On Nov. 7 the Alexandria City Planning Commission approved the request from the Alexandria Presbyterian Church to replace its current 3,400 square feet church at 1300 West Braddock Road by a 23,000 square feet mini-mega church. We wish the APC well but fear the worst for the traffic problems that will be exacerbated.
The adjacent junction Scroggins Road with West Braddock Road is now the scene of severe backups from cars that flee the congestion on King Street. The car fumes have created an environmental nuisance in the neighborhood. Crossing West Braddock Road is unsafe for pedestrians, bicyclists, and cars that have to dodge the rapidly moving cars on West Braddock Road.
Neighborhood speakers at the meeting of the Planning Commission requested that the building permit for the Alexandria Presbyterian Church be matched by the installation of traffic lights at the junction of Scroggins Road and West Braddock Road but to no avail. The permit was approved without any complementary improvements of the dangerous traffic situation at the junction. Will we have to wait for serious traffic accidents like those two that happened further west on West Braddock Road before the City of Alexandria will get serious about resolving the mega traffic problems that we suffer?
Klas Ringskog
Alexandria