Dulles Greenway and Eminent Domain

That is correct. There should be another road, parallel to waxpool, connecting to Route 28.

For example, Shellhorn Road can be extended all the way to Route 28 (or atleast upto Old Ox road), this would ease the traffice.

But I guess why these kind of things are not happening is, VDOt might have agreed to Greedway owners that they won't jeopardise their business by constructing more alternate routes....

Its all politics and business....

 

I will be moving into Ashburn next week.

I was hoping to use Waxpool to commute to Vienna at around 6:30 in the morning and it looks like it is nightmare anyway according to some posters.

Was there any mentioning from Richmond or the Developer to provide discounted rate for commuters? A lot of cities with toll roads have similar rate.

Even if they lower the rate by a dollar, the company who manages the toll will make a lot more than what they are making now.

 

The discount rate for commuters was removed with the most recent rate increase. I guess the owners needed a few more $$$$ in their pockets.

The VIP miles seems to still be a valid program, but who knows how long that will last. http://www.dullesgreenway.com/cgi-bin/dgvip.cfm

 

Lee- 2 things:

1) The County has applied for a one-time interest free loan from the state to allow the Route 28 PPTA to begin work on four more interchanges. It's very likely this money will come through, which means the Nokes/Gloucester/28 interchange could theoretically be completed and open in 2 to 3 years.

2) I hesitate to get too involved with this on here, but if you seriously think the County is doing nothing for transportation needs, and that the County ought to be doing something about it- e-mail the Board of Supervisors and tell them to support putting local funding towards building roads. If it's not getting done any other way, then maybe the County should pay for it (through bonds, like we pay for schools).

vacliff- here's what I can tell off the Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP). Shellhorn does extend past LoCoPkwy, but not all the way to 606. However, where Waxpool (going eastbound) currently passes the "Regency" and then takes a hard left and becomes 4 lanes at MCI/Verizon- it is shown on the CTP that a road will actually go straight where Waxpool currently makes the hard left, to go on the southern side of the Verizon buildings. It will hit LoCoPkwy, and continue on, cross the Broad Run Floodplain, and hit 606. That's the connection you're looking for.

Again, there are major financial constraints with building this road (major floodplain crossing). The person who owns the majority of this property past LoCoPkwy is waiting for Metro to come to do a really nice Employment Center (no residential), but that's years down the road.

As for what MCI/Verizon is on the hook to build- I'd have to look into it, but I imagine they haven't hit their "triggers" to be required to do additional road construction- they have the ability for another 5 million square feet, I think, but they obviously haven't done that yet.

Hope this helps.
DcD

 

Is the Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP) online anywhere? I can't seem to find it.

 

DCDavis,

How do you know these things? Are you on a commite or something? Realistically how do we get someone BOS or VDOT to look into expanding Gloucester to 28 or extending shell horn to 606. Seems people think you are in the know.

 

From my house in Broadlands to the Tollroad/Rt 28 interchange it takes me about 8 minutes extra leaving at 7 AM versus the Greenway. The evenings are worse. I have used Rt 28/Waxpool on a number of occasions around 5:30-6:00 PM and it has been more like 15-20 minutes extra. I'll use the Greenway always in the evenings and when I have time to spare the 8 minutes in the morning, I'll use Waxpool.

As for lowering the rate, one of the early replies to this post referenced the higher tolls with lower traffic and greater speeds. If you do a bit of googling on the subject of toll rates, you will find a fair bit of analysis on the optimum toll rate to maximize revenue and maintain service. The punchline being that lower tolls reduce service (i.e. increase traffic) and thereby reduce revenue. Unfortunately, I think a bit more work needs to be done to look at the knock-on effects of higher tolls on traffic on the parallel toll-free roads.

-Jim

 

dcdavis-
Can you check on that again? What you mentioned is what the county originally proposed. MCI did not want a major road cutting through their campus. As I recall, they got the county to agree to abandon this plan and allow them to complete Shellhorn through to 606. I remember all this because I went to the Planning Commission and BoS hearings about it.

The plan you mention can no longer be accomplished. They built a building where that road would have gone, and there's no room to build a road where you mention.

 

I live in the Regency and that road is still there but the county has put a priorty to shellhorn because of the transit oriented development there, and there has been discussions on how to connect shellhorn to 28 either to 606 or sterling blvd and doing both somehow. Nothing from what I have heard is written in stone,

Also all this is dependent on how all this vacant land will be developed which is as I understand is not even in the preliminary stages except for another golf course. So no road connections for many many years out could be well over 10 years depending on what happens with the economy out here.

Lee J Buividas

Lee J Buividas

 

Anyone has any latest update on Shellhorn connection to Route28? Is this project coming in near future?

LCP to Waxpool Road in the morning is still a mess in spite of making second right-most to turn right (on green).

Hope we have an alternate route soon...

