A quiet Alexandria neighborhood has been overrun — literally — by misguided tractor-trailers, and residents are losing patience with Fairfax County’s inability to bring a quick stop the monster truck menace.
In April, neighborhood representative Edward Walker brought his complaint before the Board of Supervisors. Truckers missing a turn from North King’s Highway onto Route 1 had been frequently redirected via GPS onto the narrow, steep streets of his neighborhood — namely, Pickett and Franklin streets.
Instead of a shortcut, however, the truckers wound up on streets incapable of handling their size and might, and as they navigated they took down signs, broke fences, and jack-knifed around sharp turns.
Supervisors expressed genuine shock when confronted with Walker’s problem, and directed the county’s transportation department to do something about it as quickly as possible. What’s possible, however, is determined by the state department of transportation, which needs to complete a study of the streets before issuing any recommendations for signage.
Regardless of which agency is in charge, Walker said that things aren’t happening soon enough. Not only have officials failed to get “No Through Trucks” signs in the neighborhood, but they have yet to replace signs that have been destroyed. Last week, three trucks bulldozed through the neighborhood within two days, Walker wrote in an email to the department. One of them took out a stop sign.
“We are patient residents who realize that the wheels of government move slowly, but the inability of our government to more promptly tend to the well-being of citizens of Fairfax County, Va., under these extreme circumstances is disappointing,” Walker wrote.
County transportation officials have said that through truck recommendations require a study from the Virginia Department of Transportation, and thus take at least several months to complete. Supervisor Jeff McKay, D-Lee, said that the county has asked VDOT to fast-track the study.
