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Neighbors urge traffic and safety study for Virginia Hospital Center Carlin Springs plan
Summary
Speakers at the April 30 Arlington Transportation Commission meeting urged the county to require an area-wide traffic and pedestrian-safety analysis for the Virginia Hospital Center plan at 601 Carlin Springs Road, citing a proposed entrance used by schoolchildren, added surface parking, and impacts to a protected spring area.
Lee Clark, representing the Glen Carlin Civic Association, told the Arlington Transportation Commission the Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) plan for 601 Carlin Springs Road will increase vehicle and pedestrian volumes around nearby schools and needs an area-wide traffic and safety analysis. “The second entrance crosses a sidewalk used by between 25 and 50 students each morning and afternoon,” Clark said, warning the entrance would invite left turns across a congested arterial that carries about 24,000 vehicles a day.
Susan (Sue) Campbell, speaking for neighbors who have followed the proposal, said a planned 10-foot asphalt path crosses a resource-protection area near a historic spring and warned it would invite off-site parking in adjacent residential streets. She described prior meetings where hospital representatives said they opposed a path but said residents remain worried: “a week a year and a half ago, the two poor little elementary school kids were underneath a car,” Campbell said, citing a neighborhood crash and underscoring pedestrian safety concerns near schools.
Both speakers questioned aspects of the site plan's traffic modeling. Clark noted that of the project's 300 parking spaces, 190 are proposed underground and “90 extra surface parking spaces” were shown in areas the association fears would increase cut-through parking; he said 80 spaces were being held to support future, undetermined development on the north half of the property and that those 80 spaces were excluded from the traffic projections because "how the north parcel will be used has not been determined." Campbell added that a portion of the proposed path overlaps the Moses Ball spring's resource-protection area, which residents consider a sensitive natural feature.
Commissioners thanked both speakers and encouraged continued engagement; one commissioner noted that online public input for the VHC Carlin Springs site plan closes tonight and urged residents to submit comments. Commissioners also signaled interest in coordinating the Transportation Commission's site-plan representative with neighborhood leaders and other county staff to review concerns about permit parking, pedestrian crossings and potential mitigation measures.
No vote or formal action on the site plan occurred at the meeting. The commission listed the matter for further coordination with site-plan reviewers and encouraged residents to use the county's public engagement portal while it remains open.
