Repairs underway at Tollhouse Park

Tollhouse Park, the centerpiece of the Annandale revitalization area, has gotten a little shabby in recent months, but efforts to fix it are under way.

The broken lights and the clock, which is about six hours off, will be repaired soon, says Randy Miller, with the Maintenance and Stormwater Management Division in the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. 

The white letters spelling “Annandale” on the wall facing Little River Turnpike had been vandalized and have already been replaced, Miller told members of the Annandale Central Business District Planning Committee (ACBDPC) May 13.

A plaque that had been placed at ground level recognizing the ACBDPC  for its work to create the park has been fixed (the word “revitalization” had been spelled wrong) and has been placed on a pole, making it easier to see.

Miller is also planning a walk-through with members of the ACBDPC to identify infrastructure problems throughout the Annandale revitalization area—such as sidewalks, street lights, and landscaping—that need to be fixed. About $75,000 is available in county funds to repair streetscape elements in Annandale and four other revitalization areas that are supposed to be maintained by the county.

Getting the Virginia Department of Transportation to take care of streetscape issues it is responsible for is way more difficult. “We’re really striking out getting VDOT to do anything,” Miller said. When a snowplow knocked out some brick pavers in a street in another area of the county, VDOT’s solution was to put in concrete, which is “worse than nothing.”