Arlington, Virginia did not become a pedestrian success story overnight. The sidewalks are lively today thanks to a series of smart decisions carried out over several decades. The story of this suburb's rise to become one of America's most walk-friendly communities offers lessons for towns everywhere wanting to thrive in the years to come.
As an early model for the auto-oriented development that popped up all over the country after World War II, Arlington also become one of the first suburbs to experience the inevitable side effects of aging. The county population dropped from 174,000 in 1970 to 152,500 in 1980 as new land to develop became scarce and kids who grew up there moved away.
"In the 1970s, this was a declining inner ring suburb," notes Chris Zimmerman, who served on the county board for 18 years. "I moved here in 1979 because of the cheap rent. Arlington was a stopover for a lot of people until they could afford to move somewhere else"—a familiar scene today in thousands of suburban communities.
The first step in Arlington's revival was improved transit service, including a number of stops on the Washington Metro subway system. That reversed the county's population decline, as new apartment buildings and shopping rose around the stations. Walking picked up a bit in the immediate vicinity of Metro stops, but not in other parts of town. That's because most of the streets were still designed to move cars as quickly as possible with little regard for the impact on pedestrians or surrounding neighborhoods.
The county board, spurred on by neighborhood leaders, adopted an "urban village" approach to planning, which, Zimmerman says, "really resonated with people—the idea of comfort and community while still being cosmopolitan. Being both suburban and urban at the same time."
One strong focus of this plan was to make walking more safe and convenient. Sidewalks were widened while the pedestrian crossing distances at intersections were narrowed. A task force on traffic calming was launched, and the outdated policy of charging homeowners for the cost of building new sidewalks—still common throughout the U.S.—was eliminated.
Ninety percent of all residential streets now have sidewalks (up from 73 percent in 1997), and traffic on seven of the county's nine busiest roads has declined between 5 and 23 percent since 1996. As a result, walking and biking now account for 16.6 percent of all trips around town.
The county's population has now climbed to 220,000, and it's attracting many young professionals and families who could afford to live in wealthier suburbs but prefer Arlington's walkability and sense of community. It is also growing as a regional job center with more than 215,000 people working in the county.
"This could be done anywhere," says Zimmerman. "It doesn't depend on big-scale transit—it depends on good urban design."
http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/what-your-town-can-learn-from-americas-most-walkable-suburb
^Imo, it's all about properly integrating transit investment with supportive land use policies.
Quote from: thelakelander on April 06, 2015, 08:42:35 PM
^Imo, it's all about properly integrating transit investment with supportive land use policies.
No doubt, but as the article enumerates,places can be made more walkable even if they have little in the way transit.
No doubt. Most of our beach communities and pre-WWII small city cores are examples of this.
Now if only the rest of Duval County would copy their example.
Population density in Arlington is over 8K people per square mile with median household income of $100k. Population density of Duval County: just over 1K per square mile, median household income of only $43K. High tax revenue per person, vs very low tax revenue per person and Jacksonville's population spread out all over the map.
Would be tough for an area like Jacksonville to mirror that of Arlington when the demographics are universes apart.
Arlington is also only 26 sq mi, considerably less than the size of pre-consolidated Jacksonville (point being - I don't think we'd even contemplate turning all of Jax's ~800 sq mi or so into an Arlington, just a section of town, as that's all Arlington is - a "section of town" that drops off to boring, less dense suburbia in a flash).
Arlington is being propped up for walkability probably moreso than it should. For being "new urban" it is certainly as walkable as it gets, but I find it to be an improvement over an Atlanta (Peachtree spine for instance) than a really walkable, truly urban city environment. It is an environment that CAN be achieved in Jacksonville, but it would require a few things:
1) A commitment to get there from both the government and citizens (neither of whom currently seems to want that sort of thing)
2) A raging economy (the DC economy/federal govt built Arlington...Arlington would never happen in say a Cleveland or even a Richmond as it stands now)
3) The ability to adapt, demolish, and start fresh - Arlington was ~4k ppsm after the war, which is where Jacksonville's densest, oldest pre-war neighborhoods are at now. To double in density while adding a TON of office space and retail, they've had to demolish a good bit to make way for higher density. Where in Jacksonville are we going to:
a) Allow modern buildings next to older "historic" buildings
b) Allow higher density mid/high rise next to lower density single family detached homes
c) Allow for demolition of uses/buildings that are "obsolete" for a densifying urban corridor
And note that you don't need a ton of 20-30 story high rises to achieve this density. Oakland CA is twice as large with about the same density and fewer high rise residential buildings through a mostly low-rise built environment. *Much* smaller lot sizes, lots of single family attached, and smaller 3-4 story apartment buildings. I'd argue Oakland is more walkable and more urban than Arlington and probably has a look and feel that would be *much* more accepted and appreciated by Jacksonville's citizenry.
However, the trade off is that Jax needs much smaller lot sizes. That requires a revamp, and likely demolitions, as well. It's either high density corridor with high rises, chain retail, and boring office boxes that drops off without a blink of the eye to garden style apartments and single family homes on fairly large lots (Arlington). Or human-scaled walkable setup with few buildings higher than 5 stories, but a revamping of lot sizes so that you sacrifice yard and home size for more widescale and intense urban development that doesn't really drop off, and thus you get more individual neighborhoods that seamlessly blend into one another (the Oakland setup).
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on April 07, 2015, 05:41:12 PM
Population density in Arlington is over 8K people per square mile with median household income of $100k.
Sorry, but your numbers are way (way) off.
