Officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, are working to make Burke Centre Parkway safer and invited residents to participate in the conversation on Tuesday night as they shared about what’s being done.
Residents near the parkway shared concerns about aggressive driving and speeding along the busy roadway during a virtual meeting. They were not required to give their names to testify to county leaders.
“It is a problem that continues to point to a larger problem that we need to continue to pursue across our state,” one resident said.
Just last month, a 17-year-old was killed was struck and killed while trying to make a left turn exiting a parking lot onto the parkway. Three others were also injured and Fairfax County Police said the other driver was going nearly double the speed limit. Police are also looking into whether street racing may have led to that deadly crash.
“I appreciate the police being out there and enforcing the speed limit but people are going to forget a couple months down the road,” one community member said.
Supervisor James Walkinshaw said the county is in the process of screening and identifying other areas for spot improvements “and Burke Centre Parkway is absolutely on that list.”
Police said the department has taken several precautions, including working with other law enforcement agencies to issue 15,000 citations with more than 1,700 in the area where the crash occurred.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has also conducted speed limit studies along with other efforts to implement immediate improvements following crashes, according to Steve Welch, who works for VDOT.
“Throughout the last three years, we’ve upgraded the existing crosswalk to a high visibility crosswalk,” Welch said. “At Burke Centre Parkway and Oak Leather drive, we’ve added a ‘left turn yield on green’ sign.”
Virginia officials have also approved a pilot program involving speed cameras in school zones, Walkinshaw said.
“It would be great to have speed cameras to help with that in addition to patrols,” said one community member.
Some residents also asked officials to consider closing off the median to prevent left turns.
