Renaming Of 2 Confederate-Named Highways OK'd In Fairfax County

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County is on track to rename its sections of Lee Highway and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway, two main roadways with Confederate references.

The move comes as part of a larger effort by governments in the region to remove statues of Confederate leaders and strip the names of Confederate officers and authorities from roads. Supporters of the change see it as an end to glorifying the state's past practice of slavery.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 Tuesday to request the roadway name changes from the Commonwealth Transportation Board. The board is seeking to rename Lee Highway as Route 29 and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway as Route 50, which are the current route numbers.

In Virginia, the Commonwealth Transportation Board or the Virginia General Assembly renames state highways, typically by request from a locality.

In July 2021, the Board created the Confederate Names Task Force to review if the names of Lee Highway and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway. The task force recommended changing both names, suggesting alternate names and financial assistance for those impacted by the name changes.

County staff plan to return to the board in the fall with a financial assistance program with an estimated cost of $1.5 million. As an example, county staff have looked at Prince William County's Route 1 Refresh Grant Program, which is providing financial assistance to businesses on Route 1 impacted by the name change from Jefferson Davis Highway to Richmond Highway. The grant program helps with printed materials, signage, business cards and other costs related to website updates, marketing and more.

According to Board of Supervisors documents, the estimated cost for renaming Route 29 and Route 50 would cost $1.4 million for signage, subject to Virginia Department of Transportation's final design. The county and VDOT found 177 signs referencing Lee Highway and 56 referencing Lee Jackson Memorial Highway in Fairfax County.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity was the lone vote against the renaming motion. Herrity claimed the renamings didn't have the support of the majority of the public and that a survey of business owners asked if they'd be financially impacted but not if they supported the change. Herrity called the task force's renaming recommendation a "predetermined decision" when the task force was formed.

"In these challenging times, our residents and businesses with ever rising taxes and inflation, I don't think we should be spending money on something or residents have said they do not want and imposing financial or other burdens on our businesses that actually use the road names without even asking them if they want the change or the impact on their business," Herrity told the board.

Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik believes the renaming process has been thorough, including the task force's discussions.

"We also know that often there is opposition to change," Palchik said. "So that is part of I think what we saw in the final surveys, but I do know that they listened to every voice took every input seriously and that there was a dissenting opinion that was published, as well, so that we can make a decision."

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, the chair of the board's transportation committee, also voiced support for the renamings.

"I realize for some of the folks that are there, it's going to be a change, but the vast majority of us it's not," said Alcorn. "Frankly, it's important for us at this point in our history to make sure that we are not glorifying folks that we don't want to glorify anymore."

Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw also defended the task force's work, noting one of his appointees shared a different view on the renamings. Another Braddock task force member is one of the highway corridor's largest property owners and employers and didn't express concerns about the name change affecting business, according to Walkinshaw.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said the board gets to decide what's appropriate to celebrate and memorialize.

"These symbols and these names have a profound negative effect on a lot in our community," McKay said. "And we can stand by and let that continue and celebrate that, or we can make a modest change to rename these back to the same thing they're name now, which is the route number and address."

Confederate Road Renamings in Fairfax County and Northern Virginia

The renaming effort stems from the board asking the Fairfax County History Commission to make an inventory of Confederate street names, monuments, and public places in July 2020. The report found 157 assets with Confederate-associated names in Fairfax County. Lee Highway and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway reference Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway also references Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

According to the History Commission's report, Lee Highway was named by the Virginia General Assembly across the commonwealth in 1922 to memorialize Gen. Robert E. Lee. In 2021, the Arlington County Board voted to rename its section of Route 29 from Lee Highway to Langston Boulevard and Route 309/Lee Highway/Old Lee Highway to Cherry Hill Road. In July, the Fairfax City Council voted to rename 14 Confederate-named roads, including Lee Highway, but have not yet finalized new names. Route 29 is known as Washington Street in the City of Falls Church but is known as Lee Highway west of Fairfax County.

Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway originated in the 1800s as part of Little River Turnpike, but state legislators renamed it Lee Jackson Memorial Highway in 1922 as a supplementary loop to Lee Highway. West of Fairfax County, Route 50 has been known as John Mosby Highway, but the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted in late 2021 to replace the Confederate name with Little River Turnpike, along with changing Harry Byrd Highway/Route 7 to Leesburg Pike. Other areas of Route 50 in Virginia are named Lee-Jackson Highway or have non-Confederate names like Fairfax Boulevard in the City of Fairfax.

Other Confederate highway renamings in recent years have centered around Jefferson Davis Highway/Route 1 in Arlington County, City of Alexandria and Stafford County being renamed Richmond Highway. The City of Fredericksburg renamed its portion of Jefferson Davis Highway to Emancipation Highway.

Removals of Confederate statues in Richmond took the spotlight, but there have been statue removals in Northern Virginia too. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors previously removed a monument dedicated to the memory of Confederate Captain John Quincy Marr on the grounds the Historic Fairfax Court House at the intersection of Main Street and Chain Bridge Road in the City of Fairfax. In Alexandria, the Confederate Appomattox statue was removed in 2020.

Some school boards have taken action to remove Confederate school names, including two Prince William County schools named for Stonewall Jackson renamed Unity Reed High School and Unity Braxton Middle School. In Fairfax County, Robert E. Lee High School was renamed John R. Lewis High School, Mosby Woods Elementary to Mosaic Elementary, and J.E.B. Stuart High School to Justice High School. The City of Fairfax School Board renamed Lanier Middle School to Katherine Johnson Middle School.

The Lee name has also been removed from Fairfax County's Lee District, which was renamed Fraconia District. Federal lawmakers have also sought a bill to remove the Robert E. Lee reference from Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery.