The speed limit along busy Fairfax County roadway is dropping from 45 to 35 mph

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Get ready to slow down, because the speed limit along a seven-mile stretch of Richmond Highway, also known as Route 1, is about to drop.

On May 23, the speed limit will be reduced along Richmond Highway (Route 1) between Jeff Todd Way/Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and just below the Capital Beltway and Alexandria southern city limits.

It will be permanently reduced from 45 mph to 35 mph. 

The Virginia Department of Transportation and Fairfax County Department of Transportation say this will optimize safety and operations for pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and transit users.

The decision came after years of conversations and a recent study by VDOT.

"The road in it's current configuration with it's present volume doesn't meet standards for a 45 mph road," said Sen. Scott Surovell.

Surovell told WUSA9 there have been hundreds of crashes along Richmond Highway the past five years.

A viewer shared this video of a crash that occurred Tuesday afternoon along Richmond Highway at the intersection of Arlington Drive in Hybla Valley.

"In the last five years there's been over 1,600 crashes on the road, about a thousand injuries and 16 deaths," said Surovell.

Fairfax County Police say speed played a factor in the crash that took the life of Samantha Jennings-Jones, 36. Police say she was walking along the sidewalk, when she was struck by the driver of a 2007 Mercedes C230. Investigators say the driver was traveling south on Richmond Highway when they struck the driver of a 2017 Jeep Wrangler who was traveling north on Richmond Highway, attempting to make a left onto Clayborne Avenue. 

According to police, the driver of the Mercedes struck the Jeep, left the roadway and spun around before striking Samantha Jennings-Jones.

Her husband told WUSA9 she was a "wonderful and loyal friend, and the most wonderful wife and life partner."

He described her as "a combination of a fierce professional woman who achieved her goal of working at the White House by the age of 36."

According to a scholarship fund set up in her honor, Jennings-Jones was a key member of the team that drafted the National Cybersecurity Strategy and a leader on its implementation plan.

The scholarship was established to support women seeking to start or advance their career in cybersecurity so that others may continue her mission.

"We need to do something about it and this is a first step to doing something about it," said Surovell.

"We're gonna have a $900 million Bus Rapid Transit being constructed over the next 10 years, there's gonna be a lot of construction but when the dust is cleared and there's multi use paths and sidewalks and a bus rapid transit up the middle all this new density coming in it's really going to change route one corridor for the better," said Surovell.