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~$76million/year Virginians Pay to the Dulles Greedway!

Discussion in 'Broadlands Community Issues' started by beahmer, Jun 20, 2014.

  1. beahmer

    beahmer Member

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  2. latka

    latka Active Member

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    I don't understand the problem here. It seems like a win, win to me. We find useful, The Greenway, so we use it and they donate to charity. It's all good.
     
  3. Redolant

    Redolant New Member

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    Let me help you get it...
    $294,500 goes to charity.. ONE DAYS tolls.. big deal. The other 260 days is profit.
     
  4. latka

    latka Active Member

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    It could be NO days.
     
  5. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    Yes, that is a lot of money spent to use the Greenway. But what is another viable alternative to sitting in Waxpool traffic during rush hour? The last time I checked, the extension of Gloucester Parkway from Loudoun County Parkway to the intersection of Pacific Boulevard and Nokes Boulevard is scheduled for completion in mid-2016. I don't think that the connection of Loudoun County Parkway to Rt 606 has even gotten past just being listed on the County Transportation Plan. If the county and state moved quicker to increase the connectivity of the road network in the Broadlands area, maybe we can spend our money to support local businesses rather than on Greenway tolls.
     
  6. mdcrim

    mdcrim Member

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    Virginia officials should not be relying on a privately owned toll road to be a viable option for commuters. If the Greenway didn't exist, Virginia would have been forced to step up and address the horrible road situation in Loudoun County. I think the officials ignore the problem because we do have the Greenway as an option, an expensive option that is not in everyone's budgets to take advantage of.
     
  7. shim

    shim shim

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    Loved Latka on the TV show Taxi with Danny Devito. Allow me to break this down for you, we pay insane taxes in this area for Services including roads, not just income, earnings and property taxes, but gas and just about every other transportation service or product you can think of is taxed for the purpose of building and maintaining roads. So why then are a select group of Virginians tolled errrr taxed again to use the Greenway? State and County officials have let us down, there's no price relief for short commutes from Eastern LOCO and out of state drivers pay same fees. I could go on but will close by reminding you that our taxes pay for policing along that stretch of road. To date the only elected official that seems to have our backs is David Ramadan but he's not been effective.
     
    SK8R likes this.
  8. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Shift when you commute is the only real impact.
     
  9. volvo_nut

    volvo_nut New Member

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    Perhaps a moratorium on building for 5yrs then require county planners and builders to improve the infrastructure prior to beginning new development. It is frustrating to watch dozens of new homes and townhouses going up and the infrastructure remains the same. Where do they think another 100, 200, etc. cars are going to go?

    why did VA sell or relinquish ownership of the Greenway?
     
  10. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    It's going to get really ugly further south of here. There you have gravel roads still with developments going up around them. Sure they'll be cleaned up.. but not to 4 lane roads.. and Rt 50, Belmont, and others are already total cluster f's

    Belmont Ridge South regularlly backs up to Brambleton's houses.. and they continue building more and more. Ryan Rd to Evergreen backs up almost to the golf course at times. And Brambleton is still a long ways from being done. I don't know how anyone in Brambleton could be happy at this point... they are screwed in every direction except Loudoun Cty Parkway which really only feeds to the greenway or waxpool.

    The greenway was private built from the start.. it never was a state road. It was built as a bypass to charge a premium for. The issue is the state doesn't look at it as a private bypass.. but counts on people using it.
     
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  11. kevinq

    kevinq Member

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    When you work a 9 - 10 hour schedule, it's tough to shift to miss both rush hours, be in work when most of your team is in work, and be home to spend time with family before bedtime. Therefore, I chose my work hours to miss the morning rush hour and spend the extra dollars for the Greenway on my way home.
     
  12. Dutchml

    Dutchml Member

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    While we're on the subject, does VDOT even exist anymore? The last time I saw a VDOT truck was the last snowstorm....those pensions must really be eating up the ol' budget. They'd rather put up "Rough Road" signs on Belmont Ridge instead of patch/pave it and meanwhile it's a road where hubcaps go to die.
     
