Improved Pedestrian, Bicycle Safety Highlight Bailey's Crossroads Campaign

BAILEY'S CROSSROADS, VA — The Coalition for Smarter Growth and CASA, an immigrant advocacy group, launched a campaign in the Bailey’s Crossroads area of Fairfax County that aims to improve access to sidewalks and create safer bicycle routes.

The campaign, Safe Streets for Bailey’s Crossroads, is kicking off amid an increase in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths and injuries in Fairfax County. The county’s immigrant communities are often located in areas of the county where sidewalks, crosswalks and other infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists are not in place.

The Bailey’s Crossroads community is home to a large immigrant population where many residents rely on walking, biking and using the bus to get to work and their daily activities.

The area is a heavily traveled area of Fairfax County, with high-speed traffic on Route 7 and Columbia Pike. The area has few sidewalks along the main roads, and crossing the street can be extremely dangerous. Safe access to bus stops in Bailey's Crossroads also has been a problem for decades.

“The Rt. 7 corridor in the Bailey’s Crossroads community is a notoriously dangerous place for people walking, biking, and taking the bus,” Sonya Breehey, Northern Virginia advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said in a statement Thursday.

Breehey said her group looks forward to working with CASA to help achieve safety improvements “that are long overdue.” The Coalition for Smarter Growth, based in D.C., advocates for safe walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented communities.

In December, a woman who was walking in the shoulder along Leesburg Pike in the Bailey's Crossroads area was struck by a car and later died at the hospital. The area of Route 7 where the resident was walking lacked a sidewalk.

CASA has worked with the Culmore community in the western edge of Bailey’s Crossroads on immigration and health issues and “we see street safety as a critical health and safety concern for our residents,” Eduardo Zelaya, CASA’s regional lead organizer for Virginia, said in a statement.

Jose Castillo, who immigrated to Fairfax County from El Salvador eight years ago, said he has witnessed an increase in accidents due to the speed of drivers.

"Unfortunately, there have already been human losses due to such a problem," Castillo, a resident of the Culmore area and a CASA member, said in a statement. "As part of the community, I raise my voice with the sole objective of safeguarding the physical safety of people who travel on this road by eliminating and reducing risk factors."

A $50,000 grant from the Mobility Fund, a consortium of national foundations, is helping to fund the campaign. In December, the Mobility Fund awarded the grant to Safe Streets for Bailey’s Crossroads and seven other mobility advocacy campaigns across the country.

The Fairfax County Department of Transportation and the Virginia Department of Transportation have identified the Route 7 corridor as a high-risk corridor for road users based on years of data showing the high numbers of fatalities and serious injuries.

However, no significant investments in safety improvements have been made to address the traffic fatalities and injuries in the area, according to the groups.