Sorry, but Rt28 is not a "front door" or a "backyard" or a "gateway" - it's just a ROAD!

And a poorly designed one at that. Better to spend the money and attention on rebuilding the road to do what is is supposed to do - facilitate efficient travel.

Get rid of all of the lights and cross streets and make it a limited access highway. Add service roads paralleling it for access to businesses. (Also do Rt7, while they're at it) It's time that Virginia started building modern, efficient highways, like other states.

Posted by blueridgepro (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 8:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Rt 28 will continue to be a parking lot unless there are routes other than Waxpool into Ashburn. Waxpool is a nightmare in the morning and evening during weekdays. Extending Sterling Blvd such that is connects with Loudoun County Parkway and connecting Gloucester Parkway and Nokes Blvd will help a bit. This is in addition to what Blueridgepro suggested in terms of parallel service roads.

Posted by TechGreen (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 8:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The "modernization" of Rt28 has not been at the same speed that building permits in the area have been granted. Especially in the afternoon, the Waxpool exit backs up traffic all the way to the Toll Rd.
However, adjusting 28 to the current traffic levels will require looking beyond 28. The traffic lights at Wegmans and at Loudoun County Parkway, for example, are culprits too. And while the service road idea might be a good one to explore, it will be a while before land is obtained for that (which would require legal proceedings to expropriate businesses like Lindsay VW, Belfort, hotels, Carmax, etc.....). Extending Sterling Blvd to the west will be useless if Old Ox is not widened and if the two ends of Loudoun County Parkway are not linked.

Posted by sevenstars1 (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Loudoun leaders cannot think that far in advance. They are extremely short-sighted and react to whatever is happening right now. The big picture never seems to occur to them. They should start building the Loudoun portion of Metro NOW and have it meet Fairfax County simultaneously when Reston Pkwy is finished. But they'll wait and do it after. At least Route 28 has overpasses. The lights on Route 7 need to be re-timed to let traffic flow, but somehow stopping every 100-200 feet seems to be a much better idea. Loudoun's leaders are incapable of seeing the forest thru the trees.

Posted by ms1234 (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 10:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Perhaps these tranportation improvements will come as additional businesses are brought into the area through proffers and increased tax base. I think we need to do both - bring in more business and mixed use and improve the roads. Can't we get more stimulas money to bring our road system into the 21st century? :)

Widening of Old Ox would be very helpful as well as completing Loudoun County Pkwy,etc.

Posted by momof2 (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 10:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Momof2, at this point I'd be happy with even the 20th century, as ms1234 has a point too (although building our own portion of Metro is not one I agree with!): Loudoun is so stuck on freezing as much of the county as possible in the 19th century that few real road improvements are supported, in fact most are actively protested.

That's how the roads got the way they are, the continued backward politics of "no".

We have trouble coming in our own district as well: apparently our current commissioner is continuing her "the transition zone is really rural" policies, and, on behalf of ALL citizens (that agree with her), attemtping to remove roads from the southern Dulles portion of the CTP.

Stop improvements to existing 659, remove 659 relocated from the map, put the tri-county back through South Riding, the works.

This will affect our possible school sites, and were most likely her main motivation for the extreme actions she took against Lenah before the staff report was even written.

Roads are not viewed as part of mobility, safety and commerce by some here, but as mere tools of growth rather than one of its mitigators.

When the transition zone becomes "rural", that's when we'll see plenty of vertical sprawl on 28!

Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 11:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"The lights on Route 7 need to be re-timed"

I seem to remember a couple of years ago when VDOT got millions in some sort of grant to install a wizzy new technology to time the lights on Rt 7. It was installed & never worked.

Sounded like some sort of political deal to send money to the company providing the technology.

Posted by blueridgepro (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 11:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Barbara said: Roads are not viewed as part of mobility, safety and commerce by some here, but as mere tools of growth rather than one of its mitigators.

This is off the RT 28 topic, but I think it is relevant to your comment, Barbara. SEVERAL citizens spoke at this week's BOS Public Input meeting regarding paving in place some roads in their rural neighborhoods. It seems that buses get stuck in the road, EMTs on ambulances cannot always provide necessary medical treatment due to the bumpy nature of the road, the dust from the roads exacerbates the conditions of allergy and asthma sufferers, collisions occur, snow and ice can not be removed, and so on. Also, there has been increase in traffic partially because of a strawberry pick your own spot that is apparently popular. These citizens have tried to get these roads paved before to no avail. Seems some folks think people may drive faster if the roads are paved. That argument is so lame in my opinion. If they don't get these roads paved, someone may die or face severe injury. That to me is much more compelling. Yes, proper roads make our neighborhoods safer.
I recently spoke to an octogenarian who gave me a little VA history. There was at one point a push by Virginians for paved roads. "Get VA out of the mud", according to him. What happened here?

Posted by momof2 (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 12:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree on the Rt7 timing of the lights. There is no reason I have to sit through three cycles of a traffic light at the intersection of Rt7 and Potomac View on a Saturday afternoon. Beginning at noon on weekends, they need to time the lights as if it were weekday rush hour traffic, i.e., let cars flow on Rt7 and make the cars turning on to Rt7 wait.

Posted by dingus5 (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I think they should make all of the exit ramps off 28 work as well as the one at Waxpool Rd. That way, everyone will move out of Loudoun County!

Posted by teden (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 3:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)

When are they going to put a bridge across to Maryland on this road. It's a useless bypass from Sterling to Chantilly/Fairfax as it stands right now. This would get all of the Rt15/Rt 7 traffic back into Maryland.

