UPDATE [5/14/23]: County Board members approved the funding at their May 13, 2023, meeting.
ORIGINAL STORY: Arlington County Board members on May 13 are expected to take another in a line of procedural steps designed to, ultimately, deliver a pedestrian/bicycle connection between Crystal City and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
County Board members are being asked to endorse a contract amendment totaling more than $4.2 million in federal and state dollars to start the next phase of planning for the project.
The funding will go to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. to provide preliminary engineering service and set the stage for selecting a contractor for the project. The firm, known by the acronym VHB, has been working on the project under previously approved contracts.
The plan is to connect the future Virginia Railway Express station to be built adjoining 2011 Crystal Drive to the airport, crossing the George Washington Memorial Parkway along the way.
Exactly where the bridge would connect to the airport grounds, and whether it would connect with the Mount Vernon Trail that runs parallel to the George Washington Parkway, remain to be decided.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency and National Park Service all have given preliminary approval to the proposal. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and Virginia Department of Transportation will continue to work in tandem to determine the bridge’s final alignment and eastern terminus point at the airport.
As part of earlier planning, running the connection underground was considered but rejected, owing to complexities of tunneling through existing and planned future infrastructure along the route.
