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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Concerns about chronic flooding dominated Monday's public hearing on Metro's proposal to close the Braddock Road station's Kiss & Ride lot and reconfigure its bus loop to enable joint development, with multiple speakers warning the agency not to add density to the area until a longstanding drainage problem is resolved.
About 35 residents packed into Charles Houston Recreation Center, where Alexandria City Councilman Canek Aguirre — who also serves as an alternate Metro board director — presided over the hearing. Andrew McCray, project manager in WMATA's Office of Real Estate and Development, walked the room through the proposal. Councilmen Abdel Elnoubi and John Chapman were in the audience; Chapman was one of ten speakers who took the mic.
Flooding
Dino Drudi, president of the West Old Town Citizens Association, said the intersection of E. Braddock Road, N. West Street, and Wythe Street drains 55 acres of Old Town and that floodwaters have reached knee height. He said emergency vehicles have been impeded and warned that adding residents without fixing the drainage first would put newcomers at risk.
"No change should be made in this area until there is a plan to remediate the severe flooding," he said, calling on WMATA to include a retention pond or comparable solution before any development begins.
Chapman, speaking as both a council member and a member of the city's stormwater committee, expressed excitement about the development opportunity but urged Metro to be deliberate about which developer it selects, saying the site's infrastructure challenges demand someone with serious resources and creativity.
"Council has worked for quite some time to have dialogue with Metro about looking at development on some of our sites, and so we're excited to approach this one," Chapman said. "I would only suggest that as you consider developers for this site, please let them know that they will need to be creative with what they do here."
He said the flooding and infrastructure issues are significant and well-known, and that not every developer will be equipped to handle them.
"Not every developer can develop what needs to be done here," Chapman said. "Somebody that has the resources and connections to do a quality project — handles the issues that are already there. So please, as you consider a developer or development team, please let them know about some of the big concerns for infrastructure."
Chapman also noted that elevated construction costs on the site would require a financially capable partner, adding that the right developer would need to know going in that the job is more complicated than a typical transit-adjacent project.
Aguirre acknowledged the concern from the dais, noting Chapman has been a leading council voice on stormwater. McCray, for his part, said during the presentation that Metro is aware of standing water at the intersection following rainfall and would coordinate with the city on mitigation as the project moves forward.
Traffic figures conflict
Margaret J., a West Braddock Road resident, challenged Metro's traffic analysis, saying the intersection carries as many as 13,000 vehicles per day. Metro's environmental evaluation uses a figure of 5,500 — well below the 18,000-to-20,000-vehicle threshold the agency cited to justify a road diet on N. West Street.
She also opposed moving the Kiss & Ride off Metro's property, comparing curbside drop-off on E. Braddock Road to airport rush-hour congestion. She proposed a traffic circle in the area designated for the transit plaza.
"WMATA needs to keep the Kiss and Ride on site — on their site, not on the streets of Alexandria," she said.
Jennifer W., a N. Fairfax Street resident, said she and her husband rely on the Kiss & Ride during bad weather, medical appointments, and scheduling gaps with buses. Moving drop-off farther from the entrance, she said, would create a real hardship for riders with temporary or permanent disabilities.
Bus routing concern
Ransom S., an Old Town West resident and daily rider, said funneling all bus departures through a single southern exit — right alongside the Metro Linear Trail and near its junction with the Mount Vernon Trail — risks creating a choke point for cyclists, pedestrians, and students from the school next door.
"If there's a way to preserve a northbound bus loop, perhaps by building over a bus driveway as other cities have done, I think that's worth looking into," he said.
He also questioned whether adding a third traffic signal on the same block — on a road already slated for a lane reduction — would create more problems than it solves.
Bus delay discrepancy
In his presentation, McCray told the audience the reconfiguration would add 1.0 to 2.5 minutes to bus circulation times, consistent with Metro's legal notice. The agency's environmental evaluation, released simultaneously in March, puts that figure higher — at 1.5 to 3.0 minutes. Monday's handout used the lower number. The Alexandria Brief first reported the discrepancy in March.
Supporters
Not everyone came to raise concerns. Anderson B., a Madison Street resident, called the project "exactly what we need" and urged the board to redesign rather than scrap it if opposition grew. David A., a transit-oriented development advocate, asked that if no parking is provided, the units be marketed explicitly to car-free households. Suzanne, who lives nearby, proposed reserved park-and-ride spaces in any future parking garage and suggested Metro study a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks connecting to the Mount Vernon Trail.
James C., a freelance writer who said he first read about the proposal in The Alexandria Brief, questioned Metro's authority to own income-producing property and asked whether alternatives had been studied. Under the hearing format, Metro officials did not respond to speakers; all questions will be addressed in a written staff report.
Watch the public hearing
Next steps
The public comment period closes at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 30. Comments can be submitted at wmata.com/braddockhearing or mailed to Office of Board Affairs, SECT 2E, P.O. Box 44390, Washington, DC 20026-4390. Reference "Braddock Public Hearing" in the subject line. Anonymous comments are accepted.
Metro will post a draft staff report in summer 2026 with a 10-day public comment period before it is finalized. The final report goes to the Metro Board of Directors for approval in fall 2026, when the public will have a further opportunity to comment at WMATA headquarters in Washington.
