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Author Topic: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans  (Read 13979 times)

kernals12

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Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« on: November 23, 2020, 03:34:16 PM »

If you look at the 2019 Loudon County transportation plan, there's a lot to get excited about.

-US 50 east of Northstar Boulevard will become a freeway
- Another freeway, called US 50 alternate, will be built closer to Dulles Airport
- All of the Leesburg Bypass will become a freeway
- The Loudoun County Parkway will become a freeway from US 50 to Old Ox Road, and if there is sufficient traffic, so will all of 606 with no less than 8 lanes

And that's not counting all widenings.
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Jmiles32

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2020, 06:11:53 PM »

Here's something you might enjoy: https://www.loudoun.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8975

It's an update on a bunch of what Loudoun is currently eyeing transportation wise (with a big notable exception being the US-15 plans) Definitely a fun county for road geeks. However, I would nevertheless not expect any of the projects you've listed to be built anytime soon. While there was recent funding awarded for "US-50 alternate", I do not believe that this will be built as a four-lane freeway, at least not yet. Regarding building interchanges on actual US-50, while Loudoun appears to want to do this, there is currently no funding for it. The future interchange with the Loudoun County Parkway (the 1st priority) alone is projected to cost around $500 million which is insane. Still though, what they're doing now (mostly widenings and missing road connections via proffers, county funding, NVTA funding, etc) is still considerably more than other localities in the state.
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kernals12

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2020, 06:31:29 PM »

Here's something you might enjoy: https://www.loudoun.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8975

It's an update on a bunch of what Loudoun is currently eyeing transportation wise (with a big notable exception being the US-15 plans) Definitely a fun county for road geeks. However, I would nevertheless not expect any of the projects you've listed to be built anytime soon. While there was recent funding awarded for "US-50 alternate", I do not believe that this will be built as a four-lane freeway, at least not yet. Regarding building interchanges on actual US-50, while Loudoun appears to want to do this, there is currently no funding for it. The future interchange with the Loudoun County Parkway (the 1st priority) alone is projected to cost around $500 million which is insane. Still though, what they're doing now (mostly widenings and missing road connections via proffers, county funding, NVTA funding, etc) is still considerably more than other localities in the state.

How is that possible? Unless they're making it a full blown stack, it should cost about $100 million max.
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Jmiles32

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2020, 08:06:53 PM »

Here's something you might enjoy: https://www.loudoun.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8975

It's an update on a bunch of what Loudoun is currently eyeing transportation wise (with a big notable exception being the US-15 plans) Definitely a fun county for road geeks. However, I would nevertheless not expect any of the projects you've listed to be built anytime soon. While there was recent funding awarded for "US-50 alternate", I do not believe that this will be built as a four-lane freeway, at least not yet. Regarding building interchanges on actual US-50, while Loudoun appears to want to do this, there is currently no funding for it. The future interchange with the Loudoun County Parkway (the 1st priority) alone is projected to cost around $500 million which is insane. Still though, what they're doing now (mostly widenings and missing road connections via proffers, county funding, NVTA funding, etc) is still considerably more than other localities in the state.

How is that possible? Unless they're making it a full blown stack, it should cost about $100 million max.

I have no idea and agree but this what it says regarding that particular project:
Quote
Loudoun County Pkwy / Rt 50 Future Grade-Separated
Interchange: Currently LCP and Rt 50 cross at a signalized
intersection; however, the Board's long term plan is to upgrade
the intersection to a full grade separated interchange. The
interchange project was included as a new project in last years
adopted Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) with anticipated funding in
"future years" (more than 6 six years into the future). As this project is
anticipated to cost approximately $500 million to complete, future
Board's will need to seek significant state and federal funding
assistance. Based on the current status and tremendous cost of this
project, Supervisor Letourneau and I believe it will take at least 10
years, if not more, until construction is able to begin.

Hopefully, both the $500 million price tag and 10 years away estimate are wrong but we'll see.
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Dirt Roads

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2020, 09:25:20 AM »

Here's something you might enjoy: https://www.loudoun.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8975

It's an update on a bunch of what Loudoun is currently eyeing transportation wise (with a big notable exception being the US-15 plans) Definitely a fun county for road geeks. However, I would nevertheless not expect any of the projects you've listed to be built anytime soon. While there was recent funding awarded for "US-50 alternate", I do not believe that this will be built as a four-lane freeway, at least not yet. Regarding building interchanges on actual US-50, while Loudoun appears to want to do this, there is currently no funding for it. The future interchange with the Loudoun County Parkway (the 1st priority) alone is projected to cost around $500 million which is insane. Still though, what they're doing now (mostly widenings and missing road connections via proffers, county funding, NVTA funding, etc) is still considerably more than other localities in the state.

