ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A viral video showing drivers doing donuts at the intersection of Seminary Road and Beauregard Street is just the latest frustration on what neighbors call a dangerous stretch of road. Now, Alexandria's mayor is looking at options to address those concerns.
At a lengthy city council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Justin Wilson called neighbors' concerns valid. He said it's not up for debate, and there is clearly an issue. What is up for debate is what's going to be done to fix it.
The scene at Seminary Road and Beauregard is just the latest example. Last week, a driver crashed into a home on Seminary Road for the second time this year.
In July, neighbors formed the Seminary Road Committee. Their focus is finding ways to improve the stretch of roadway for everyone, drivers included. They created a survey and launched it at the beginning of September. As of October 17, they have already received more than 200 responses.
Seminary Road was not on the city council's agenda on Tuesday, but the mayor brought it up at the very end of the meeting and the council, along with the police department and transportation officials, spent about an hour discussing long-term solutions, including adding a turn lane or flex posts. The mayor asked for short-term solutions as well.
"There are some short-term things that we can do. Now, they will involve trade-offs. There will be trad-offs with lane capacity. Trade-offs with potential congestion. But I think given the level of safety concerns that we're dealing with, some of those trade-offs might be trade-offs we're willing to make. The purpose of the conversation tonight was to start a conversation with our staff, as well as the community and the council to talk about these kinds of trade-offs," Wilson said.
The city installed some devices along Seminary Road last week to track data along that stretch of road. They expect to present findings to the community at a meeting next month.