We won on Braddock Rd!

[Jonathan Krall]

Hi All,

Yesterday a handful of Grassroots Alexandria volunteers spent 12 hours at Alexandria City Council chambers, speaking up and supporting the Braddock Road East mobility project. The project adds many safety improvements, including continuous bike lanes on Braddock Rd from Russell to West St. That is, from residents to the metro station and from Alexandria west of the CSX tracks to Alexandria east of the railroad tracks. 

 

Our handful of volunteers was joined by friends and neighbors from Alexandria Families for Safe Streets and Bicycle and the Alexandria Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Members of the NoVA YIMBYs, the Del Ray Citizens Association, various Alexandria boards and commissions, and many other groups were present, as were many people who just heard about the project and want safer streets in the city where they live.

These individual built a web site, made signs and postcards, printed flyers, set up outreach tables, organized a bike ride and "walk throughs" with city council members and neighbors, distributed outreach materials, talked to hundreds of their neighbors, and kept it positive the entire time. 

We showed up because we live in a safe, kind city and we want to build on that. 

Below is the report from BPAC on the city council hearing. The project was approved in a 4-3 vote, with only a small modification. Unlike on King (2014), Seminary (2019) and Duke (2024), the compromise will not build yet another gap into the cycling network. "Yes" votes came from Bagley, Marks, Gaskins, and Aguirre. Hopefully we can build on that too.

Thanks to all for your continued effort,

Jonathan

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	(Alexandria BPAC) We won on Braddock Rd!
Date:	2026-05-16 21:36
From:	Zack DesJardins <ZacharyD...@gmail.com>
To:	alexand...@googlegroups.com
Reply-To:	alexand...@googlegroups.com

Hi everyone, 

 

Tonight, the Braddock Rd Corridor Improvements passed 4 to 3 with Mayor Gaskins, Vice Mayor Bagley, Councilman Aguirre and Councilwoman Marks voting in yes. Councilwoman Greene, Councilman Chapman and Councilman Elnoubi voted no. In the coming days, please consider sending a short thank you email to those who voted yes! (Alyia....@alexandriava.gov, sarah....@alexandriava.gov, Canek....@alexandriava.gov, and sandy...@alexandriava.gov). 

 

The staff recommendation was slightly tweaked to retain parking on the block adjacent to the Good Shepherd church which removes the bike lane protection for that short block. This tweak was necessary to obtain a majority and most of the time, that parking bay will be empty. The Council also voted to add several midblock crosswalks, subject to staff verifying feasibility. A missing sidewalk will also added around the Good Shepherd Church. 

 

Your emails, testimony, bike ride, walks with City Council and much more make this victory possible. I am also proud that many people thanked the staff for their work as those kinds of jobs can be thankless. Our side's positive, thoughtful approach drew a sharp contrast to the doom, gloom and negativity on the other side which also helped us win the votes we needed. 

 

Thank you all you and very well done!

 

Zack

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