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[MillTheRoadgeek]

lol
lol
It depends on the weaving volumes.
source: being a traffic engineer
please stop trolling

Not to mention, C/D roads and the loop's dimensions, like size and curvature at the ends (many new parclos have very sharp curves or no slip ramps for instance) help define these cloverleaves.

[bluecountry]

Looking at this plan, I'm puzzled on a few things:

1)  So where is 'Alt US 50' supposed to originate from on the east, and what purpose does it serve/need if Route 50 in SE Loudoun will be a freeway?
2)  Just exactly how can US 50 in SE Loudoun be a freeway from the Fairfax line to near Route 15?  This would lead to a disaster on the east in Fairfax unless there was significant coordination.  I mean is Loudoun kidding?
-To this end, US 50 would need to be a freeway in Fairfax.  I could see it like this:
     -From I-66 to Rt 28 just model it after Route 1 on the North Shore of Boston OR Route 4/17 in New Jersey
     -From Rt 28 to Loudoun, the more traditional freeway style

Thoughts?

[74/171FAN]

US 50 already has a brief freeway section between SR 608 and I-66 in the Fair Oaks Mall area.  I have not seen any plans for Fairfax County to extend that west.

[bluecountry]

US 50 already has a brief freeway section between SR 608 and I-66 in the Fair Oaks Mall area.  I have not seen any plans for Fairfax County to extend that west.

It should, like Route 17 in NJ.

[Alps]

US 50 already has a brief freeway section between SR 608 and I-66 in the Fair Oaks Mall area.  I have not seen any plans for Fairfax County to extend that west.

It should, like Route 17 in NJ.

Route 17 has no freeway section

[Rothman]

US 50 already has a brief freeway section between SR 608 and I-66 in the Fair Oaks Mall area.  I have not seen any plans for Fairfax County to extend that west.

It should, like Route 17 in NJ.

Route 17 has no freeway section

What about around Ho-Ho-Kus?

[Alps]

US 50 already has a brief freeway section between SR 608 and I-66 in the Fair Oaks Mall area.  I have not seen any plans for Fairfax County to extend that west.

It should, like Route 17 in NJ.

Route 17 has no freeway section

What about around Ho-Ho-Kus?

Not a freeway. Driveways.

[MillTheRoadgeek]

Looking at this plan, I'm puzzled on a few things:

1)  So where is 'Alt US 50' supposed to originate from on the east, and what purpose does it serve/need if Route 50 in SE Loudoun will be a freeway?
2)  Just exactly how can US 50 in SE Loudoun be a freeway from the Fairfax line to near Route 15?  This would lead to a disaster on the east in Fairfax unless there was significant coordination.  I mean is Loudoun kidding?
-To this end, US 50 would need to be a freeway in Fairfax.  I could see it like this:
     -From I-66 to Rt 28 just model it after Route 1 on the North Shore of Boston OR Route 4/17 in New Jersey
     -From Rt 28 to Loudoun, the more traditional freeway style

Thoughts?

SE Loudoun would work well in some cases but other than that I'd say they have to adapt to the tight freeway model in some places; development is still encroaching on the road with companies acting like there is no freeway in sight.

And I will say these two things:
-If US 50 Alt means a different roadway, will they make one around Gilbert's Corner/downtown Aldie/Middleburg/Upperville?
-I do wish these interchanges could preserve some of those subdivision entrances. I say they look quite nice and it's a shame those were taken out when VA 7 was upgraded.

[1995hoo]

Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville fought very strenuously against bypass plans some years back. They were afraid of becoming "dead" towns where everyone went around on the new bypasses and the in-town businesses withered away. The current road design with roundabouts, small islands and brickwork when you enter the towns, etc., was all a result of those negotiations some years ago. I recall that at one point there was a plan to eliminate the strange random four-lane section of Route 50 just west of Middleburg (the current westbound carriageway would have become the two-lane two-way thru road and the current eastbound carriageway would have been severed but maintained for property access reasons). But that seems to have been dropped.

