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County completes follow-up on Hotel Pentagon site; recommends no immediate forced land acquisitions for Sherlington connection
Summary
County staff told the Arlington County Board May 13 that property owners near the Hotel Pentagon site are not willing to sell land needed for a Sherlington Road connection and that building a county-standard street there would cost an estimated $4.9 million, not including land or utilities.
Arlington County staff presented a targeted follow-up May 13 on five items the board asked staff to review after the Hotel Pentagon site plan decision. The work focused on Green Valley-area traffic safety, a possible new street connection to Shirlington Road, intersection realignment, paper streets, and bus service.
Staff said a no-turn-on-red sign at the 24th Road South intersection had been recommended under Vision Zero because the existing driveway layout forces a vehicle to stop on the crosswalk to make a right-on-red, creating safety risks. Staff noted that the hotel plan proposes closing a nearby driveway; staff will reevaluate the turn-on-red restriction after traffic patterns stabilize following construction.
On the Sherlington Road connection, staff said property owners of six affected parcels—two of whom control most of the land—declined to sell or convey permanent easements. Bryce Johnson of Development Services said that matching the county's preferred 68-foot cross section and constructing a public street to county standards would require additional right-of-way (about 6–8 feet) and an estimated $4,900,000 for design and construction, not including utility relocation or land-acquisition costs. "The estimated cost to finalize design and construct the connection is about $4,900,000," he said.
Staff recommended against unilateral county action to acquire land at this time and instead urged waiting until property owners are willing to negotiate; the four-mile-run valley area plan treats the Sherlington connection as a long-term possibility tied to redevelopment of private parcels.
Engineers examined a proposed realignment of 24th Road South to improve the skewed intersection with South Glebe Road and concluded that realignment would introduce new conflicts, impair sight lines, require larger retaining walls and utility relocation, and might worsen operations. Staff said significant utility and retaining-wall costs would be required and recommended no immediate realignment absent future redevelopment.
On transit, staff reported progress: the county applied for an I‑395 NVTC commuter-choice grant that would let Metro increase the headway for Route 87 from 20 minutes to 12 minutes in peak periods; staff said the budget includes measures to consolidate routing and improve on-time performance.
Ending: County staff closed the follow-up with a recommendation to wait for willing property sellers on the Sherlington connection and to prioritize targeted safety measures and transit improvements without forcing a costly right-of-way acquisition now.
