Eternal Rest Memorial Chapel

Braddock Road On-Street Parking, 105 beloved spaces of the Alexandria community, passed away peacefully on February 23, 2026, following a prolonged illness diagnosed as "corridor improvements." The spaces were approximately 94 years old. Though they fought valiantly, the prognosis had been grim since the Traffic and Parking Board rendered its final verdict on that somber Sunday morning.

Born in the early days of the automobile age along the corridor between Russell Road and West Street, the 105 spaces lived a quiet but meaningful life of service. They asked for nothing — only that you parallel park with reasonable competence and move your car on street-sweeping day. They never complained. They never charged you $4.25 an hour. They were simply there.

In their later years, the spaces grew accustomed to a quieter pace of life. City data confirmed that, on most weekday evenings, only 28 of the 105 spaces were occupied — a fact the spaces found "honestly a little hurtful, but fine." On their busiest Sunday mornings, 47 cars would visit, which the spaces described as "a nice turnout."

The spaces are survived by two protected bike lanes (one two-way, one one-way); a consolidated turn lane; a commercial loading zone near Yates Corner; and two brand-new disability-accessible spaces on Hancock and Luray Avenues, who will carry on the family legacy in a smaller but more ADA-compliant fashion.

They are preceded in death by one travel lane in each direction near the Braddock Metro station, who passed in the same incident.

A Life of Service

Over their long life, the spaces bore witness to the full arc of the Braddock Road corridor — from a time when the automobile was king, through the rise of the Metro station, to the bitter end when the city decided that people on bicycles also deserved to not die on this road. Between 2019 and 2023, seventeen crashes occurred along the corridor, resulting in eight injuries. A pedestrian was fatally struck at Commonwealth and Braddock in 2015. The spaces wish to note that none of these crashes were their fault, though they were "in the general vicinity and feel terrible about it."

Community Remembrances

The Rosemont Citizens Association voted 49–10 in November, and again 61–12 in January, to express their opposition to the spaces' removal, calling them "irreplaceable" and "honestly not that hard to parallel park into once you get the hang of it." The Del Ray Citizens Association, in a 72% vote of support for the project, offered their condolences but noted it was "time."

Three Alexandria City Council candidates withdrew their support for the project at a February forum, in what the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee described as "politically understandable but urbanistically regrettable." Two candidates maintained their support and were seen leaving the forum on bicycles.

In Lieu of Flowers

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, mourners please circle the block three to four times looking for street parking that no longer exists. Contributions may also be made in the spaces' memory to the Parallel Parking Preservation Society, or you may simply idle your car in the new bike lane for a moment of quiet reflection. Mourners are also welcome to double-park on a nearby side street, as is tradition.