Covering Annandale, Bailey's Crossroads, Lincolnia, and Seven Corners in Fairfax County, Virginia

Community cleanup scheduled for American Drive on Martin Luther King Day

Need a sofa? Someone dumped one on Americana Drive. 

UPDATE: This event has been postponed until Feb. 18, as more snow is predicted for this weekend. More than 40 people have already signed up.

The public is invited to join a community cleanup of Americana Drive in Annandale on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 21, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

The wooded area along that road between the street and the beltway sound wall. has been a dumping ground for years. During a drive-by on Jan. 9, we saw couches, tires, mattresses, lots of construction debris, many beer cans, fast-food containers, and a huge amount of other litter.

Lots of construction debris dropped off here.

Amy Gould, a resident of the Lafayette Forest Condominium and a member of the Fairfax County Restoration Project, started organizing the cleanup after a complaint about the trash along Americana Drive on the Nextdoor network sparked a lengthy discussion thread.

The Friends of Accotink Creek are partnering with the cleanup event, as are several communities in the area, including the Vistas of Annandale and Bristow Village.

Philip Latasa of Friends of Accotink Creek.

“There’s an endless supply of garbage,” Gould says. Building contractors apparently dump their trash by the road instead of taking to a landfill.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is responsible for collecting litter, and while they do occasionally pick up trash on Americana, it’s not enough, and “the trash keeps coming,” Gould says. She would like to see more police on site to catch people dumping trash and more enforcement of anti-littering laws.

Commercial vehicles line Americana Drive.

Volunteers are encouraged to sign up for the cleanup event online. People with trucks are especially needed to help haul away large pieces of trash. Students who need community service hours are encouraged to participate.

The area between the road and the beltway is full of litter.

Clean Fairfax will provide trash bags and other supplies for the cleanup. The county will provide a dumpster, and the office of the Braddock supervisor will ensure a police presence to manage traffic during the event.

8 responses to “Community cleanup scheduled for American Drive on Martin Luther King Day

  1. Please sign up on-line at fcrpp3.org. This will ensure enough supplies like gloves, vests, and bags for everyone. Students can get community service hours through our partners at Friends of Accotink Creek.

  2. The Avante Vistas Apartment along Americana Drive are infamously infested with cock roaches and lice. You didn't mention the old toilet and entertainment center someone chucked out there. Avante is litterly an en-crushed dump all along Americana Drive it is an eye sore.

  3. A sign listing the addresses of the county dumps would be a good idea in this area, as would the police patrols mentioned in the article.

  4. Dumping mattresses, sofas and other accouterments of used junk from short lived rentals in boarding houses and section 8 housing are part of the Mason District Beautification project. Jackie Kennedy's war on litter was an inspiration to the Mason supervisor to make Mason the winer in this County wide effort. Make America Beautiful Again.

  5. There will be only one County dumpster near Patriot & Americana Drive. Bags will be picked up by VDOT after the event, but we are looking for volunteers with trucks to help move all the construction debris and couches to the dumpster. The police will only help with slowing down traffic for safety.

  6. This is a very accurate example of what Gross has turned Mason into, a "Dump," as it is frequently coined on this blog. So Mason, are we going to vote her in again so that Mason can go from a Dump to a Brownfield?

  7. Americana Drive is in the Braddock District, so are you going to complain about Braddock being a dump, too?

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