  13. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    The problem is that they've patched and paved it continuously...to the point that it does no good. Road needs to be torn down to the base and redone from there.
     
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  14. mdcrim

    mdcrim Member

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    There are a lot of roads in Ashburn Farm that are darn near reverting back to gravel. Huge cracks with grass growing in them (drive down Windmill Road if you want a good example). I've often thought if I had time on my hands I would establish a website, loudounroads.com or something, in an attempt to shame VDOT into taking some action. Aside from the lack of ample roads, roads that change names several times over a few miles and the fact that no lights are timed properly, there are also basic things (like Nokes where it goes down to one lane at Route 28 from Sterling where there is ample space for a second lane for those who want to go straight). It would probably be a full time job, compiling all the road issues in the county.
     
  15. mdr227

    mdr227 Member

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    I leave home at 5:30 AM to try and avoid the Greenway, but even at that time of day the volume of traffic on LCP, WAXPOOL and 28 is really surprising. I've tried to go to Lifetime on days I've been off and no hope at all at making a right turn onto Waxpool from LCP before 9 AM without waiting forever. Even looking at a minimal 6 AM to 9 AM rush hour window in the morning (and probably 4-7:30 PM in the evening) it is tough for many to commute outside of those windows with most jobs not to mention all the commitments everyone has at home with all kinds of things. The best solutions (interchange at LCP/Waxpool and bridges/interchanges along Waxpool at Pacific and Broderick or lower tolls on the Greenway to allow more users to afford it) are never going to happen. Even adding other connections to 28 to Nokes or LCP to 606 won't help much. I would think that if the owners of the Greenway lowered tolls they could recoup most of the revenue and even make more by having more cars take the Greenway. They can leave the full length tolls the same, but institute distance based pricing as almost any other toll road in the country has.
     
  16. GeauxTigers

    GeauxTigers Member

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    They'll just say that the cost associated with restructuring the exits/toll booths in order to track and charge a distance based price will result in a needed toll increase which will at best not increase the tolls for those taking only the shorter paths. I believe this was the answer the last time I saw it asked.
     
  17. Redolant

    Redolant New Member

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    Thats exactly the problem - its not distance based! I live near the broadlands exit but fight my way down to 28 in the morning - evenings i just have to pay the toll, 5.90 or whatever it is. You could get on at broadlands and off at the hilton one exit down and its the same price... nuts.

    And back to the original article trying to pain the road owners as super generous charity givers.. as a percentile its like me giving 50 cents - and its a tax write off - I'm guessing latka gets to work locally (lucky them).
     
  18. latka

    latka Active Member

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    Your problem is with the state not The Greenway. I think the road serves its purpose well. The high price keeps it attractive to those of us who would rather pay the fee than waste our time sitting in traffic. It has to be the most beautifully maintained road I've ever seen. I would rather pay a private company who provides a wonderful service than more taxes. They just do a better job.
     
  19. shim

    shim shim

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    You may actually be Latka from the TV show Taxi... You're paying both; taxes and tolls. Folks South on I95 are getting new roads/lanes and there's no toll.. Why us?
     
  20. Redolant

    Redolant New Member

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    The problem is the nova tax. If people exit at 28 it's a dollar or dollar fifty. If people exit at loudoun it's six.

    No one is complaining about paying the toll to use 267 (maybe they are) but the last few miles to loudoun exits is the issue.

    If they had distance based then exit for 28 would be 1.50, exit for Hilton would be 2 and exit for broadlands 2.50 etc etc.

    Because of the discrepancy in cost residents of our area who try to avoid the overcharge clog up 28 for residents of sterling etc and waxpool becomes a danger zone - that's the problem. Split the load. The roads we pay for via tax are over burdened because the main route out is over priced. If it's used twice a day everyday that's over $3k on top of the the normal tolls. That's $3k of taxed income paying for the last few miles of 267.

    I'm glad you enjoy looking at the scenery of 267 and feel it's worth paying for but you evidently don't travel in rush hour where you still pay your premium to sit in traffic - and with all the town homes being crammed in it's going to get worse but hey... They do a lot for charity.
     
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