Confederate Highway Renaming Proposal Advances In Fairfax County

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday to advance the process of renaming Lee Highway and Lee-Jackson Highway to Route 29 and Route 50, respectively.

Both highways reference Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway also references Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who chairs the board's transportation committee, introduced the measure based on the recommendations of the Confederate Names Task Force. The board had established the task force in July 2021 to review the names of the two highways and make new name recommendations.

"From August through December 2021, this task force met, sought public input, prepared recommendations, and submitted a final report to the board in December 2021," Alcorn said. "The report recommended first changing the names of both roadways and submitted alternative names for each, and second, that the board consider providing financial assistance to those affected."

Read the task force's full recommendation report here.

County staff conducted further outreach and presented its findings during the June 14 transportation committee meeting.

"The presentation also provided information on the cost of signage, actions undertaken by neighboring jurisdictions, and various ways jurisdictions are providing aid to businesses directly impacted by a name change," Alcorn said. "During that committee meeting, board members provided feedback on how they wanted to proceed on the naming of both roads."

The motion approved on Tuesday by 9-1 vote directs county staff to develop a board item to be presented to the supervisors for a final vote at the board's Sept. 13 meeting.

"The item should include a resolution supporting the name changes, which would be provided to the Commonwealth Transportation Board as required by the Virginia code," Alcorn said. "Further, I move that the item include information on ways to financially assist those directly impacted by changing the name of either road and that criteria to meet such assistance be developed in an equitable manner."

Related: Lee-Jackson, Lee Highway Renamings: Alternate Names Suggested

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, who is the lone Republican on the board, voted in opposition to the measure.

"Changing the name of roads is a lot harder and more impactful than removing a statue," he said. "With all the challenges that our residents and businesses are facing, we're going to add this cost to them, either publicly through taxes or otherwise?"

Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik disagreed with Herrity that changing a street name would cost more than removing a statue. Though there is a cost associated with changing the street names, it was minimal.

"There's also a cost to not doing some things and to not address the impact we've had on our history," she said.

One thing the county would never never know was how much business and growth opportunities were lost because of the signs and symbols with links to the Confederacy that were still in place around the county, according to McKay.

"While many people never may never pass by a certain statute, certainly everyone who's come in and out of Fairfax County at some point in time has driven by a highway sign that has these names on them," he said. "What those names mean to people is something that we should all be sensitive to if we are to grow our community and build economic development opportunities, and send a clear message to people coming and going from Fairfax County of what our values are."

Also see ...

Ousting Confederate Street Names A Step Toward Inclusion: Council