A small portion of Popes Head Road could undergo $8.7 million worth of construction in an effort to improve safety on the busy secondary road near the Fairfax County Parkway, in the Fairfax Station area.
The Virginia Department of Transportation project, presented during a public information meeting July 28, proposes straightening an “S” curve on Popes Head Road (Route 654), between Quiet Brook Road (Route 7447) and Revercomb Court. VDOT officials also propose upgrading drainage and adding stormwater management systems within the project parameters, which extend for a fifth of a mile.
“The existing condition is pretty clearly unsafe,” Minwoo Ha, an engineering manager for VDOT in Arlington and Fairfax County, told attendees. “You know that we have very limited sight distance. We have a very narrow roadway … without the shoulder.”
If any of the estimated 1,700 cars that use the road daily were to cross the yellow line, “there is no real escape route,” he added.
Reconstruction of the road would improve sight distance — the length of roadway that drivers can continuously see — and be completed in three phases, VDOT officials said.
Construction would likely take 12 to 18 months to complete, though the preparatory work of designing and acquiring right-of-way would bring the project total to three years.
The project is in a conceptual stage and is not funded. VDOT is working with Fairfax County to identify possible sources of funding to pay $1.3 million for preliminary engineering, $1.1 million for right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation, and $6.3 million for construction.
Staff said that data does not show many crashes on this section of the road, but some may go unreported. During the public comment portion of the meeting, some residents noted that drivers who run off the road may simply call a tow truck.
One resident said that cars coming off a “21st century road that is built like the new interchange” of Popes Head and the Fairfax County Parkway have “a false sense of security” as they drive onto “a 225-year-old wagon road with no visibility.”
“My family organizes the cleanup on this road, and more than 20 times we’ve picked up mirrors, glass and even a bumper one time in the woods,” the resident said. “And if you look at the signs off to the side there, you see where people have mowed them over. So people are obviously [struggling] with this … There have been runoffs in the road that aren’t reported.”
A number of other neighbors, most of whom identified themselves as longtime residents of the area, did express concerns about cutting down trees. Many suggested that the “S” curve in the road acts as a natural speed deterrent for drivers.
“I walk on Popes Head every day, and it is a dangerous road,” another resident said. “But it’s going to be worse if that hill is removed, and I think it will destroy the beauty of the area.”
In response, VDOT project manager Mohammad Khalid pointed to slightly different concepts laid out in the presentation that could achieve some of the goals. Once the project is funded, he said, staff would “get the traffic counts, do more analysis, alternative analysis between these options,” and then decide “which one is the best for this location.”
A few residents also asked why the “S” curve wasn’t included in the nearby Popes Head Road/Fairfax County interchange project scheduled for completion in fall 2026.
When that project was first proposed, the cost of everything, especially construction, was going up.
“So we didn’t want to risk the interchange project to include this portion at the time because we didn’t know what would be the final construction cost,” Ha said.
Adding the smaller project later would’ve also meant reopening the entire environmental process, he added.
Staff said that to move forward, the project needs public support. VDOT will accept written feedback from the public on the project through Aug. 12.