[Roadsguy]

I suspect "US 50 Alt" is just a weird way of referring to an alternate routing for a US 50 freeway on new alignment instead of upgrading the existing road. That doesn't explain the seemingly indirect tie-in to the west, though...

[bluecountry]

I suspect "US 50 Alt" is just a weird way of referring to an alternate routing for a US 50 freeway on new alignment instead of upgrading the existing road. That doesn't explain the seemingly indirect tie-in to the west, though...

I think actually it is part of a new proposals to link the Air and Space Parkway with the Tall Cedars Parkway.

[MillTheRoadgeek]

I suspect "US 50 Alt" is just a weird way of referring to an alternate routing for a US 50 freeway on new alignment instead of upgrading the existing road. That doesn't explain the seemingly indirect tie-in to the west, though...

I think actually it is part of a new proposals to link the Air and Space Parkway with the Tall Cedars Parkway.

I remember seeing such billed as a bypass road for the Dulles Airport. Curious to see how it will turn out, especially that such a route would actually be a spur of 50.

[Jmiles32]

I suspect "US 50 Alt" is just a weird way of referring to an alternate routing for a US 50 freeway on new alignment instead of upgrading the existing road. That doesn't explain the seemingly indirect tie-in to the west, though...

I think actually it is part of a new proposals to link the Air and Space Parkway with the Tall Cedars Parkway.

I remember seeing such billed as a bypass road for the Dulles Airport. Curious to see how it will turn out, especially that such a route would actually be a spur of 50.

In order to truly be effective, the proposed US-50 Alt should directly tie into the planned US-50/Loudoun County Parkway interchange. With this interchange likely to be under construction by the end of the decade, I'm hoping Loudoun will, at the very least, make design accommodations for a potential tie in later (btw anyone know if there is an official interchange design for this project yet?). Hopefully that's the plan and linking US-50 Alt to Tall Cedars Parkway would just be a Phase 1. 

[MillTheRoadgeek]

In order to truly be effective, the proposed US-50 Alt should directly tie into the planned US-50/Loudoun County Parkway interchange. With this interchange likely to be under construction by the end of the decade, I'm hoping Loudoun will, at the very least, make design accommodations for a potential tie in later (btw anyone know if there is an official interchange design for this project yet?). Hopefully that's the plan and linking US-50 Alt to Tall Cedars Parkway would just be a Phase 1. 

The plan pictured here lays out some questions. Will this be access-controlled, and how will they pull it off with all the Willowsford, Arcola Center and Brambleton development abutting it?

[bluecountry]

Ideally this would allow passengers to access Dulles via a second location.

[1995hoo]

Ideally this would allow passengers to access Dulles via a second location.

Third, actually. There are already two ways to access Dulles by private vehicle (one of which is closely watched by police because it’s used to reach the Dulles Access Road to avoid paying tolls). Of course, adding access from the south would probably require tunneling under the runways/taxiways, so my guess is that you shouldn’t hold your breath.

[bluecountry]

Ideally this would allow passengers to access Dulles via a second location.

Third, actually. There are already two ways to access Dulles by private vehicle (one of which is closely watched by police because it’s used to reach the Dulles Access Road to avoid paying tolls). Of course, adding access from the south would probably require tunneling under the runways/taxiways, so my guess is that you shouldn’t hold your breath.

Certainly, from the west there should be; and as well, that 267/28/Dulles exit from the Greenway needs massive improvements.  Maybe if the Commanders move to Loudoun that will spur such a project.

[Joseph R P]

I know this is an older thread, but there's no possible way a US 50 ALT route will be built just north of the existing route considering all of the ROW acquisition needed from the airport and the lack of a logical place for it to reconnect with US 50 or VA 28 in the east. I also don't see a reason for such a project, considering US 50 is already a road large enough to be expanded upon. It would be better to perform a Delaware State Route 1-esque upgrade, leaving minor intersections and driveways, perhaps using some signalized green-Ts and Michigan lefts at more-important junctions, and putting a few interchanges where absolutely needed such as at Loudoun County Parkway, maybe even a few overpasses here and there. No point in building a new highway so close to a much more easily fixable existing one.

