Redevelopment Projects Have Some Residents Wary

Surrounded by major government centers and large new public works projects, Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, is preparing to reveal a plan to redevelop its waterfront -- a revival effort many residents are wary of.

1 minute read

April 11, 2007, 5:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"The largest public works project on the East Coast, the rebuilding of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, is hurtling toward completion in the city's southeast corner. The new bridge, a key link in the nation's most heavily trafficked north-south corridor, raises the possibility that Old Town will become a stopping point along the way for even more vehicles. A network of conjoined bike trails will funnel hundreds of cyclists from Virginia to Maryland and back."

"And just across the Potomac River, on the Maryland side, a $2 billion hotel and convention project known as National Harbor is jutting ever larger into the sky, bristling with construction cranes. A battery of water taxis will ply the waters between the two shores, disgorging an estimated 500 to 1,000 tourists and conventioneers each day onto Alexandria's narrow streets."

"A major transformation is underway in this 258-year-old city of 135,000 residents. Longtime Alexandrians are starting to look across the river with a combination of concern and elation about how National Harbor might change their city's character. They are starting to wonder about the increased traffic, the additional parking and signage that will be needed, the capacity to handle the crowds and the possibility that long-established businesses will be pushed out to make way for a crush of tourists who want to buy tacky T-shirts and fudge."

Tuesday, April 10, 2007 in The Washington Post

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