Proposed Expansion of Belmont Ridge Road to 6 Lanes

Hi,

I'm new to the community and recently became aware of Rep Bob Chase's(Prince Wm Co.) efforts to quickly push this expanison through. I'm trying to understand the County Transportation Plan, and how this expanision will impact the safety and surburban "quiet" of our neighborhood.

I've copied the email I received below for those who are interested. There is an ipetition link under number 5. Your help in spreading the word throughout our community can make a difference.

Thanks so much!!
Traci


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Wolfgang Gruen <wolfgangblc@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 12:24 AM
Subject: Belmont Ridge Road - could be 6 lane toll road
To: loudounctp Gruen <wolfgangblc@gmail.com>


Hi All,

You have signed up last year to oppose the expansion of Belmont Ridge Road to 6 lanes, thank you again. I have submitted the petition at the public hearing last fall. Unfortunately Belmont Ridge Road is still a
6 lane road on the CTP draft and things developed very quickly in the last two weeks. There are only a few days left before the public hearing and we should focus on getting the word out.

Below are the latest developments and then our action plan. I hope you can help out:


1) There was an attempt to put the Western Bypass on the VA state map as a 6 lane Toll Road and the bill was killed in Richmond. The board of supervisors of Loudoun County opposed the bill, however Belmont Ridge Road is still on the CTP map as a 6 lane road.
http://www.loudouni.com/traffic/201...-spur-creation-western-bypass-through-loudoun
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+hb277

2) Rep Bob Chase of Prince Williams County is still trying to put the six lane road on the Loudoun County CTP and he is successful. I went to a discussion between Bob and Stewart from the Coalition of Smarter Growth. Bob showed us his idea of the 6 lane toll road from Prince William County to route 7. It will be either Belmont Ridge Road or Loudoun County Parkway.

3) If the current draft of the CTP gets approved, the 6 lane roads will spring up through the Dulles District. These roads aren’t intended to serve any recognized need. If approved, the roads will encourage more residential development, which means more houses and apartments.

4) The Planning Commission is expected to certify the CTP draft on April 7th and the public hearing is already on the April 12th.
http://www.loudoun.gov/Default.aspx...lic Hearing Packets/2010/04-12-2010 PH Packet

5) We started a web page and petition
https://sites.google.com/site/loudounctp/
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/loudounctp/


*** Action Plan:

a) check out the web page to learn more about the current CTP https://sites.google.com/site/loudounctp/

b) sign the petition and spread the word to sign the petition, send e-mail to everybody we whom you know in Ashburn and wouldn't like 6 lane roads. Talk to neighbors and friends and encourage them to spread the word.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/loudounctp/

c) ask your HOA whether they can send the message through the e-mail list and organize to volunteer.

d) hopefully you will sign up to volunteer and find more people to volunteer. If you sign up, I will coordinate.
http://sites.google.com/site/loudounctp/volunteer
d1) we need to walk the communities.
d2) we plan to set up stand at Harris Teeter next weekend and get more signatures for the petition and we need volunteers.



I hope to hear from you soon
Wolfgang
https://sites.google.com/site/loudounctp/

 

This road has been planned for six lanes for a long time and it is unlikely we'll see it expanded to only 4 lanes, let alone six, for many, many years.

 

Thanks Cliff! I'm hoping you're right, my concern is that once approved, the County could do so at any time.

 

I was wondering what would be so bad about some wider North/south routes in LoCo? I feel as if I'm risking my kid's life when we drive on BRR towards Chantilly. BRR is a twisty windy road with speed demons on my a**, a 4 way stop that seems to be optional, and didn't some people get killed on BRR because they failed to stop at a stop sign this summer? Broadlands and Brambleton are already here and those people need to be able to access 50 and 7 safely. Please don't flame me but those roads have been on the maps for a long time and it seems unreasonable to have these tiny country roads hindering north south transit.

 

I'm sure eventually it will be widened and be about like Loudoun County Parkway. What's wrong with that?

 

I find it amusing that people complain that Virginia doesn't have any roads and when they do try to build roads, everyone says "not in my backyard". If this road will help alleviate some of the congestion on our highways and interestates I'm all for it. I think it's safe to say we'll have a Metro station in Ashburn before we have a six lane Belmont Ridge Road though. Afterall, we are talking about VDOT right?

As far as more residential development, that all depends on the LoCo Board of Supervisors, not the State.

 

This expansion has been on the planning books forever. This is not new. We moved to Ashburn in 2000 and it was one of the first things we were told (actually as a selling point)...

 

Parts of it are already 4 lanes in Brambleton ( and a few other very small sections) and it is a huge improvement. I hope the 4 lanes get completed sooner then later but I know there is no money to do it.
Staci

 

I agree that we need to be able to access 7 & 50 safely, but do we need another Parkway? Essentially, isn't that what a 6 lane road would be? Wouldn't 4 lanes be more than sufficient given all the other arteries that will be built parrallel to it? As the roads grow, there is a trade-off of additional congestion, higher speeds, noise, etc. I'm not anti-development per se, just pro caution in accessing what our needs are, and striking the right balance between building and protecting our community.

 

Yes, yes YES we need another parkway! The traffic here is ridiculous. Expanding BRR, connecting to Old Ox Road from LCP, connecting LCP to Rt. 50, and heck even connecting Claiborne from Croson over to Ryan Road can't get here soon enough!

