Rush Hour Traffic

Well I now have been experiencing the nightmare of rush hour traffic in the mornings like many of you all do everyday. I have only another week of it, but if I had to commute everyday I would move period.

From what I can tell the biggest problem on waxpool in the morning is the intersection of Loudoun County Parkway and waxpool. I doubt opening Gloucester to nokes will improve the situation much. since a lot of traffic is coming north on LCP turning right onto waxpool and is going to be a fast growing problem with no solution in sight. A connection to 606 from LCP is badly needed just south of the toll road and there is nothing even proposed on the master plan. The scary part this is where the major amount of new homes are still to be built.

I can not believe the nightmare taking the light out at innovation has created on 28. I see no immediate solution to this one either. as the traffic coming of the greenway going south to 28 is a huge nightmare with no current plans to solve it. Add the traffic from 28 getting on the toll road going east and it is beyond a nightmare and again I doubt finishing that ramp is going to make much of a difference. People are moving from the far left lane on 28 at the last minute to get to that ramp is insane the way people just almost stop on 28 until they can get over. I see an accident that is going to have someone killed there one day. Again the toll booth seems to be the main culprit on getting people through that ramp. They need to redo and re-design the entire mess there and build it before there a many many accidents with a high potential for someone getting killed.

Thank you god I do not have to drive this on a daily basis forever, as I would certainly move or find a job next to home. A good quality of life just does not exist if you drive this everyday.

Lee j

 

Just wait until school is back in session. This is NOTHING.

 

Yeah, it's been very light. Lee, you need to drive it after Labor Day. I don't know what you can do about the Route 28 disaster. When you think about it, this is a MAJOR intersection. Six lanes Route 28 merging with the Toll Road, merging with the Greenway, merging with airport traffic. It's crazy! I can't wait until I can move out of this area.

 

the person that designed that is the same braniac that designed the parking lot at wegmans/target and that whole new center and the traffic light/ramp coming off of 28 onto waxpool!!!

 

the solution? SIRIUS satellite radio! turn it on, turn it up! i leave a little earlier, reflect on what i intend to accomplish on that particular day, and count how many other cars JUST LIKE MINE are on the road... man I need a yugo or an aston martin so i can stand out!

in all seriousness- the traffic IS godawful, and without telecommuting and flex schedules- many of us would be MUCH worse off. individuals have to make the change since the county either will not, or will take FOREVER to exceute a viable solution...

 

QFE!!!!


I love the summer! Hate the heat - love the commute. After labor day - all of the knuckle-dragging coffin drivers revert to the same schedule.

<rant>

And, I REALLY have to say this:

Loudoun County has a SCHOOL BUS system that works well. Yes, little Missey Miss & Number One Son wil have to get up before the sun gets warm, but it works, and it builds friendships. Do you REALLY need to drive your kid to school everyday????? So, let's say you do - can you carpool a bunch of kids? I can't tell you how many cars/vans/SUVs I see with ONE parent & ONE kid followed by a vehicle with ONE parent and ONE kid from the same neighborhood!!!!! Look - on a rainy day, or a freezing day, I can see it. But 75, sunny & breezey? Make'em walk!

</rant>

 

I just can't imagine this traffic will be worse after school starts. Unbelievable!!!!!!

The thing is my trip to Lee Highway and my class just east of Fairfax city is only bad on waxpool and 28 the rest of the trip past the toll rd on 28 to Mclearen to centerville rd to franklin farm to fairfax parkway to rt 50 to a left onto rt50 Lee highway is a breeze. Go figure.

Snows waxpool taskforce is doomed to do nothing of any significance from what I have seen so far unless a road is created just south of the greenway east from LCP to 606

Shellhorn needs to connect to the sterling interchange which gives a straight shot to rt 28 and down to rt 7. Although Unless that mess at the toll roads and 28 is fixed, 28 is hopeless.

Wow and you all say it gets worse when school starts.
Just can't imagine driving this everyday!!!!!

Lee j

 

rub salt in that commuter wound Lee--- ruuuub it in... L)

 

You have no idea!

 

The left-hand turn from westbound Waxpool Road onto LCP backs up terribly in the evening rush hour also. So now people are continuing just past the intersection to the left-hand turn lane that currently goes to nowhere, and queuing up to make a U-turn to go eastbound for all of 100 yards or so, so that they can make a right-hand turn onto LCP.

The whole Rt 28S/Greenway/Dulles Tollroad/airport exit mess is a disaster. Yesterday morning by 7:15, Rt 28S was backed up through the center lane with people waiting until the last minute to get into the right-hand lane to exit onto the Tollroad eastbound. The right-hand lane was backed up almost to Innovation, and the ramp from the Greenway was backed up (don't know how much). The only lane on 28 southbound with traffic moving faster than a crawl was the lefthand lane.

