Vulcan proposes asphalt plant at Edsall facility
Vulcan Materials Co. is proposing to add an asphalt plant to its Edsall concrete production facility on Industrial Drive in the Springfield area of Mason District.
The company plans to file an application with the county within the next few days.
Vulcan is currently building a new scale for weighing concrete, a new quality control lab, and a new entrance on Edsall Road, said Glen Cobb, director of external relations at Vulcan’s corporate office in Herndon, at a community meeting on Aug. 25 at the Mason District Government Center.
Those projects were approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2018, with the requirement that they be moved away from the Resource Protection Area on the site.
At that time, Vulcan had also proposed adding an asphalt plant, which was met with strong community opposition due to concerns about air pollution, quality of life, and property values. The company withdrew the asphalt facility from the proposal in 2018.
The company has now resurfaced its proposal for an asphalt facility with about six silos. It will be located “as far from residential areas as possible,” said Cristen Solor, an environmental manager for Vulcan’s Northeast Division. The asphalt will be sold for road construction.
Related story: Supervisors approve Vulcan expansion
According to Cobb, the delay in moving from project approval to construction is due to several factors, including Covid, “the complexity of a project with a lot of moving parts,” and issues with Fairfax County’s PLUS land use system.
A 6-foot-tall fence will be installed between the Vulcan property and the single-family homes in the Edsall Park neighborhood. Vulcan is also adding bigger wheel washers for the concrete mixer trucks entering the property.
Vulcan Materials Co. sells concrete to developers, general contractors, and engineering companies, Cobb said. The concrete is made from granite mined at a stone quarry the company owns in Warrenton. The rocks are shipped to the Vulcan plant via the Norfolk Southern Railway, which runs through the property.
Vulcan is a publicly traded company headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., that operates hundreds of facilities across the U.S. The Edsall facility has a ready-mix concrete plant, aggregate sales yard, a concrete recycling facility, a quality control testing lab, a fleet of 26 cement mixers, and 100 employees.
The Vulcan plant in Springfield supplied concrete for the Inova hospitals under construction at Landmark and Springfield, Bren Mar Park Elementary School, and West Springfield High School, among other developments.
I live a few hundred yards from the Vulcan plant in Edsall Park. We already live with the noise and light at night and smells of the current plant. The smell from the asphalt plant and additional work there will potentially aggravate the health and breathing of everyone in our surrounding urban community. It makes no sense to me that Fairfax County would allow this in such a dense neighborhood. Vulcan has many other plants in more rural areas. Please phone the Fairfax Council to stop this!
Sign the new petition to stop approval of the asphalt plant
https://c.org/mV4NCLQFLM
Sign the new petition to stop approval of the asphalt plant
https://c.org/mV4NCLQFLM
I understand neighbor’s concerns for noise and possible smell pollution but I would remind them that this area is after all an industrial park zoned for these things and for the majority if not all of the homeowners in the immediate area, Vulcan was here first and people moving in should realize what’s there. I’m not a politician just a senior citizen who’s lived in Annandale/Springfield for over 60 years.
You’re too wise for your neighbors’ own good.
They were here first, but the neighborhood has greatly changed since 1948 when they started obviously. Tyson’s Corners was a general store then for example. We aren’t protesting their current work that includes possible smells, heavy truck traffic, lights and noise at night. We are protesting their additional work of asphalt generating plants and the additional possible air pollution, traffic and other environmental concerns it might bring.
It’s zoned for light industrial. It was originally sand and gravel, which is light industrial and fine. They changed to cement mixing, which is light industrial and fine. But Asphalt manufacturing is not “light” industrial, that’s heavy industrial due to noxious fumes that impact the surrounding community. Why are you supporting allowing a company to bring heavy industrial to a light industry zone adjacent to residential neighborhoods?
Alexandria has decided to shut down their asphalt manufacturing plant a few miles away on Van Dorn. I’m told Vulcan filed on Sep 2nd to build their asphalt plant on Edsall. Please call Andre Jimenez our Mason district council person to stop this at 703-256-7717
Terrible idea. Thousands live in the vicinity. Totally unhealthy. Edsell at Industrial is already a hazardous area with the concrete trucks merging into traffic trying to get on 95, 395, & 495. Asphalt stench lingers forever. These are nice neighborhoods with nice people. Don’t do it.
Sign the new petition to stop approval of the asphalt plant
https://c.org/mV4NCLQFLM
VDOT is to blame for the traffic from Industrial Rd overwhelming traffic on Edsall Rd between Industrial & 295. They removed the nearly direct & uncomplicated access to 395S that Eastbound Edsall drivers had. It was replaced by west bound drivers having priority at all times and eastbound traffic having that dangerous narrow 90° turn that is banked incorrectly and requires a yield during the most dangerous part of the turn. I would guess 395S-bound traffic flow has been reduced by 50%.
the answer is simple – NO! – Just because its zoned industrial area – it doesn’t mean that light, noise and air pollution – next to residential areas is acceptable. But hey..its a done deal – we need to find out who on the BoS is for this and demand their tax returns and bank records…Lets see why the decision was made – how can this benefit Fairfax County? As I said – my opinion is that its already a done deal…
We need to let the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors know that enough people care about this that it will determine how we vote when the BOS is up for election. Sign the new petition to stop approval of the asphalt plant
https://c.org/mV4NCLQFLM
It’s actually not a done deal. They attempted this about 8 years ago and were beat back by the community. I believe they need special use permits for the added fumes. Asphalt is a new use. We have/had one along Van Dorn and it sounds like the City of Alexandria declined their application and it is now going to close. It’s all fine and good for others until it is in your backyard. I’m sure no one in McLean or Burke would be happy to have this near them. Plenty of open space there…. I wonder why they keep picking on this area???
There is very little space for this industrial area to be able to take on now that there has been such an influx of population. It’s a very, very different space than 60 year ago, but then again same for Merrifield. Maybe rezoning is in order.
All of those people that live near the plant on Van Dorn St knew about the existance of the asphalt plant on that street before they moved in. It’s been there forever and in that area, it isn’t really the asphalt plant that causes the air pollution. The incinerator on Eisenhower that burns trash all day and night is what stinks. That is the plant that should have been shut down, even though it too has been there a while aka before all of the people who complain about living next to an industrial area AND moved there after the companies had moved in.
Fellow citizens – please please just take 2 minutes to call or write an e-mail to your Supervisor AND the Chairman – tell them no Ashphalt plant that close to residential – the squeaky wheel gets the grease –
Hi neighbors, fellow citizens, could you take a moment to sign the petition to once again put a stop to this complete nonsense of building a polluting, noisy asphalt plant so near residential homes, schools and churches, which will greatly reduce your property values? We need to show the FC Board of Supervisors that we the residents who voted them in, won’t stand for this. Thank you so much.😊 The petition is listed at the end of this Annandale Today article.
Correction, the petition is here:
https://c.org/mV4NCLQFLM
Bookmark http://www.EdsallROAD.org/ to stay informed on this topic.
Road repairs and resurfacing would be more convenient with the addition of the asphalt plant. On the other hand, the potential for pollution is a consideration- maybe the dust will stick to the asphalt? Or will it all be in the air?
Is there any type of pollution control unit for collecting the airborne byproducts of this type of manufacturing?
I’ve heard from a neighbor that Vulcan officially submitted an application to Fairfax County on September 2nd, 2026 for an asphalt plant. This is one day after Mr. Jeffrey McKay’s response that the County had not received such an application from Vulcan.