The kayak launch at Four Mile Run Park, first discussed in 2017, opened this spring. The stream under the nearby bridge is closed to boaters through August 2027. This year, several long-planned projects are moving forward in Arlandria-Chirilagua on different timelines.
If you live along Mount Vernon Avenue between Del Ray and the Arlington line, you already know the neighborhood does not move in a straight line. This is the year that becomes impossible to ignore.
The kayak launch is open as nearby bridge construction continues.
As reported by the Alexandria Gazette, the city and the Conservancy held a ribbon cutting for the new kayak launch on May 9, marking what officials described as the first ADA-compliant paddling access point on the Potomac River in the entire DC region. The facility sits at 3700 Commonwealth Avenue and includes a raised boardwalk ramp, a gangway to a floating dock, and a wheelchair transfer platform. It cost roughly $600,000, paid for through a mix of the city's Community Matching Fund and outside grants, and it earned a Governor's Environmental Excellence Gold Award earlier this year.
The Alexandria Gazette quoted Kurt Moser, president of the Conservancy, calling the stream "a valuable biodiversity spot in the middle of the city" at the opening. The report also said city staff credited the Conservancy for championing the project "all the way from 2017 until now."
The same city project page announcing the launch carries a second notice: the stretch of Four Mile Run at Mount Vernon Avenue and Arlington Ridge Drive is closed to boaters because of ongoing bridge construction, and that closure runs through August 2027. Boaters are told to turn around and head back downstream if they hit that section. If you are planning a paddle this fall, plan around the bridge, not just around the calendar.
The market that outlasts the guidebooks
While the water access made headlines, the neighborhood's other long-running fixture kept doing what it has done every Sunday since 2010. The Four Mile Run Farmers & Artisans Market sets up outside the Casa Chirilagua Community Center at 4109 Mount Vernon Avenue, Sunday mornings into early afternoon, with produce, native plants, crafts and live music from roughly 10 to noon. In past years the market has run well into November, and this September you can still catch it every week.
It is easy to skip past this one in a roundup built for tourists, because it does not photograph like the Birchmere marquee a few blocks away or the murals commissioned by Tenants and Workers United at 3801 Mount Vernon Avenue. The market has remained part of the avenue as restaurants have opened and closed on the same stretch.
The nearby restaurant scene also changed this year.
Recent changes along the restaurant row
Citywide "what's new" roundups noted that 2D Noodles, a Vietnamese-Japanese fusion spot, opened in the neighborhood in August 2025.
In February, Sake Express Japanese Hibachi at 3827 Mount Vernon Avenue closed after less than a year in business. Staff put signs in the window directing customers to 2D Noodles two doors down, which absorbed Sake Express's hibachi menu alongside its own pho and sushi. Both restaurants shared a chef, and both trace back to the same local restaurant group that runs Sake Japanese Steakhouse on Eisenhower Avenue. The merger was framed by staff as simple logistics, easier to run one kitchen than two.
Set that timeline against RT's Restaurant, the Cajun and seafood spot at 3804 Mount Vernon Avenue that has been serving the neighborhood for more than 31 years, or Northside 10, the sister restaurant to Old Town's Southside 815 that has become a fixture for happy hour and family dinners. Or Veronica's Bakery, the family-run counter turning out conchas, orejas and Honduran baleadas since long before this year's openings and closings. The avenue's dining scene includes long-running establishments as well as newer openings and changes.
Intersection redesigns move into technical design
The third arrival this year is less visible than a kayak launch or a restaurant merger, but it may matter more to how the neighborhood actually feels to walk through. The push to redesign the dangerous intersections along northern Mount Vernon Avenue traces back to a 2016 safety case study, which fed into the 2021 Arlandria-Chirilagua Small Area Plan, which led to a set of preferred intersection designs approved by the city's Traffic and Parking Board in April 2024. City documentation ties the project directly to a documented history of serious crashes at those corners.
This year, two of the four targeted intersections, Executive Avenue and Russell Road, were broken off from the larger Mount Vernon Avenue North Complete Streets project into their own smaller effort so the city could compete more effectively for construction grant funding. The city began the detailed technical design process for those two intersections in early 2026, with the full design process expected to take about a year. Construction is not expected on those blocks this year; after public meetings and hearings dating back to 2017, the project now has a design timeline.
| What's changing | Where it started | Where it stands in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| ADA kayak launch | Planning began 2017 | Opened May 9, with the adjacent stream closed to boaters through August 2027 |
| Farmers & Artisans Market | Running since 2010 | Still open Sundays outside Casa Chirilagua as of this September |
| Restaurant row | 2D Noodles opened August 2025 | Sake Express folded into it in February after less than a year |
| Complete Streets intersections | Case study began 2016 | Executive Ave and Russell Rd entered technical design in early 2026, with the design process expected to take about a year |
What this means if you already live here
Together, these updates show changes unfolding at different stages across the neighborhood. If you are heading to the water this fall, the new launch is real and it is worth using, but check the closure notice before you plan a route past the Arlington Ridge Drive bridge. If you are choosing where to dine on the avenue, the restaurant scene includes both long-running spots and newer openings. For the Executive Avenue and Russell Road intersections, the design timeline is now underway, with construction not expected this year.
Arlandria-Chirilagua's identity has never depended on everything happening at once. This year it happens to be true that the water, the food, and the streets are all mid-transition simultaneously, and the neighborhood is better understood by someone paying attention to all three than by anyone treating them as separate headlines.
If you are curious what these changes mean for a home along Four Mile Run or Mount Vernon Avenue, Kristen Jones Real Estate tracks these changes closely. Request your complimentary home valuation to see where your property stands today.
