Years of advocacy have paid off for residents in Lincolnia’s Bren Mar area with the recent addition of flashing pedestrian beacons at a key intersection.
An estimated 50 to 60 community members gathered last Saturday (Oct. 18) to officially celebrate the beacons’ installation at a crosswalk on Edsall Road that connects dozens of homes to the Bren Mar swimming pool and tennis courts as well as Fairfax County’s Bren Mar Park.
“We feel this new crosswalk will significantly address concerns and close calls that many residents have experienced when crossing this busy four-lane road that serves as a major artery from I-395 to the City of Alexandria,” Bren Pointe Homeowners’ Association President Tyler Ray told FFXnow by email prior to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Bren Pointe, which consists of 97 townhomes, is joined by the Jefferson Greene and Isabella neighborhoods on the south side of Edsall Road, just west of the Plaza 500 business park.
When Fairfax County approved its development plans for the residential complex in 2016, builder Tri Pointe Homes agreed to commission a study to determine whether a traffic signal or pedestrian beacon was needed for the Edsall Road crosswalk.
Bren Pointe HOA Vice President Mary Bowen says she first followed up with Tri Pointe and the Virginia Department of Transportation, which owns the road, on the plan for pedestrian improvements at the end of summer 2021. At that point, construction on the homes was underway.
Tri Pointe confirmed that it would address the intersection “at some point,” and Bowen checked back in with VDOT a couple more times, but by the time the final home was completed in 2023, the issue seemed to have fallen by the wayside.
That changed once Bowen brought up the community’s safety concerns to Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez in April 2024, a few months into his first term in office after he was elected to succeed the retired Penny Gross.
“I made him aware that here we were, three years into the development, and this crosswalk light that we had been promised was still not in place,” Bowen said in an interview. “There was a lot of safety concerns for the pedestrians going back and forth.”
Citing traffic safety among his top priorities, Jimenez and his office staff “jumped right on the opportunity” to look into the project, Bowen says.
They soon learned that VDOT had, in fact, conducted a traffic study for the crosswalk and determined the driver and pedestrian volume levels didn’t warrant a flashing beacon. In addition, the site’s proximity to the signalized intersection at Plaza 500 and Winter View Drive ruled out the possibility of a traffic light.
However, the study had been conducted before the Bren Pointe community was fully built out and during the off-season when the swimming pool was closed, raising concerns that it didn’t accurately capture road conditions when traffic was busiest.
Bowen says it took “some back and forth” for Jimenez’s staff to convince VDOT to conduct another traffic study, but this time, the results led VDOT to approve a flashing beacon.
The installation, paid for by Tri Pointe, took approximately three weeks and required crews to dig up the existing sidewalk so they could add in electrical wiring. Though the beacons are solar-powered, they have an electric backup system.
The three beacons — one on each side of the road and one in the median — were finally completed in September. Though construction started a week after the pool closed, Bowen says there are plenty of residents taking advantage of the safety improvement.
“We have a lot of people in the neighborhood that play tennis and pickleball year-round,” she said. “So, they’re excited because they can use it when they’re going back and forth, especially right now, because the weather’s so pretty.”
Ray and Bowen both praised Jimenez’s office for advocating for their neighborhood and ensuring the project actually came to fruition. The Mason District supervisor attended last week’s celebration, teaming up with Bowen to cut the ceremonial ribbon.
“This new pedestrian safety beacon on Edsall Road is a great example of what happens when residents, County staff, and VDOT work together to make our neighborhoods safer,” Jimenez said in a statement to FFXnow. “Bren Pointe neighbors advocated for this improvement, and now families and children have a safer way to cross between their homes and the Bren Mar Recreation Association. It’s a small project with a big impact that shows how collaboration strengthens our community.”
