[Archived] Pedestrian Concourse Meeting Planned

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

Oct. 21, 2003
PIO 177-03

Pedestrian Concourse Meeting Planned

The City of Alexandria has scheduled a public meeting on Oct. 29, 7:30 pm at Minnie Howard School, 3801 West Braddock Road to inform residents about the planned pedestrian concourse under Duke Street.

The Duke Street Pedestrian Concourse is a below-grade pedestrian way that will be constructed beneath Duke Street from Diagonal Road to the plaza in front of the Time Life building at Dulaney Street. The design and construction of the concourse is a requirement of the Carlyle Special Use Permit (SUP) and the responsibility of Carlyle Development Corporation (an affiliate of Norfolk Southern Corporation).

The purpose of the Concourse is to allow the large number of pedestrians from Carlyle and the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to cross Duke Street on their way to the King Street Metro Station safely, without conflicting with vehicular traffic. When the Alexandria PTO campus is fully occupied in mid-2005, it will contain about 7,100 employees. Approximately 50 percent of PTO employees use transit to get to work, the majority of those will use the King Street Metro Station.

The opening of the Concourse was originally scheduled to coincide with the first occupancy of PTO. The SUP specified a completion date for the Concourse of Dec. 31, 2003. Carlyle Development Corporation (CDC) has experienced delays leading up to the construction, and the Concourse is now expected to be open by July 1, 2004. PTO employees are scheduled to begin moving into the first two (out of five) buildings on the Alexandria campus on Dec. 8, 2003. Employees will move in at a rate of about 200 per week through March. This first phase includes about 2,600 employees. No additional buildings are expected to be occupied until mid-2004.

For more information about the meeting, call 703.838.4327.

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