[Updated] Alexandria Residents Followed the Braddock Road Hearing from Markets, Events and even the High-Octane Ball

ALEXANDRIA, VA —

[Editor’s Note: This story was updated on May 19, 2026 with two quotes given to the Zebra by the opposition to the Braddock Road bike lane plan]

It was the kind of Saturday Alexandria does especially well.

Farmers markets were bustling across the city by morning. Del Ray hosted ribbon cuttings and neighborhood foot traffic spilled from sidewalks into local businesses. Families gathered for a play at the Charles Houston Recreation Center. Festival of Speed & Style weekend brought car enthusiasts into Old Town and Del Ray, while Saturday night’s High Octane Ball drew a dressed-up crowd celebrating Alexandria’s automotive culture.

And all across the city, people kept checking their phones.

Not for the Preakness.

Not entirely for the Nationals game.

For City Council.

Inside City Hall, Alexandria leaders were locked in one of the longest and most emotionally charged public hearings in recent memory — an 11-hour debate over the future of Braddock Road and whether protected bike lanes and parking changes should move forward.

By the end of the night, City Council voted 4-3 to uphold the Braddock Road bike lane plan, advancing the controversial project into final design after testimony from 88 speakers and months of neighborhood tension.

Mayor Alyia Gaskins joined Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley and Council Members Canek Aguirre and Sandy Marks in supporting the project. Council Members Jacinta Greene, John Taylor Chapman, and Abdel-Rahman Elnoubi voted against it.

The Braddock Road Trail Access and Corridor Improvements Project affects the stretch between Russell Road and North West Street and is intended to improve safety and accessibility for cyclists, pedestrians, transit users, and drivers.

Supporters argued the redesign would calm traffic, improve crossings, and make the corridor safer and more connected. Opponents questioned the removal of parking, impacts on churches and nearby residents, and whether the level of bicycle traffic justified the changes.

Zack DesJardins, vice president of Alexandria’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said supporters viewed the vote as an affirmation that safety improvements resonated with a majority of council members.

“The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee is delighted that a majority of the City Council supported the Braddock Rd Corridor Improvements project,” DesJardins told Zebra tonight. “Our members’ and friends’ positive, fact-based approach proved persuasive. We look forward to riding and walking along a safer Braddock Rd in 2028.”

Opponents, however, continued to raise concerns about congestion, accessibility, and the impact the redesign could have on residents who rely heavily on vehicle access and public transportation.

“The decision by the city council on Saturday is a gut punch to the residents and community of Braddock Road. We were disappointed to learn we live in a city where the needs of residents, the elderly, the disabled, churches, and businesses don’t matter because of one activity versus the day-to-day lives we live,” said  Carrie Pergram, Save Braddock Road Coalition.

That sentiment was echoed by City Councilman Abdel Elnoubi, who said, “The corridor isn’t on the city’s High Injury Network. The two segments in dispute had no pedestrian or cyclist crashes in the data window. The Segment 2 design doesn’t meet the All Ages and Abilities standard the project is being sold under. The traffic study supporting the city’s claim of ‘minimal delay’ is based on counts taken on a single weekday in January 2025, before federal workers returned to in-person work, and was never checked against the heavier traffic many residents have noticed on this corridor over the past year. The impact on a 500-member church and on neighbors — including residents with disabilities and seniors — doesn’t outweigh the marginal safety benefits. I offered a substitute motion that would have preserved some parking and turn lanes at the most disputed intersections. It was rejected. The version that ultimately passed kept a handful of spaces in front of one church and left the rest of the concerns unaddressed.”

In a letter shared with City Council ahead of Saturday’s vote, Alexandria resident PreeAnn Johnson — an ACPS campus administrator who said she has spent decades working with Alexandria schoolchildren, seniors, families, and residents with disabilities — urged officials to consider how residents move through the city today.

“Planning decisions should reflect how people actually move through our city today — especially students, seniors, working families, and residents with disabilities — not simply how we hope they may travel someday,” Johnson wrote.

But what made Saturday unusual was not simply the vote itself.

It was how much of Alexandria appeared to be carrying the hearing around with it.

“I was at the High Octane Ball tonight and saw a lot of people on their phones,” said Martha Carucci, executive director of the Breast Cancer Collective in Alexandria. “When I asked what they were looking at, thinking it might be the Preakness, I learned they were all watching the City Council hearing.”

Former Mayor Justin Wilson added some humor as the hearing stretched into the afternoon.

“I hear that the Alexandria City Council is having a day-long public hearing with well over 100 speakers weighing a difficult policy question,” Wilson wrote on social media. “In related news: The weather is perfect and we took the boat over to cheer on the Nats.”

One commenter replied that she was switching between the Nationals game and the City Council livestream.

Others checked updates between errands, community events, dinners, and weekend plans. Residents who never planned to spend their Saturday at City Hall still seemed to carry part of the hearing in their pockets throughout the day.

“It felt like everybody in Alexandria knew that  thehearing was happening,” one Del Ray resident said while leaving a Saturday evening event. “Even if you weren’t there, you kept checking to see what was going on.”

The hearing stretched from morning into Saturday evening before concluding shortly after 8:40 p.m.

Before approving the project, the council attached two modifications:

• A parking bay will be restored near Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on West Braddock Road.

• Additional midblock crossings may be added if engineering reviews determine they are feasible.

The protected bike lane design itself remains largely unchanged.

The project now moves into detailed engineering and design work, with construction anticipated in 2028.

Saturday’s hearing may ultimately be remembered less for the final vote count than for what it revealed about Alexandria itself — a city busy living its Saturday while quietly carrying City Hall along everywhere it went.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Zebra is awaiting comment from project opponents post decision and will update this story as additional reaction becomes available.