Design improvements, reduced default speed limits and campaigns to discourage drunk driving are some of the steps Herndon could take to make its streets safer under a newly proposed plan.
The Town of Herndon is seeking public feedback on its draft Roadway Safety Action Plan, which evaluated current road conditions and recommends strategies for achieving an ambitious goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries in the next 12 years.
“As our town continues to grow and more people move around in different ways, it’s critical that we take a thoughtful, proactive approach to roadway safety,” Mike Shindledecker, a transportation engineer for Herndon, said in a press release. “This planning effort brings together the best available data, community input, and national best practices to guide future improvements.”
Mostly funded with a $400,000 federal grant, the initiative to develop a roadway safety action plan launched last summer and involved analyses of crash data as well as a survey and pop-up events to gather community input.
The study found that, in Herndon, traffic crashes remain below pre-pandemic levels but have been consistently increasing since 2020, when there were around 250 crashes — including 24 that resulted in death or serious injury — down from around 400 crashes with 32 fatalities or serious injuries in 2019. Crash levels have rebounded to more than 300 in 2023, 29 of them serious.
While Herndon has relatively few fatalities, it sees more crashes that result in injury than Northern Virginia does as a whole, according to the Roadway Safety Action Plan, confirming previous findings by the town.
About half of all crashes occur at intersections, and the town’s business corridor, led by Elden Street, has a significantly higher concentration of crashes (95.67 crashes per mile) than the surrounding single-family residential neighborhoods (16.04 crashes per mile).
Based on the crash data, the plan identified 23 road segments and intersections where the most frequent and severe crashes occur. Proposed design fixes range from low-cost measures like turn restrictions and signal adjustments on segments of Elden Street to more extensive reconfigurations, such as a possible roundabout at Dranesville Road and Herndon Parkway or a pedestrian median on Spring Street between Herndon Parkway and Fairfax County Parkway.
The plan recommends that the town immediately start identifying funding for the proposed projects with the goal of starting construction on approximately three per year in 2029.
In addition to tackling improvements at specific sites, the plan suggests that the Department of Public Works and other staff regularly evaluate all traffic signals, street signs and pavement markings for potential repairs or upgrades.
Outside of design or engineering changes, recommended strategies for improving the safety of Herndon’s streets include:
- Use dispatch logs to collect crash data beyond what police are legally required to report to the Virginia Department of Transportation, which raise the mandatory reporting threshold in 2025 from $1,500 to $3,000 in property damages
“Pedestrian and bicycle crashes are historically underreported and excluding crashes that do not meet the minimum property damage amount may result in even greater underreporting of crashes involving vulnerable road users,” the Roadway Safety Action Plan says, adding that traffic cameras could also serve as a data-gathering tool.
- Increase educational outreach
In addition to organizing seasonal messaging campaigns on different topics, such as driving in winter weather or watching out for pedestrians and cyclists, the plan recommends that the Town of Herndon distribute materials with safety tips to new residents and partner with the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) on impaired driving prevention programs.
- Install a traffic garden
Pointing to a guide developed by Arlington County, the plan notes that traffic gardens can range in cost from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, but they’re useful tools for teaching children how to navigate roadways and promoting pedestrian and bicycle safety.
“Research shows that experiential programs that provide children with the opportunity to learn and practice safe behaviors are most effective at teaching traffic safety skills,” the plan says.
- Use automated traffic enforcement
Herndon has gotten a jump start on implementing this recommendation after the town council approved an ordinance to establish a red light camera program earlier this month. A timeline for the rollout hasn’t been established yet, but under state law, the town can install up to 10 cameras.
Though Herndon hasn’t introduced any speed monitoring devices yet, Fairfax County’s speed camera program now includes 20 school zones and the active construction zone on Fairfax County Parkway.
- Reduce speed limits
The plan recommends that the Town of Herndon pass an ordinance by 2030 to allow 20-mph speed limits, as permitted by a state law adopted in 2024. Currently, the town’s lowest default speed limit is 25 mph.
Fairfax County is planning to launch a pilot program this summer to test 20-mph speed limits on select streets, following in the footsteps of D.C., Montgomery County and Falls Church. Arlington County is also considering establishing “bicycle boulevards” with reduced 20-mph speed limits.
“This change yields many desirable outcomes for pedestrians and bicyclists but also has benefits for motorists in improving the cone of vision and reaction time,” the roadway safety plan says of lower speed limits.
Comments on the draft plan can be submitted through an online form that will remain open until Saturday (Feb. 28).
“Before we finalize the plan and put it into action, we want to hear directly from the public,” Shindledecker said. “Your feedback will help ensure that our priorities reflect the real needs and experiences of people who live and travel in Herndon every day.”
The plan will be presented to the Herndon Town Council for adoption sometime this spring.
