Letter: Address Current Needs
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Letter: Address Current Needs

Letter to the Editor

A new city manager, a new director of transportation and environmental service recently took office and yet I wonder what it is these people do. You all must live in Fairfax County, if not, you obviously drive and walk around the city limits with blinders on.

The last time Braddock Road was repaved, the city crews/paving contractor forgot to paint the left hand arrow on westbound Braddock Road at Mt. Vernon Ave. LOL because they did it again having recently completed another repaving. On top of that, when the Rosemont Speedway was put in, the widening of Braddock Road under the train/metro tacks, you all forgot to adjust the north west pedestrian signal at the corner of Braddock and Mt. Vernon Avenue. Back then you changed the angle of the crosswalk on the westbound side of Braddock Road, but failed to adjust the pedestrian signal. With that I will note that one of the pedestrian signals at Russell Road and West Glebe also needs to be adjusted.

Also, why did you folks take down the sign on Braddock Road that showed both lanes on westbound Braddock are: left lane — a thru and left turn lane, while the right lane is also a thru traffic lane and right turn lane. Ever since you restriped/redirected the lane traffic westbound Braddock at Commonwealth, one too many people think it's the same configuration at Russell Road. But, then why should that be surprising for a city that complains it has no money and then after completing a repaving of King Street, turns around and redoes it because the bike lobby pushed for bike lanes. The city should have said fine, but since we just finished repaving and restriping the road, we will incorporate that next time.

Also, perhaps the outgoing mayor should drive centered in the right lane at speed/speed limit on southbound Van Dorn Street between Edsall and S. Pickett Street and hope your vehicle does not unexpectedly swerve into the left lane. Only then will you begin to understand why you should have taken on a capital improvement project to repave this and many other needed sections of roadway instead of spending millions on those metrobus ways when it would have been cheaper to dedicate the curb lane to buses only/right turn only traffic and likely still add a third lane of traffic in each direction from the bridge to Potomac Yards.

So with that, I hope our soon-to-be new mayor focuses on actual infrastructure needs and properly supports our police, fire, and sheriff’s departments so that they are competitively paid and our fire engines and trucks are more properly staffed. We who live on the west end should not have to rely on Fairfax County Fire and Rescue to provide over 50 percent of the responding units when we have a fire or they are responding to one of the many false alarms that occur in the apartment complexes where I live.

Ruben "Bill" Duran

Alexandria