Some residents in Alexandria, Virginia, say changes to Seminary Road have created a traffic nightmare.
"Get rid of these stupid islands, get ride of these bike lanes,” Alexandria resident Phil Cefaratti said.
Seminary Road near Quaker Lane was changed from a multi-lane road to just one lane in each direction with a center turning lane and bike lanes on each side.
Cefaratti and other residents say reducing the number of car lanes has created a traffic nightmare during rush hour.
"People on my side are very very frustrated. There are Facebook groups and we are publishing and posting videos, photographs, and we're basically calling on city council, especially the mayor, to do something about this,” Cefaratti said.
Cefaratti says it takes as long as 20 minutes to go a mile in some instances.
But other residents and city leaders say the changes were necessary to prevent crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians.
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"We have residents on this side of the street - who drive to work across the street. They literally live across the street from where they work and drive because they don’t feel it’s safe,” resident Jim Durham said.
"We need to give people time to adjust to the changes and adjust their travel patterns and understand what’s going on in the street," Alexandria Deputy Director of Transportation Hillary Orr said.
Orr said the city changed the orad as part of its Vision Zero mission to reduce pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist fatalities.
City leaders say they have seen travel times improve as they adjust signal timing.