 

Non of the mentioned roads are going to get built until the property the road goes thru is developed. The Shellhorn piece has several properties to go thru to connect to 28. Until the subway starts getting close to us the properties probably will sit mostly undeveloped. Non of these big time developers are in any hurry to develop the properties until the subway arrives. So shellhorn is possibly 10 years or more out until punched thru. THe roads we have is what we will have for the forseeable future with a lot more people crowding waxpool and the greenway from all the new housing developments for a lot of years to come. We most likely will see the interchanges on 28 built before we see any improvement to the greenway and waxpool situation. Just not going to happen, grade schoolers will be out of high school before there is even a chance. The whole key to this area is the subway and the developers will wait until it is here.

We will see some improvement much sooner over by 7 if Loudoun one gets approved, but until the piece fronting 28 on the west side from the mall is developed there most likely will be no connection to nokes and that is 5 to 10 years away at the soonest. They are going in for preliminary rezoning on that piece next summer so it is far behind Loudoun One.

The sad story is you will have to live with worsening conditions to waxpool and the greenway until your kindergartners are out of high school. So the reality is paradise is going to get much worse especially if you commute and have kids in school, no two ways about it.

I am thankful that my kids are in college and they don't have to go to school here and I work from my library so no commute. SO For me this a very pleasant place to live and during the week I can enjoy all the things around here while many of you are stuck in traffic. I do believe this area will go down in real estate books on how not to develop a new area and will be a dismal failure in roads and schools. THat is the hard truth, saw the same thing happen to part of Houston when I lived there fro many years all the new development overwhelmed the roads and schools and they are still trying to dig out from it. Of course you can always believe in the tooth fairy, especially if you believe the current rezoning of dulles south will bring utopia, that is what Snow tells us and last night even he had a hard times understanding his baby. If you want to see comedy watch them again tonight on the goverment channel.

Lee j Buividas

 

Perspectives vary. In Indiana, where I lived before moving here, they pointed to Loudoun County, Virginia as the model to follow for the proper way to develop communities.
Lo and behold, now I live here!

 

Ahhhh but how long ago was that???? It started well enough then came no roads and schools that kids have to be bused far away to because their neighborhood school is full. I see many planned communities all over the country and you are right it is a matter of perspective. I grew up in north Dallas and went to TJ the high school there. Several thousand kids in that high school yet it never seemed or was crowded and I got an excellent education. The whole area as far as roads was completely finished all the main roads in before the the homes were finished. The area looked polished and yet very homey. I could walk to the stores and school. That whole huge area was finished before they jumped further north and as they did, the roads were built and finished as the development came. Yes there were problems but nothing like this nightmare here with the roads and schools. Although this is a beautiful area, I just hope it stays that way. My lifestyle with no commute or kids in public schools it is like paradise, especially during the daytime during the week.

Lee J Buividas

 

Personally I don't know how far some of the kids are being bused. Lori Waters at the board meeting mentioned these kids are being bused far from their neighborhood school another reason she believes the residential componet of Dulles South should be cut back. The schools are already having a tough time keeping up.

Lee J Buividas

 

Excellent point

I caught a bunch of kids with an ax and a lighter chopping down the trees in the common area next to my property. When I told one of the parents they said my child could not possibly be doing that. I said you want the pictures I took??? The parent just got silent and said no and walked away. Now these kids, many preteens are now playing at the front entrance jumping off the high brick walls stomping on the lanscaping and fooling around with the lights. Hmmmm that sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen when one gets hurt. They are also crossing the very busy waxpool many times not looking for cars even after dark and playing in a very dangerous construction site. They run through peoples beautifully landscaped yards sometimes in gangs of 20 to 30 kids with no regard what they step on etc. Some of these parents don't have a clue what their kids are doing, since I work at home and have large windows in my Library on three sides that can see the front side and rear, sometimes I just can't believe what I see during the day. Hey I love kids and kids will be kids, but they should be taught to respect other peoples property. OK I better shut up, especially when I think about when I was that age. ha ha ha ha ha

Lee J Buividas

 

Last year, my daughter was assigned a time of 6:30 am to be picked up to be driven from Broadlands to Newton-Lee by 7:50. Granted, she was in a special program but her bus route had her being picked up, driven out to Leesburg, down the length of Mt. Gilead Road and then back into Ashburn. I declined morning bus service and drove her myself each morning which took 15 minutes with truck traffic on Belmont Ridge Road (before Claiborne was opened).

Out in the western part of the county, kids are regularly on buses for extended periods of time and not just kids in special programs.

 

I would think in the country that would be expected, but not in the suburbs.

When my son went to Broad Run HS he was bused to some special advanced classes somewhere, I think Leesburg, but they bused him from the high school and brought him back to the high school. Most of his other classes were at the high school.

Lee J Buividas

 

Waters may be referring to the overflow at schools such as Legacy. The overflow students for Legacy are being sent to Dominon Trail.