Drivers dangerously speeding on Jeff Todd Way between Route 1 and Telegraph Road cannot be stopped by Fairfax County police. The long-standing issue is driving frustrated county supervisors to send another letter to the Pentagon seeking a final signature on a years-old document.
Jeff Todd Way opened in 2014 to replace access through Fort Belvoir that was cut off after Sept. 11, 2001. Even though the road is outside the secure area, it is still on land owned by the Pentagon, so special agreements are required to allow Fairfax County police to patrol the road.
Virginia sent its end of the agreement in 2016, Supervisor Dan Storck said.
“It is critical that this agreement is finalized so the Fairfax County Police Department can provide traffic enforcement and promote safe driving and reduced speeds,” Storck said.
The letter from the board to a deputy assistant secretary of the Army requests immediate support and execution of the agreements, and includes the many past requests from the county for similar progress.
“This is a boiling over frustration point, to put it politely,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay said.
Until last year, McKay represented the nearby Lee District.
“We took a risk in 2014 and we said let’s open the road even though we don’t have an executed MOU…Can you imagine if 5.5 years went by with the gridlock we were having around Fort Belvoir? 5.5 years that road was completed and wouldn’t have been open to the public? Absolutely unacceptable,” McKay said.
The county frequently gets requests for speed enforcement on Jeff Todd Way, but it remains up to Fort Belvoir officers to enforce speeding rules, something those officers are not able to do on a regular basis.
That means there are “immediate public safety and endangerment issues that are presented out there,” McKay said.
The county also plans to raise the issue again with its members of Congress and state officials.
