
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995                   TAG: 9508180014
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                 LENGTH: Short

ALEXANDRIA: A CAR IN NEARLY EVERY GARAGE

Created by an unusual mixture of single people and affluence, a problem is brewing for residents and officials of this Washington suburb: There are nearly as many cars as people.

More than 104,000 motor vehicles are registered in Alexandria. Its total population is about 115,000, and an estimated 100,000 of those residents are of driving age.

No other large jurisdiction in the area comes close to Alexandria's cars-to-people ratio. It is at the forefront of a nationwide trend in which almost every adult has a car - and many people have more than one.

Traffic jams no longer are just rush-hour headaches. Parking is a perpetual problem, particularly in the historic Old Town area. Getting a car into a repair shop often means a long wait.

``You've got to look at the demographics,'' City Manager Vola Lawson said. ``The average resident is a single person who has never been married, and that person needs a car.''

The Washington area is prime territory for multivehicle households. It is the richest metropolitan area in the nation - median household income is about $53,000 - and it has the highest number of workers per household, said Alan E. Pisarski, a transportation policy consultant in Falls Church.

Given Alexandria's unusual demographics, he added, it shouldn't be surprising the city has lots of cars. More than 40 percent of Alexandria households consist of one person, according to the 1990 census, ranking the city third in the nation in number of one-person households.

by CNB