Expanding & Improving Transportation Options
Enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, motorists, and new alternative transportation modes. Widened sidewalks, easier boulevard crossings, linked neighborhoods, improved bicycle facilities with continuous lanes where possible, enhanced transportation and transit services, sufficient on-street and shared off-street parking will improve safety, equity, and sustainability along the corridor.
Langston Boulevard is one of Arlington’s major east-west corridors—connecting Rosslyn all the way to East Falls Church. For decades, it has primarily been the car the Boulevard has served. As Plan Langston Boulevard is implemented and the Boulevard transforms into a Green Main Street in the coming years, this vital corridor will serve other modes of transportation in an safe and environmentally conscious way. Wherever you are along the Boulevard, you can access multimodal transportation choices to take you from your local neighborhood hubs, the Nation’s capital, to distant international destinations, and anywhere in between. The LBA is committed to its guiding principle to provide complete streets that are safe for everyone: pedestrians, bicyclists, riders, and drivers.
Support off-street parking to improve auto and pedestrian safety
Any trip down Langston Boulevard means navigating dozens of driveways and curb cuts—those street-facing curb depressions allowing cars to access the Boulevard and business, residence, parking lot, or anywhere else. The Green Main Street vision of Langston Boulevard promotes electric charging stations for more electric cars—and rear and side-parking to future developments to minimize curb cuts. This modest redesign will enhance pedestrian and auto safety on the Boulevard, as there will be fewer places where cars turn into traffic. In some neighborhood hubs, parking garages are preferable to large surface-level lots, which can be re-envisioned as green, public spaces.
Boost bicycle lanes and e-bike capabilities
Today, bicycling on most of Langston Boulevard means to share the road directly with cars, trucks, and buses. The Green Main Street vision of the Boulevard supports protected bike lanes—on or parallel to the Boulevard on side streets. Protected bike lanes are also needed on north-south streets intersecting with the Boulevard. The electronic bike experience will also be promoted with more dedicated parking for them—and chargers to ensure their continued zipping up and down the Boulevard.d.
Develop a more pedestrian-friendly corridor
Walkers and runners traversing Langston Boulevard from neighborhood hub to neighborhood hub understand the need for a more pedestrian-friendly corridor. As the Boulevard develops into a Green Main Street, sidewalks should be widened to assist with accessibility. In neighborhood hubs, new and widened streetscapes promote a pedestrian-friendly vision; space behind the sidewalks can feature landscape to create green barriers between pedestrians and cars—while adding to the tree canopy. The vision for pedestrian safety is almost limitless. More pedestrian crossings will shorten distances between them, cutting commutes and decreasing jaywalking. Protected crossings will make them more visible to vehicular traffic. And crossings can be safer with traffic light-controlled pedestrian crossings.
Promote and expand bus connectivity
Several local and regional bus routes serve Langston Boulevard with regular buses connecting the Boulevard to nearby Metro stops and many more destinations. The future of buses on the Boulevard is a promising one. Plan Langston Boulevard calls for better shelters—more shelter, comfort, and accessibility. Enhanced bus frequency is also a top priority. Increased frequency does not necessarily mean more buses—this includes transit signal priority, cutting-edge technology that makes green lights longer and red lights shorter when buses are approaching a stoplight.
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