Safety Improvements At Fatal Crash Site On Burke Centre Parkway Under Review By VDOT

BURKE, VA — The Virginia Department of Transportation expects to have a post-crash report completed by mid-October that will include recommended improvements to the intersection on Burke Centre Parkway where a teenage girl was recently killed in a crash.

Many residents who live along or near Burke Centre Parkway are calling on VDOT and Fairfax County officials to block the median so that drivers can't make a left turn out of the Burke Centre Shopping Center onto the parkway.

Other residents favor adding a traffic light to Burke Centre Parkway, where the fatal crash occurred on July 18, while some believe the intersection should remain the same as long as the Fairfax County Police Department increases patrols for speeders and aggressive drivers.

At a virtual forum hosted by Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw on Tuesday night, Steven Welch, an official with VDOT in Northern Virginia, said the department has three months from the time of the July 18 fatal crash to offer a recommendation on what to do with the section of Burke Centre Parkway where the fatal crash occurred.

If VDOT recommends blocking the median area to prevent left turns and then gets final approval to implement the change, it would take less time to finish that type of project than if officials decide to put a traffic light at the shopping center near the Chik-Fil-A restaurant.

A median closure is “a relatively quick project,” while a traffic signal project could take another year, Welch said at the community forum.

For its studies of the crash site, Welch said VDOT will wait until school is back in session so that it can get a better understanding of traffic volume and speed patterns.

The community forum was held almost a month after Rebekah Zarco, 17, was killed in a car crash in the 5700 block of Burke Centre Parkway. Three teenage passengers, including Rebekah’s brother, were seriously injured in the crash.

The Fairfax County Police Department arrested a Burke man in connection with the July 18 crash. Jose Angel Zelaya, 42, faces involuntary manslaughter charges related to the crash.

Detectives from the FCPD’s Crash Reconstruction Unit determined Zelaya was traveling nearly double the 40-mph speed limit on Burke Centre Parkway “moments prior to the crash,” police said.

At Tuesday night’s community forum, some residents said they heard cars racing on Burke Centre Parkway around 9 p.m. on July 18, the time of the fatal crash. An FCPD official said police reviewed neighbors' home security video but were unable to ascertain any identifiable information of the vehicles that may have been racing in the neighborhood.

Other residents who have information about cars that were racing or other information about the July 18 crash can contact the FCPD's crash reconstruction tip line at 703-280-0543.

Road racing on Burke Centre Parkway and Burke Lake Road can be heard regularly at night, residents said at the forum.

A resident who lives in a neighborhood across from the crash site said he estimates there have been about 50 crashes on that section of Burke Centre Parkway since he moved into his home 30 years ago.

As part of its analysis in the July 18 crash, VDOT will look at traffic data on the section of Burke Centre Parkway going back five to 10 years. Walkinshaw recommended that the resident meet with VDOT to provide his crash data from the past 30 years.

Along the length of Burke Centre Parkway, VDOT has made several safety improvements in recent years.

Welch said that VDOT follows the federal Manual of Uniform Traffic Control devices to determine whether the installation of a traffic signal is warranted at a location. A Signal Warrant Study considers traffic and pedestrian volumes, crash history, roadway physical characteristics and traffic operation conditions.

At the community forum, another resident said he had reviewed VDOT crash data between 2011 and 2022 for Burke Centre Parkway, which runs between Burke Lake Road and the Fairfax County Parkway. He found that there had been about 500 crashes on Burke Centre Parkway during the more than 10-year period.

The crash data, which did not include the July 18 fatal crash, showed that there had been one fatality and 300 injuries between 2011 and 2022, the resident said.

Other residents asked if speed cameras could be placed along Burke Centre Parkway to catch speeders and encourage drivers to slow down.

The FCPD is conducting a new Speed Camera Pilot Program that included the installation of photo monitoring devices, or speed cameras, in eight school zones. In five school zones surveyed by the FCPD in 2022, thousands of drivers exceeded the speed limit by more than 10 mph during the sample period.

Fairfax County gained authority from the Virginia General Assembly to install speed cameras in school zones but does not have the legal authority at this time to place the cameras outside of school zones, Walkinshaw said at the forum.

During a high visibility enforcement campaign conducted on Burke Centre Parkway after the July 18 fatal crash, the FCPD said it issued 440 citations between July 24 and July 29. As part of the campaign, speed feedback sign boards were placed in the area of the crash.

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