More and more lately, we are seeing our public streets littered with illegally parked commercial vehicles like large box trucks, dump trucks and tractor trailers. Not only is this a safety hazard, it’s intrusive to our neighborhoods, blocks our businesses and limits walkability, while diminishing the sense of community we are striving to create. My office continually hears from frustrated residents who consider Richmond Highway our main street and expect it to reflect our vibrant growing community.
Here in the Mount Vernon District, our primary roadways are some of our most visible public places. However, state law does not allow localities such as Fairfax County to regulate truck parking on primary roads such as Richmond Highway. Currently, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) only considers line-of-sight when regulating truck parking on the Highway. This limits the ability of our local governments to create attractive, vibrant places and other features conducive to pedestrian and bicycle utilization and improved safety for all roadway users.
While I continue to work with our state colleagues to implement improvements, we need to be further addressing this problem now. My office has been working for the last year to gain consensus with VDOT and the police as to what can be enforced and the most effective way to identify illegally parked vehicles and report them. We hear from residents who strongly object to seeing these trucks every day and advise me that they often have difficulty clearly reporting parking violations to the police.
I am very pleased to announce our new reporting tool, making it easier for you to report illegal truck parking to the police. My team has worked diligently with County IT, to create a new online tool for anyone to easily report parking violations. The tool features a simple questionnaire and maps to help you pinpoint the exact location of violations, categorize the type of infraction and even identify vehicles with out-of-state plates. Reports are then sent directly to the traffic enforcement team and the appropriate District Supervisor’s office, ensuring that action can be taken swiftly with priority. We look forward to you joining us to clean up our roadways!
You can NOW use the new Parking Reporter Tool at https://tinyurl.com/stoptruckparking.