 

The three days of this week at about 8:10am in the morning 28 is backed up all three lanes to sterling blvd and even beyond. So actually it is better earlier in the morning. All I can say is Snow's waxpool taskforce powerpoint presentation and possible solutions is not going to to put a dent into this waxpool and 28 mess. As I recall Steven Snow wants to time the lights better on waxpool, for the immediate solution. Long term is the Gloucester connection to nokes if the developer of kingCora will build it up front which they are playing hardball with. The connection of pacific from wegmans to nokes. There was nothing about a connection to 606 just south of the greenway not even on the future map. shellhorn future connection does not make much sense the way it is now designed and is a million years off, of course a ton of homes are being built all of LCP that will further make this nightmare much worse.

Anyway here is a link to Steven Snows presentation on waxpool http://www.loudoun.gov/bos/waxpool.htm
Interesting how he shows up just before election time to work on waxpool after being ignored for years.

Further I had my first preliminary meeting of what to do about the flex project on the corner of waxpool and ashburn village under construction that could be a win win for the local community and the developer if both sides can come up with some creative solutions to help tone down the massive prison looking walls soon to be erected right on top of waxpool. and out of character with the transition from commercial to the surrounding residential. . Also the ashburn technology project is part of this beginning of making development look beautiful and in the right places that make sense not matter the by right rules and zoning. Of course since nothing is yet built on the piece fronting waxpool this could be the first poster child of how a developer can build a residential style office complex on this property and transition from residential to commericial beautifully. I have some very powerful and influential people wanting to work with me on this prototype of how to keep development sensible and beautiful. A lot is going to happen in the weeks and months ahead in a very public and behind the scenes for the keep development beautiful and sensible and in the right places.



Just because you live in a pud does not mean everything is rosy even in the broadlands the perimeter land and even internal property can had some nasty surprises. Just take the future landscaping of crossen rd as a prime example. the hill in the middle of the broadlands is another and there are many more major ones to come.

HOA's have tremendous power if used correctly to influence developers and elected officials. What is needed is a coherent connection between all the hoa's in the county working together to help solve problems as a joint and extremely powerful force no matter where a potential problem pops up in the county. This would even further speed up fixing transportation problems and keeping development outside of the HOA's look beautiful and coherent with the existing and future puds and make sense to the immediate and future transportation system.

Yes that is going to also be in the works to keep loudoun beautiful and drivable. All of loudoun and surrounding counties are important in this quest not just the puds standing alone and HOA's standing alone.

Lee j

 

Rumor-mill says there will be one soon but unfortunately, it'll be thru residential areas and past an elementary school -- it'll connect Old Ox to Ryan Rd/LCP so that drivers/buses can access the new Rosa Lee Carter elementary without having to to go the long way around via the Greenway or Belmont Ridge. Currently it can only be accessed thru the new high-priced Toll Brothers community off of Old Ox, this side of the greenway.

I agree, there should be something a little more driver friendly than kid-filled neighborhoods for that....

 

Yes you are correct and that is in the master plan. The connection that is going to be needed especially with the massive high density development on the greenway is just south of the greenway, by the on the run store and there is nothing in the master plan for this connection.

Lee j

 

Lee-
If you recall, this connection was a major point in my presentation at the meeting about what is needed to fix Waxpool. I even went down and talked to the Loudoun Valley HOA to try and get them interested in this, but no one has joined.
There is a road, I believe it will be called Marblehead, that is on the maps to connect LCP to 606. We need to get that road built!

 

is nothing more than him trying to "seem concerned" just before an election.

 

The solution to the 267 & Greenway merge onto 28 South is simple.

Build an overpass and have the merge point on the SOUTH side of 267. That way the people getting onto rt 28 do not interfere with the people going from 28 South to 267 East.

Simple solution..... except for the cost.

 

I have lived and worked in Northern Virginia my whole life. The general commuting pattern at this time is people trying to get to areas with great commercial/office concentration, between route 28 and Tysons on 267. A lot of the workers come from manassas, centreville, and other PW county areas north into these job areas. FWIW, their commute is far worse than here in Ashburn. We are closer to the where most of the jobs are, and have less traffic compared to other outer suburbs here.

On Lee's example, when he started heading south, he started to get off the beaten path of commuters. If he had tried the reverse, I suspect it would have taken longer.

 

I really don't think it's all that bad and I drive down Waxpool to 28 to 50 everyday around 8:30

 

Once you get past the exit for the Toll Road, it's a breeze. It's the getting past the exit to the Toll Road that's frequently a challenge.