PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2026
CONTACT
Sonya Breehey, Northern Virginia Advocacy Director
sonya@smartergrowth.net; (202) 675-0016, ext. 7083
Bill Pugh, AICP CTP, Transportation & Climate Director
bill@smartergrowth.net; (202) 675-0016, ext. 7084
FOX 5 DC reported on Friday that four pedestrians were killed in just over one day in Fairfax County. All were killed on wide, higher-speed arterial roads that also serve as residential and commercial hubs – Little River Turnpike at Southland Avenue (Lincolnia), Gallows Road at Strawberry Lane (Merrifield), Route 7 at Munson Hill Road (Seven Corners/Baileys), and Richmond Highway at Fort Hunt Road (Alexandria).
“It is terribly tragic to have four people struck and killed on Fairfax County’s roads. The Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG) and partners, including Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets, CASA, Baileys Crossroads and Culmore PBI, Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling, and Washington Area Bicycling Association, have been pressing the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to redesign its roads, especially these dangerous arterials, to be safer for people walking, biking, taking transit, and driving,” said Sonya Breehey, Northern Virginia Advocacy Director for CSG.”
“While we don’t have the full reports and specifics of each of these crashes, by consulting online maps we can see that these roads range in each location from 5 lanes (including turn lanes) on Little River Turnpike and Leesburg Pike, to 7 to 8 lanes on Gallows Road, to 10 lanes on Richmond Highway,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of CSG. “We see long crossing distances, crosswalks striped on only one side of the intersection, a long stretch with unsignalized intersections on Route 7, and large gaps between crossings on all of the arterials. Each of these roads also includes bus stops that people are trying to reach.”
“While Fairfax County has recently adopted an updated Active Transportation Plan and is proposing redesign of a number of streets, progress is slow. VDOT, which controls the roads in Fairfax County and most suburban roads in the state, continues to be slow in supporting, if not being outright opposed to, many of Fairfax County’s efforts to make arterial roads safer for people walking, biking, and using assistive devices,” said Breehey.
Just last week, Smart Growth America released its annual report, Dangerous by Design, reporting that a staggering 39,254 people were killed on America’s roads in 2024, including 7,080 struck and killed while walking. There has been a 72% increase in pedestrian fatalities in the 15 years from 2009 to 2024, outpacing both growth in population and vehicle miles traveled.”
The report highlights the role of dangerous street designs in the high rate of deaths and serious injuries in the U.S. To quote the report (p. 5): When roads are wide and straight, lanes are wide and plentiful, and intersections are infrequent or non-signalized, people feel comfortable driving faster—even when the speed limit is low. The result can be streets that are terrifying for people walking. Long crossing distances, infrequent signals, and high-speed turns force pedestrians to take their lives into their hands simply to reach the other side of the street.
“CSG and our partners continue to urge Virginia, Maryland, and DC, and each of our local jurisdictions to prioritize making our streets safer for all users. In particular, redesigning our arterial roads to make them safer for people walking, biking, using transit, and driving must be a priority. This means shifting funding from road expansion to road redesign,” concluded Bill Pugh, AICP CTP, Transportation and Climate Director for CSG.
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The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington, DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to advocate for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the region to grow and provide opportunities for all.
Featured image: Seven Corners in Fairfax