II in Penrose has begun". The WashCycle. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  9. ^ Lang, Katy. "Phase Two of the Washington Boulevard Trail is Opening". Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  10. ^ Cranor, David. "Washington Boulevard Trail Phase I Underway". The WashCycle. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Washington Boulevard Trail Ribbon-Cutting". Arlington VA Projects & Planning. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  12. ^ Burgess, Gillian. "Arlington Cemetery is expanding to the south. That could help cyclists". Greater Greater Washington. Retrieved 21 November 2018.

This page was last updated at 2019-11-13 10:29 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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