[74/171FAN]

I know this is an older thread, but there's no possible way a US 50 ALT route will be built just north of the existing route considering all of the ROW acquisition needed from the airport and the lack of a logical place for it to reconnect with US 50 or VA 28 in the east. I also don't see a reason for such a project, considering US 50 is already a road large enough to be expanded upon. It would be better to perform a Delaware State Route 1-esque upgrade, leaving minor intersections and driveways, perhaps using some signalized green-Ts and Michigan lefts at more-important junctions, and putting a few interchanges where absolutely needed such as at Loudoun County Parkway, maybe even a few overpasses here and there. No point in building a new highway so close to a much more easily fixable existing one.

Have fun telling that to Aldie or Middleburg.   

[Joseph R P]

I know this is an older thread, but there's no possible way a US 50 ALT route will be built just north of the existing route considering all of the ROW acquisition needed from the airport and the lack of a logical place for it to reconnect with US 50 or VA 28 in the east. I also don't see a reason for such a project, considering US 50 is already a road large enough to be expanded upon. It would be better to perform a Delaware State Route 1-esque upgrade, leaving minor intersections and driveways, perhaps using some signalized green-Ts and Michigan lefts at more-important junctions, and putting a few interchanges where absolutely needed such as at Loudoun County Parkway, maybe even a few overpasses here and there. No point in building a new highway so close to a much more easily fixable existing one.

Have fun telling that to Aldie or Middleburg.   

Fortunately I'm only thinking of the stretch between 28 and Stone Ridge. It would be ideal to just slap some more roundabouts along the 2-lane section of US 50 between Stone Ridge and Aldie (which I believed is planned).

[74/171FAN]

I know this is an older thread, but there's no possible way a US 50 ALT route will be built just north of the existing route considering all of the ROW acquisition needed from the airport and the lack of a logical place for it to reconnect with US 50 or VA 28 in the east. I also don't see a reason for such a project, considering US 50 is already a road large enough to be expanded upon. It would be better to perform a Delaware State Route 1-esque upgrade, leaving minor intersections and driveways, perhaps using some signalized green-Ts and Michigan lefts at more-important junctions, and putting a few interchanges where absolutely needed such as at Loudoun County Parkway, maybe even a few overpasses here and there. No point in building a new highway so close to a much more easily fixable existing one.

Have fun telling that to Aldie or Middleburg.   

Fortunately I'm only thinking of the stretch between 28 and Stone Ridge. It would be ideal to just slap some more roundabouts along the 2-lane section of US 50 between Stone Ridge and Aldie (which I believed is planned).

Sure, but I can see those places being scared of more traffic flooding in there.

[Jmiles32]

In other Loudoun County highway news, the planned VA-7 interchange at Hillsboro Road (Rt. 690) in Purcellville is at severe risk of being unfunded due to numerous delays and disputes between the town and the county over relatively minuscule details. If this interchange is indeed canceled, it would be extremely unfortunate, not only because a vast majority of people in the area support it, but also because of the domino effect it would have on other Western Loudoun projects, such as planned improvements to the VA-7/VA-287 interchange, that were designed under the assumption that this interchange would be built:

https://www.loudounnow.com/news/county-purcellville-delays-likely-sink-route-690-interchange-plans-13m-in-funding/article_dd2b6954-80a6-11ed-af3f-076227eea0ac.html

The latest actions in more than two years of delays by the Purcellville Town Council and government may have sunk major transportation and athletic field projects in the town and cost county taxpayers millions, the county government has warned.