Posted by jcpetrson (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

blueridgepro: Turn Route 28 into a controlled-access highway? What a fascinating idea! I'm sure the folks at the Route 28 Public/Private Partnership (www.28freeway.com) would love to hear your suggestion.

Sarcasm aside, after more than six years of construction, Route 28 is (finally!) THIS close to being an almost (apart from the Cedar Green nonsense) fully controlled-access freeway from just north of I-66 to Route 7. Extending and improving Atlantic and Pacific Boulevards to become parallel service roads has also seen major progress... but not nearly fast enough. The problem as I see it was that the Atlantic and Pacific projects have mostly been funded through the normal proffer process as development has actually occurred along those stretches of road. I can't believe it's going to take more than TWO YEARS after the completion of the last of the interchanges to close the last of the service road gaps (Pacific between Cedar Green and the AOL campus, and Atlantic south across the W&OD trail and Church Rd. to join Davis). We don't need those gaps closed in two years. We don't need them closed when the Orbital and Raytheon jobs come. We need them closed NOW.

jcpetrson: Unfortunately, the chances of Montgomery County allowing the Techway or any similar project to extend Route 28 (or Fairfax County Parkway) across the Potomac are... remote, at best. That would create a major segment of the dreaded "Outer Beltway," you see, the mere mention of which will instantly cause all of rural Loudoun and Montgomery Counties to turn into a sprawling urban wasteland.

Posted by jshortess (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 5:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

jshortess: You misunderstand the meaning of limited access highway with service roads (also called "frontage roads"). Atlantic & Pacific Blvds are NOT service roads.

See this link for good examples (not build in by VDOT Virginia, unfortunately...):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontage_ro...

Posted by blueridgepro (anonymous) on June 3, 2009 at 8:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Here is an idea... Lets not build anything else along 28! Leave the trees and fields!

Posted by dnaich (anonymous) on June 4, 2009 at 10:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

jshortess, Loudoun and Fairfax did their bit to kill the Techway STUDY. Every neighborhood along the Potomac from Great Falls west was leafleted saying it would DEFINITELY condemn their houses. All of them.

So Mr. Wolf withdrew the STUDY, leaving over $900K to be donated to Waterford two weeks later to bury their powerlines, so it would look more 18th/19th century.

Current deletions from the county CTP apparently are to include 659 relocated (don't know what they'll do with all those proffers, but hey), and the "transition" zone, already administered by this BoS as rural, will now apparently become designated rural.

Given that MD was told in a landmark ruling that they had no right to block VA's ability to draw water from the river, perhaps the next step is to discuss whether they have any right to prevent VA from discussing CROSSING it.

However, the same groups that lied to kill the Techway STUDY are now on record saying they support a river crossing and outer beltway at Route 28 (part of the Hallowed Ground porker, where no improvements can be made to US highway 15), but I would bet bigtime that as soon as any effort was made to take them up on any discussion of same, that the position would change in a heartbeat.

dnaich, the trees and fields? You mean of the buffering next to the international airport it borders, and the surrounding industrially and commercially zoned land that hasn't built yet?

Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on June 4, 2009 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Lets put in toll booths or sell it to another county. Then can tax us more then. Good day, ph

Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on June 4, 2009 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Once the last interchanges are put in, Route 28 will finally be passable...until you get to Route 7 or want to get off at Waxpool.

Then of course if the BoS approves Kincora, you might as well have flushed all that improvement money down the toilet. Kincora's stadium traffic studies only project a Level of Service of "C" at some intersections after their proposed improvements. A "D" won't get approved per LC design specs. I wonder what the projected Level of Service was at the Waxpool intersection of 28 after the Wegmans and Target were put in? Look how well that turned out.

Someone needs to force the Board of Supervisors to get their head of the sand and go take some courses on urban planning or traffic planning. Clearly the planning staff aren't getting the right message across to them, or they don't demand accurate information from the developer's consultants. I can't imagine any of the traffic studies associated with the Dulles 28 Centre said "traffic disaster" at Waxpool and Route 28.

Posted by BurtReynolds (anonymous) on June 8, 2009 at 11:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

One thing I forgot to mention, this is why municipalities spend all that money and time creating a Comprehensive Plan. Of course, if you don't follow it, it is pretty worthless.

Posted by BurtReynolds (anonymous) on June 8, 2009 at 12:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"...apparently our current commissioner is continuing her "the transition zone is really rural" policies..."

You mean the one that has YOUR old job, Barb? Imagine! Barb does not agree with her policies. Shocking! But this is what you come to expect from ole QH.

Posted by Eric101 (anonymous) on June 11, 2009 at 8:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

So, as a private citizen, Barbara doesn't have a right to voice her opinion? Why does it bother you so much, Eric? BTW, some of people think there are only one or two Dulles South citizens unhappy with our planning commissioner and those people have been characterized as mentally unstable!! First, there are lots of citizens who agree with Barbara's comments. Second, why the nasty attitude towards citizens with opposing views? Are people trying to quiet all opposition to their own views by intimidation? Just wondering.

Posted by momof2 (anonymous) on June 11, 2009 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"Barbara doesn't have a right to voice her opinion?"

Just putting her comments is context, Mom. My way of explaining why every topic Barb posts on includes a rant against the current PC - usually inferring some nefarious dealings....

Posted by Eric101 (anonymous) on June 11, 2009 at 8:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)