In response to community concerns and in support of the Town’s goals to reduce or eliminate serious injuries and fatalities, the town is reviewing the segment of Bennett Street in front of Herndon High School. Goals of this project consist of the following (in order):

• Prioritize and improve pedestrian/bicyclist safety
• Identify community (student) transportation barriers
• Develop context-sensitive, realistic solutions
• Improve roadway operations

Staff met with High School administrators and other Fairfax County staff in Fall 2024. Staff also met with the Herndon Youth Advisory Committee to discuss the project on December 5, 2024. With this community support, the Town is now partnering with the Virginia Department of Transportation to evaluate multimodal access options for Herndon High School on both Bennett Street and the adjacent Dranesville Road. A preliminary set of roadway concepts was shared for public feedback in Spring 2026 with the goal to deploy short-term changes on Bennett Street in Summer 2026.

A community meeting was held on May 13, 2026 with residents, parents, and other community members in attendance. The presentation from the meeting may be found here.  

The final design maintains the strategy of the preferred alternative, but incorporates community member comments to include new roadway markings, revised signal timing, high visibility crosswalks, protected median crosswalk refuges, enhanced signage, and improved drainage at Royal Elm Court. This design was revised to improve traffic operations while still maintaining consistency with the Town of Herndon Roadway Safety Action Plan to eliminate all fatalities and injuries by 2038. View Bennett Street Plan.

Following the meeting, several community members submitted follow-up comments for consideration in the final design. These comments, along with responses from town staff, may be found here.

Construction on Bennett Street will take place over Summer 2026 to limit impacts to residents and Herndon High School. Activities will take place during the following weeks, weather permitting:

• June 29: Install concrete medians, repair curb ramps, add Royal Elm Court drainage gutter.
• July 13: Repave Bennett Street and Royal Elm Court and begin new sign installations.
• July 20 (or as weather allows): Install new pavement marking and complete signage installations.
• Following construction, test new signal timing parameters in coordination with FCPS pre-school-year activities

Please note that Bennett Street, Herndon High School, and Royal Elm Court will all be accessible throughout construction. Construction crews will guide motorists around any lane closures as required.

publicworks@herndon-va.gov

(703) 435-6853