Quote from: fieldafm on April 07, 2015, 08:11:52 PM
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on April 07, 2015, 05:41:12 PM
Population density in Arlington is over 8K people per square mile with median household income of $100k.
Sorry, but your numbers are way (way) off.
See for yourself. Arlington, VA not Arlington Jacksonville. http://www.city-data.com/city/Arlington-Virginia.html
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on April 07, 2015, 09:00:46 PM
Quote from: fieldafm on April 07, 2015, 08:11:52 PM
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on April 07, 2015, 05:41:12 PM
Population density in Arlington is over 8K people per square mile with median household income of $100k.
Sorry, but your numbers are way (way) off.
See for yourself. Arlington, VA not Arlington Jacksonville. http://www.city-data.com/city/Arlington-Virginia.html
My apologies, I mistakingly thought you were referring to Jax.
Quote from: simms3 on April 07, 2015, 06:05:07 PM
A raging economy (the DC economy/federal govt built Arlington...Arlington would never happen in say a Cleveland or even a Richmond as it stands now)
While this is true, one should remember that there are plenty of jurisdictions in the DC-area that had the same advantages Arlington did as far as jobs and contracting dollars, yet they are every bit as sprawling and car-dependent as Jacksonville. The difference is Arlington made a conscious choice to, as Lake said, properly integrate transit investment with supportive land use policies.
QuoteBy 2014, the county's population had jumped 50 percent from 1980, to 229,302. Property values surged, and new businesses opened.
Today, Arlington has more office space than downtown Dallas, as well as the country's highest concentration of 24-to-34-year-olds.
To me, the most impressive thing is that despite all this growth, the county's figures show that traffic has actually
declined—by as much as 23 percent on some key thoroughfares.
Quote from: finehoe on April 09, 2015, 09:05:58 AM
Quote from: simms3 on April 07, 2015, 06:05:07 PM
A raging economy (the DC economy/federal govt built Arlington...Arlington would never happen in say a Cleveland or even a Richmond as it stands now)
While this is true, one should remember that there are plenty of jurisdictions in the DC-area that had the same advantages Arlington did as far as jobs and contracting dollars, yet they are every bit as sprawling and car-dependent as Jacksonville. The difference is Arlington made a conscious choice to, as Lake said, properly integrate transit investment with supportive land use policies.
I believe that was the point of my post?? You just called out [my] #2 in what it would take for Jax to get a section of town to look, function, feel, and act like an Arlington.
Quote from: finehoe on April 09, 2015, 09:05:58 AMQuoteBy 2014, the county's population had jumped 50 percent from 1980, to 229,302. Property values surged, and new businesses opened.
Today, Arlington has more office space than downtown Dallas, as well as the country's highest concentration of 24-to-34-year-olds.
To me, the most impressive thing is that despite all this growth, the county's figures show that traffic has actually declined—by as much as 23 percent on some key thoroughfares.
Those quotes are definitely PR pieces and a bit misleading (in terms of sf of office space and "concentration of 24-34 year olds"), and I don't doubt that the Metro has taken cars off the street, especially for traffic between Arlington County and DC, however, it would be a mistake to generalize and believe that as a city grows in population and density, that well placed and well used transit will prevent traffic from getting out of control. Arlington has a rather unique setup with DC and other surrounding employment centers that may help funnel more transit use. It's a spine - I believe I compared it to Atlanta's Peachtree spine (which also has less traffic than the appearance of that many buildings would merit, but it has no transit).
Quote from: simms3 on April 09, 2015, 11:33:12 AM
Arlington has a rather unique setup with DC and other surrounding employment centers that may help funnel more transit use.
Not to mention college students that flood the courthouse/clarendon area. DC is (at least by reputation) very transient and that might add to lower vehicle use as well.
Hi
Just my two cents here.
I grew up in Boston, Mass. I could, if I wanted to, back when I was MUCH younger, walk nearly everywhere in Boston, yes I could have taken Public Transportation anywhere too but we are talking about walking. ;)
I don't like that we can't do this here. I know it is not feasible in all parts of Jacksonville but here where I live for example the sidewalk will just end abruptly (San Pablo Road South Between Atlantic Blvd and Beach Blvd. Not nice. lol
^^ Yes, I agree, I see that all over town and it's frustrating. I work in a Southside office park and there is a nice sidewalk that just suddenly stops and gives way to grass and weeds.
It's obvious that pedestrian and bicycle paths are second-class citizens, and the more we talk about it the better.
Walk, Jacksonville - it's good for you!
(https://www.arlnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Screen-Shot-2017-01-23-at-9.06.56-PM-600x399.jpg)
Evidently, I never clicked on the article link in the initial post until now. Are they claiming Rosslyn is considered to be more walkable than neighboring Alexandria? I find Rosslyn to be pretty sterile at street level. With that said, that Orange Line metro corridor is an excellent example of integrating transit investment with supportive land use policies in suburbia.
I don't see anyplace where they specifically call out Rosslyn, although they do mention a couple of places other than the Orange Line corridor (Westover, Shirlington).
Alexandria was a city that pre-dates the District of Columbia. It's somewhat of a stretch to call it a "suburb" as far as it's development is concerned.
^I only mentioned Rosslyn because of the skyline shot posted above. That specific area looks nice from across the Potomac but it could use some work at street level. Things get better around the Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, etc. metro stations.
True Alexandria does pre-date DC. It's still a decent example of adding TOD around transit stations while still blending in with the surrounding established built environment at street level. I remember visiting the area back in the 1980s and much of the stuff between King St and Eisenhower was still an active railyard.