Editing Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia (section)

==Geography==
{{Location map many | USA Virginia Bailey's Crossroads
| caption = Places in Bailey's Crossroads
| width=400
| label1 =[[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington]]| label1_size=100 | mark1size=0 | position1 =right | |coordinates1={{coord|38.858544|-77.118335}}     
| label2 =[[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]]| label2_size=100 | mark2size=0 | position2 =right | |coordinates2={{coord|38.835|-77.12}}     
| label3 ={{nowrap|[[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]]}}| label3_size=100 | mark3size=0 | position3 =left| |coordinates3={{coord|38.845|-77.158}}     
| label4 ={{nowrap|[[Justice High School]]}}| label4_size=100 | mark4size=5 | position4 =right| |coordinates4={{coord|38.8567115|-77.1516451}}     
| label5 ={{nowrap|[[Fairfax County Public Library|Woodrow Wilson Library]]}}| label5_size=100 | mark5size=5| position5 =left| |coordinates5={{coord|38.852|-77.1451698}}     
| label6 ={{nowrap|[[Skyline Towers collapse|Skyline Center]]}}| label6_size=100 | mark6size=5 | position6 =left| |coordinates6={{coord|38.8437798|-77.1198393}}     
}}

Bailey's Crossroads is located at {{coord|38|50|58|N|77|7|45|W|type:city}} (38.849474, -77.129093).<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref>

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the CDP has a total area of 2.0&nbsp;square miles (5.3&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), all of it land.  The area occupies a broad, flat plain, bounded on the west by [[Munson's Hill]].  This unbroken expanse of level ground caused the Union Army to select it as the site of a massive review of troops during the Civil War.  The review, which took place on November 20, 1861, involved thousands of troops marching in formation and parading before President [[Abraham Lincoln]].<ref>Bradley E. Gernand, ''[[A Virginia Village Goes to War--Falls Church During the Civil War]]''.  Virginia Beach:  The Donning Company, 2002.  Pages 139-141.</ref>

Bailey's Crossroads is formed by the junction of [[State Route 7 (Virginia)|State Route 7]] connecting [[Alexandria, Virginia]] with the [[Shenandoah Valley]] and [[State Route 244 (Virginia)|State Route 244]] ([[Columbia Pike (Virginia)|Columbia Pike]]) connecting [[the Pentagon]] and [[Washington, D.C.]], with [[Annandale, Virginia]]. The most noticeable landmark at Bailey's Crossroads is [[Skyline Towers collapse|Skyline Center]], a towering group of 26-story apartment buildings and offices built in the 1970s. A branch of [[Northern Virginia Community College]], and offices of the [[U.S. Department of Defense]] are nearby. The neighborhood has a large Hispanic population. The largest single store of the entire [[Giant-Landover|Giant Food]] supermarket chain is also there. While the closest [[Washington Metro|Metrorail]] station is a few miles away, Metrobus service on the Columbia Pike corridor has recently been improved.

The precise extent of Bailey's Crossroads has never been defined.  As an unincorporated community without local government, it has never had the purview to do so.  The United States Census Bureau observes one definition; and various parts of the Fairfax County government observe others.  Economic development plans tend to include just the commercial corridors and associated areas.  Current discussions among the Fairfax County government for revitalizing Bailey's Crossroads economically concern themselves with the Fairfax County border on the north and east—which generally includes all commercial and residential properties generally considered as belonging to the neighborhood—as well as Seminary Road and Carlin Spring Road.  The plans include a narrow strip along Leesburg Pike to Glen Carlyn Road.<ref name=autogenerated1>"Blueprint for Baileys Crossroads is Revived", ''Washington Post'', July 8, 2010, p. B4.</ref>

As a general neighborhood, however, with all facets of life included, the geographic extent of Bailey's Crossroads must be considered to be larger.  It abuts the clearly established [[Lake Barcroft]] neighborhood on the southwest, with Blair Road, Beachway Drive, Nevius Street and Mansfield Road marking its western proximity.  North of Leesburg Pike its extent is generally defined by Glen Carlyn and Carlin Springs roads.