In particular, a Dec. 13 Town Council vote may have canceled plans for an interchange at Rt. 7 and Rt. 690, delayed interchange improvements at Rt. 7 and Rt. 287 for months or years, and caused an indefinite delay of plans for the Fields Farm athletic fields complex and a park-and-ride lot.

The county has also won $3.6 million in state funding for the park-and-ride, and $9.6 million for the Rt. 690 interchange—money which the county may now return to avoid potential difficulties getting that funding for other projects in the future. County staff members have said they have already received the first warning from the state about the long delays to the interchange project, and said without progress by the new year they may recommend returning that money to the state. They have advised supervisors it may be better to cancel those projects than risk that source of state funding countywide by failing to use that money in a timely manner.

The Purcellville Town Council on Dec. 13 had been scheduled to hold a public hearing on those plans—but instead canceled that public hearing and sent the projects once again to the town's Planning Commission. They also directed the commission to review the county’s acquisition of a roughly 7,000-square-foot parcel near the planned Rt. 690 interchange, which the county purchased in 2018 and which was dedicated for a right-of-way for the project in a July 2022  deed and plat of dedication signed by the town.

Pointing to a floodplain on the land and HOA covenants, the town now says the lot must go through a public hearing and win approval from two-thirds of the residents of the Catoctin Meadows Homeowners Association, of which the lot was formerly part. Councilman Tip Stinnette, a Catoctin Meadows resident, said the town will not schedule that public hearing until the county provides the HOA with all the documents it submitted to the town. Once that has been done, the town would then hold a public information session, then a Planning Commission evaluation, and eventually a Town Council public hearing. The Town Council approved that statement in a vote at the Dec. 13 meeting.

With the town’s newest setback, County Administrator Tim Hemstreet told supervisors in a memo Monday the Rt. 690 interchange now appears unlikely to proceed.

On top of the lost state funding, Hemstreet wrote construction costs grow by an average of 7% a year, and unless county staff members can find a plan to replace that state funding, it would be five to 10 years before funding is available.

“If the staff and I can develop a reasonable alternative that would allow the project to maintain a timely schedule, we may recommend pursuing a yet unidentified alternative. We recognize that the project is very important to western Loudoun, so we will do what we can to try and identify a reasonable alternative to the Town’s current position,” he wrote.

Delaying the Rt. 690 interchange could also impact all the other projects while the county works up new traffic analyses, he wrote.

Purcellville resident and district Supervisor Tony R. Buffington (R-Blue Ridge) pointed out Purcellville Mayor Kwasi Fraser had put the interchanges among his campaign promises.

“It's unbelievable to me that after at least two election cycles of campaigning on partnering with the county to accelerate the Rt. 7/690 interchange, all Mayor Fraser has actually done is work to delay the project to the point that we are now in danger of losing all remaining funding for it,” Buffington said.

On the interchange, he wrote, “the Town is risking this project over a 1/6th of an acre floodplain easement that has been accounted for in the interchanges design in order to ensure no negative impacts to any adjacent properties.”

County staff members plan to provide a more comprehensive update to supervisors at their January finance committee meeting.

Hopefully, there can be some sort of last-second agreement worked out between the town and county because if not, this interchange is only going to get more costly and therefore more unlikely.

[bluecountry]

I really would like to see RT 50 be free of traffic lights to Middleburg from 66.
As I stated, just copy RT 17 in NJ where there are zero lights.

[froggie]

Pointing to a floodplain on the land and HOA covenants, the town now says the lot must go through a public hearing and win approval from two-thirds of the residents of the Catoctin Meadows Homeowners Association, of which the lot was formerly part. Councilman Tip Stinnette, a Catoctin Meadows resident, said the town will not schedule that public hearing until the county provides the HOA with all the documents it submitted to the town. Once that has been done, the town would then hold a public information session, then a Planning Commission evaluation, and eventually a Town Council public hearing. The Town Council approved that statement in a vote at the Dec. 13 meeting.

Further proof that HOA's are the Devil...