City Expresses 'Serious Concerns' Over Serving as Parking for Ferry

With parking at a premium in Alexandria, Mayor Bill Euille doesn’t want anyone getting any ideas about adding to the problem.

In a letter to the chair of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Euille has expressed the City’s “serious concerns” over any ideas that the City will consider serving as a parking area for any proposed ferries. Here’s the letter:

Hon. Penelope A. “Penny” Gross, Chairman and Commissioners of Northern Virginia Regional Commission:

The City of Alexandria would like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the ongoing conversations regarding the M-495 Potomac River Commuter Ferry Project, and would like to formally transmit to you and NVRC Commissioners the City’s serious concerns in writing, that City representatives have previously expressed orally.

The City of Alexandria has received, analyzed and reviewed the information pertaining to Summary/Findings of the Market Analysis Study. Based on the results of the analysis, the City of Alexandria was identified as a key origin and destination within the “corridor of significant interest” based on travel time savings impacts and viable market size.

The City’s position is that it supports in concept utilizing the Potomac River as a regional transportation corridor; however, the City of Alexandria wants to be on record expressing serious concerns regarding an element of the proposed project. Based on the current capacity of parking, attempts to integrate a commuter ferry stop or terminus within the City in Old Town would cause considerable challenges to the existing infrastructure and add additional vehicular trips to an area with limited parking. Old Town Alexandria should not serve as the Joint Base Anacostia Bolling’s parking lot because the federal government did not adequately plan for its own parking needs when it expanded its work force on that site.

Thank you again for receiving the City of Alexandria’s input on the M-495 Potomac River Commuter Ferry Project. We look forward to continued dialogue on this project.

Sincerely,

William D. Euille

Mayor

cc: Honorable Members of the City Council

Mark Gibb, Executive Director, NVRC