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Notes: Seminary Road resident calls for change after three drivers crash into his home this year

By ALXnow.com

Good Thursday morning, Alexandria!

🌥️ Today’s weather: Clouds will gradually increase, reaching a high close to 70 degrees and accompanied by a south wind blowing at 6 to 11 mph with gusts up to 18 mph. Thursday night’s forecast is cloudy with the temperature dropping to around 55 degrees, and the south wind will persist at 7 to 9 mph.

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Crash at 4600 block of Seminary Road (staff photo by James Cullum)

Ron McNeely may be one of the unluckiest Alexandria residents.

WUSA9 reported that a driver crashed a car into his Seminary Road home earlier this week, but that’s not all: the channel also spoke to McNeely in March when a driver crashed through his fence and again in July after another crash.

Back in March, McNeely told WUSA9 that he moved into his home in 2019 and a driver crashed into the property once before the start of this year.

Now, McNeely is part of a group called the Seminary Road Committee that’s advocating for safety-focused changes on Seminary Road.

According to their website:

As the City and adjacent area of the nearby County have grown in the 46 years the Seminary West Civic Association has been serving the neighborhood, we have all seen the quality of operation and the safety of Seminary Road degrade significantly in the segment from I-395 to the City/County line just west of Dawes Ave. With frequent crashes, clogged traffic in some hours, and speeding traffic in others, it is the sense of the SWCA Board that many of us do not feel safe on Seminary Road, and that something needs to be done by the City and the Commonwealth via VDOT (as Seminary Road is VA Route 420, a primary highway of Virginia).

Changes to Seminary Road have been famously contentious in the past, with the city facing organized and vocal resistance a road diet that reduced travel lanes in favor of bike lanes.

The Seminary Road Committee is running a survey to gather feedback on what neighbors see as major issues and possible solutions. So far, favored options include adding a stoplight to the three-way intersection of Seminary Road, Fillmore Avenue and Dover Place, WUSA9 reported, along with red light cameras at intersections that already have stoplights.

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