 Give Students a Brake! As Back-to-School season kicks into gear, be on the lookout for school zones and student crossings. Arlington County finished updating all school zones in the County last spring. Now we’re doubling down on school zone speed limits with tactical speed humps on local roads and speed cameras on arterial roads. Slower is safer for everyone.
On August 25, 2025 (the first day of the 2025/26 Arlington Public School year), the PhotoSPEED Safety Camera Program will resume operations at pre-existing PhotoSPEED locations and introduce ten new PhotoSPEED locations to keep our students, teachers, and community members safe as they arrive and depart from school each day. The ten new locations include:
- NB 4700 block of Williamsburg Blvd
- NB 1300 block of S George Mason Dr
- SB 1000 block of N George Mason Dr
- NB 700 block of S Carlin Springs Rd
- EB 4200 block of Lorcom Ln
- EB 6000 block of Wilson Blvd
- SB 1400 block of N Quincy St
- WB 1500 block of Wilson Blvd
- WB 5100 block of Williamsburg Blvd
- SB 2600 block of Military Rd
Additionally, two pre-existing PhotoSPEED locations will remain within their existing school zone but relocate to maximize safety benefits. These locations will be considered new PhotoSPEED locations and will include a warning period:
- WB 5100 block of Yorktown Rd was moved from EB 5200 block of Yorktown Blvd
- SB 1600 block of Kirkwood Rd was moved from NB 1300 block of Kirkwood Rd
PhotoSPEED locations are selected using safety data—see the Vision Zero Automated Safety Enforcement page for more information on site selection.
Pre-existing PhotoSPEED locations will resume ticketing on Monday August 25, 2025.
Warning for all new PhotoSPEED locations will begin on Monday, August 25, 2025, and tickets will begin on Wednesday, September 24, 2025.
For more information on the expansion efforts view the PhotoSPEED Program Expansion info sheet.
|
The 2024 Annual Crash Report is now available! The report provides an overview of transportation and safety patterns throughout Arlington in the past year. In 2024, Arlington saw one fatal crash, 38 severe crashes, 111 pedestrian-involved crashes, and 39 bicycle-involved crashes.
Overall, total reported crashes, not including interstates, decreased by 4% and total injury crashes decreased by 13% compared to 2023. For more details and safety trends view the full report.
|
 This year, we leveled up our intersection crash analysis initiative (previously known as “hot spot analysis”) to make it more responsive, useful, and easy to understand. We made three changes to help us focus our work to address crashes:
- To identify intersections with persistent high crash or injury rates, we now include a multi-year crash analysis in our Annual Crash Report, instead of reviewing the data every two years.
- To catch emerging trends, we also added a review of geographic crash patterns from the most recent year of data.
- To help make the greatest impact, we also review the resulting list of locations to identify “Action Spots,” which are high crash locations that do not have a recently completed, active, or upcoming project.
This new approach helps us better identify intersections with consistently high crash and injury rates—so we can better prioritize safety improvements where they’re needed most.
Want to see where we’re focusing next? Check out the 2024 Annual Crash Report to explore the 28 Action Spots selected for Vision Zero’s Action Spot Program!
Despite interruptions from the summer’s heat and storms, our crews are still installing safety tools throughout Arlington! Below are updates on construction and installations:
Pilot Safety Projects:
-
Tactical Speed Humps:
- Campbell Elementary: 7th Rd S- Installed
- Tuckahoe Elementary: N Trinidad St -Installed
- Washington-Liberty High: 15th St N -Installed
- Nottingham ES: N Ohio St - Installed
- Randolph Elementary: 16th St S
- Discovery Elementary/Williamsburg Middle: N Kensington St
- Arlington Science Focus Elementary: N Lincoln St
-
Downhill Bike Lane & Right Turn Conflict Pilot Safety Project
- All locations have the device installed. Next staff will collect after data.
- Clarendon Blvd & 17th St N-Installed
- Clarendon Blvd & N Scott St - Installed
- Clarendon Blvd & Driveway Across from N Troy St - Installed
- Wilson Blvd & N Manchester St
-
Speed Management Pilot Safety Project
- Before data has been collected for most locations and design plans are underway. Installation activity will begin shortly.
High-Injury Network Safety Audits:
-
Clarendon Blvd – March 2025 *recently published*
- S Manchester St –June 2025, Pending documentation
- 2nd St S – July 2025, Pending documentation
- N Quincy St – upcoming in September 2025
Quick-Build Safety Projects:
Capital-Driven Safety Project Updates:
- Traffic patterns on Columbia Pike between South Courthouse Road and South Scott Street will reverse as crews begin sidewalk reconstruction on north side of Columbia pike. Learn more about the project on the Segment C page.
Arlington’s Division of Transportation (DOT) has been working on a variety of projects in preparation for Arlington Public School (APS)’s 2025 Back-to-School season. Planned and soon upcoming improvements include: one traffic signal at Patrick Henry Dr & Washington Blvd, six quick-build safety projects in or near school zones, seven school zone segments with tactical speed humps, all-way stop signs at two school zone intersections, improved crossing signage at four school crossings, reduced speed limits on two major school corridors, two High-Injury Safety Audits along school zone corridors, and repaving/new pavement markings around 26 school zones.
Staff members collaborate across DOT, APS, and ACPD regularly to ensure prompt action on safety needs in and around school zones in Arlington.
 On August 12th, The U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched it annual Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement campaign. NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser kicked off the campaign National Park Service’s Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, Virginia. Joining him were Frank Lands, Deputy Director for Operations at the National Park Service; Stacey Stewart, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving; and Rose Kehoe and Kris Meade of Arlington, parents of Braylon Meade—an Arlington teenager tragically killed by an impaired driver in 2022.
Watch the recording of the event here.
NHTSA urges everyone to plan and never drive after consuming alcohol or any other impairing substance. Instead, designate a sober driver, or call a ride-hailing service or taxi to make sure you get home safely. If you see an impaired driver on the road, call 911. View Arlington’s Anti-Drunk Driving Initiatives webpage for more resources.
As a part of the campaign drivers will see more law enforcement on the road from August 15 – September 1, 2025.
 Get ahead of the floods and storms with local alerts. Arlington Alert is a FREE program that sends alerts about local traffic, hazardous weather, major events, much more!
Whether you're at work, home, or traveling, you’ll know what’s happening in your area.
Signing up and sharing with loved ones helps protect your whole community.
Let’s keep our roads and community safe! Sign up at Arlingtonalert.com
Members from the County’s Vision Zero Team were pleased to join Arlington County Police Department’s (ACPD) Quarterly Community Meetings earlier this month. We had a chance to talk with community members about what Vision Zero educational campaigns and our upcoming engagement efforts for the updated action plan. Thank you to everyone who attended or tuned in online!
|
Our 2021 Vision Zero Action Plan was a five-year roadmap to launch Arlington County on its Vision Zero safety journey. We will begin the process to update the Action Plan in fall 2025 with a target adoption of the updated Five-Year Action Plan in 2026. This planned update will include two key community engagement checkpoints and will follow closely with the development of Arlington Transportation Future plan.
 Get ready to share your input! In October, the Vision Zero team will host an open house and various pop-up events throughout the County to gather your insights and experiences that will help shape the new action plan. Look out for updates in next month’s newsletter.
Visit the Vision Zero Safety Projects page to learn more about safety-driven quick build projects, capital projects, pilot projects, High-Injury Network safety audits, and more.
Also, check out our Crash Data Dashboard that shows crash data over the last 10 years, how and where we implement safety tools from the multimodal safety toolbox, our various safety initiatives, speed reduction corridors, and where we are doing outreach/engagement.
|