We bought here fully aware of the road infrastructure (also a selling point for us) and it's been creeping at a snail's pace while more and more houses are built. These road expansions make sense and are what is needed to support the traffic and future traffic that we'll be encountering.

 

My guess, it will realistically be some time around 2040 before this road would be widened to 6 lanes. Even that may be optomistic. Who knows what traffic will be like then? I'll be stumbling around looking for where I left my teeth...........

 

The Countywide Transportation Plan sure doesn't seem to make any sense. The plan shows BRR (south of the Toll Road) as 6 lanes before 2030 (the CTP is a twenty year forecast...not 2040).

Unfortunately, it appears that the CTP relied on an outdated traffic model and incorporated wrong traffic flow inputs as a starting point, such as estimating the current amount of traffic on BRR to be equivalent to highway 15! It is no wonder that the estimates are in correct.

BTW, if BRR is designated as 6 lanes in the CTP, future expansion to 4 lanes will essentially have the impact of being a 6 lane road on nearby communities given that the four lane road will be built to the outer edge of a 6 lane design (separated by a 2 lane median). However, if BRR only requires 4 lanes, it could be designed/situated to be further away from nearby communities and walking trails. I don't know about you, but I would get a little nervous having cars passing at 50 MPH near the current walking trails, which could be as close as 6-8 feet away for a 6 lane designed road!

And who is going to pay for all these all these expanded north-south 6 lanes roads that nobody needs? Apparently, there is no requirement to develop a fiscal operating plan to implement the CTP (boy, if I ran my business this way, I'd be in serious trouble). Obviously, for those of us that live in Ashburn, west-east traffic congestion needs serious attention and relief.

Let's just hope that the PC and BOS don't fall in to the same old trap in approving high density rezoning in the transition area in order to get developer proffers for roads we don't need!

 

Countywide Transportation Plan

Has anyone seen the proposed Countywide Transportation Plan? Someone forwarded me an email about the proposed widening of many roads, including Claiborne and Ashburn Village Blvd. to six lanes. I read the plan and it looks legit, but why???

Here's the email that's going around:

HIGHWAYS THROUGH ASHBURN??​

Neighbors/Friends,
I am writing you to let you know of developments that have recently come to my attention regarding the roads in and adjacent to our Broadlands and Ashburn communities. This Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors is meeting to discuss future road development plans for eastern Loudoun County. Of specific concern is the widening of Belmont Ridge Road, Claiborne Parkway and Ashburn Village Blvd. to 6 lane roads!

Yes...6 LANES...LIKE THE DULLES TOLL ROAD OR ROUTE 28! In fact the terms "Western Transportation Corridor and Outer Beltway" are being used. There is also discussion of making one of these ANOTHER TOLL ROAD!
This push is coming from local developers and some representatives of Prince William county, who hope that the increased road sizes will help to bring residents and business to their county. (In other words.."live/work just 20 minutes from...") This would help to increase their property values, while decreasing ours. Our cozy suburb will be a major thoroughfare! Our family communities will be forever changed!

See the map in the proposed CTP document, pages 16 and 17.

http://www.loudounctp.com/documents/March2010_CTP_Clean%20Version.pdf


These North South Routes are not intended to serve any recognized need. Most need is in an East West direction.

What can we do?​

Before the April 21st (Transportation Land Use Committee Meeting) we need your signature!! at

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/loudounctp/

Please also spread the word and forward this to anyone and everyone you can think may be affected.

Also send e-mail to Stevens Miller and the Board of Supervisors: stevens.miller@loudoun.gov and bos@loudoun.gov

to demand better transportation in Loudoun! And call Stevens Miller @ Office Phone: 703-777-0204 to leave a message regarding your concern. Make our voices heard.


Thank you,

Charlotta Pender

check out the web page to learn more about the current CTP
https://sites.google.com/site/loudounctp/

http://www.loudouni.com/traffic/2010-02-01/legislation-would-spur-creation-western-bypass-through-loudoun

 

Re: Countywide Transportation Plan

Belmont Ridge Road has been planned for six lanes since I've lived in Ashburn (summer 2000). Hadn't heard about the others. I'm all for widening Waxpool to as many lanes as it takes to get traffic moving...

 

Thanks. I guess I had stopped following the other thread and didn't realize the full scope.

 

The question isn't whether or not this was "planned" or for how long, but rather is it in our communities best interest. I attended the Transportation & Land Use Committee Meeting last week and even our Board of Supervisors have some real concerns as to whether the data that was used to develop these models and formulate the plan is accurate. Wouldn't it be better to assess our needs correctly now and plan accordingly, rather than use an inaccurate plan simply because it was done in '95? The TLUC & BOS have the opportunity to recommend this be re-evaluated, that doesn't mean we won't accommadate growth just that we'll be thoughtful in doing so.

 

Great point Traci.

The current CTP is an embarrassment. It's a more like a super-sized version of the previous Boards transportation plan. We don't need dozens of north-south 6 lane highways running through Ashburn (nor do we need an "outer-belway" along Belmont Ridge Road for that matter). I don't know about you, but my east-west morning and evening commute is just awful and I see nothing in the CTP aimed at fixing it.

Perhaps it's time to throw-out the PC and remind the BOS of last years campaign promises to not super-size Loudoun County!