Posted on 09/14/2022 6:43:19 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
Lee and Lee-Jackson highways may officially no more.
In a 9-1 decision, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to change names of Lee and Lee-Jackson highways to Route 29 and Route 50 respectively.
“This is a necessary and important change for Fairfax County. We will continue to strive to realize our vision of a more equitable One Fairfax,” wrote Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay in a statement.
The move comes after a yearlong review by the county’s Confederate Names Task Force, which called on renaming the highways. The task force submitted recommendations in December.
Overall, updates to signage is expected to cost roughly $1.4 million, according to a county memo. An additional $1.5 million is estimated for a financial assistance program that would affect businesses and residential units that may be impacted by the name change.
That financial assistance program will be developed in the fall through a formal proposal.
Supervisor Pat Herrity — the board’s lone Republican — voted against the proposal. Officially changing the names will require the approval of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
The vote comes at the heels of a June decision to change the Lee District’s magisterial name to the Franconia District.
Evoking Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, the highways were among 150 sites in the county with names whose Confederate origins were confirmed by a 2020 report from the Fairfax County History Commission. Combined, they represent over 20 miles of roadway from Chantilly on the county’s western end to the Falls Church border in the east.
Big waste of money. Growing up here, they were always called “50” and “29-211”.
I remember when Hwy 244 across North Tulsa was renamed Martin Luther King blvd with large signs at both ends.
Not long after I went that route and noticed the signs had been shot to pieces.
So they replaced the signs over supports overhead on the highway. Not so many bullet holes when you have to lean out your window to get a shot.
Following this “logic” all things named after MLK, the plagiarist, adulterer, and communist sympathizer should be renamed…in the name of equity…or something.
Is it true that all lakes in the commonwealth are man made? I heard that the other day.
Virginia has two natural lakes, which are Mountain Lake (near Newport) and Lake Drummond (in the Great Dismal Swamp).
I can’t wait until they want to rename Washington & Lee University to Route 1 & Route 29 University!
They missed the largest Lee memorial, his home in Arlington Cemetery. Why aren’t the calling for it to be razed? Oh, they don’t care thaaaat much.
Hey, Rev MLK staged a million-plus march on Washington and he got away with it.
No it is not.
The commies in Arlington County already renamed W-L High School to “Washington Liberty”. Of course R. L. Lee High School in Springfield is no more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.