Anybody remember the old "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" bumper stickers from the 1980s?  Traffic was already bad in all parts of eastern Loudoun when I moved south some 20 years ago.
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2020, 10:20:26 AM »

And they probably thought turning VA 28 into I-366 was a crazy idea...
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2020, 10:23:49 AM »

Anybody remember the old "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" bumper stickers from the 1980s?  Traffic was already bad in all parts of eastern Loudoun when I moved south some 20 years ago.

And they probably thought turning VA 28 into I-366 was a crazy idea...

It seemed to me that most folks wanted Sully Road to get the upgrade.  Support for new highways waffles between "make my commute faster" and "no more development".  Once the new VA-28 was in place, they certainly couldn't wait to get the four-lane, then to get the big interchanges, then to get the six-lane and then to get rid of the traffic lights.
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kernals12

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2020, 10:59:47 AM »

Anybody remember the old "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" bumper stickers from the 1980s?  Traffic was already bad in all parts of eastern Loudoun when I moved south some 20 years ago.

And they probably thought turning VA 28 into I-366 was a crazy idea...

It seemed to me that most folks wanted Sully Road to get the upgrade.  Support for new highways waffles between "make my commute faster" and "no more development".  Once the new VA-28 was in place, they certainly couldn't wait to get the four-lane, then to get the big interchanges, then to get the six-lane and then to get rid of the traffic lights.

And the conversion of Virginia's Route 7 to a freeway seems to have little opposition. The only concerns are about traffic delays caused by the construction. If only things had gone like this for another certain Route 7...
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2020, 11:21:09 AM »

Of course the people in Loudoun County favor upgrading Route 7 because it provides a free alternative to the Dulles Greenway's ever-increasing tolls.

Regarding the "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" slogan, I recall in the early 1990s there was concern in the Charlottesville area about "the Fairfaxing of Albemarle County" as Charlottesville's commercial development continued to push further north along Route 29.
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kernals12

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2020, 11:26:00 AM »

Of course the people in Loudoun County favor upgrading Route 7 because it provides a free alternative to the Dulles Greenway's ever-increasing tolls.


But they're upgrading it all the way out to Round Hill.

And plenty of freeways that would've provided alternatives to toll roads (looking at you I-290 to Waltham and Somerset Freeway in New Jersey) got cancelled by NIMBYism too.
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1995hoo

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2020, 11:51:20 AM »

Of course the people in Loudoun County favor upgrading Route 7 because it provides a free alternative to the Dulles Greenway's ever-increasing tolls.


But they're upgrading it all the way out to Round Hill.

And plenty of freeways that would've provided alternatives to toll roads (looking at you I-290 to Waltham and Somerset Freeway in New Jersey) got cancelled by NIMBYism too.

It was already mostly freeway-grade from the east side of Leesburg to Round Hill. There are four partial at-grade intersections going up the hill west of Leesburg and east of the interchange with Route 9, though the road effectively functions like a freeway through there, and then it's all freeway-grade west to the western end of Business Route 7 at the western end of Round Hill just east of the Hill High Marketplace.

In this case, BTW, Route 7 from Leesburg to Route 28 long predates the Dulles Greenway, though of course the road was not in its current form.
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cpzilliacus

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2020, 12:14:54 PM »

Anybody remember the old "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" bumper stickers from the 1980s?  Traffic was already bad in all parts of eastern Loudoun when I moved south some 20 years ago.

Yes.  There was an analog in Maryland to this - "Keep Calvert Country" at about the same time.
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Joke Insurance

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2020, 01:27:32 PM »

And they probably thought turning VA 28 into I-366 was a crazy idea...

Was the idea of upgrading VA 28 to a I-366 an actual idea at one point?
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2020, 01:37:23 PM »

And they probably thought turning VA 28 into I-366 was a crazy idea...

Was the idea of upgrading VA 28 to a I-366 an actual idea at one point?

It was one forum member's idea, and it has since become a meme. Nobody actually in a position of power has proposed it.
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #14 on: December 05, 2020, 02:54:22 PM »

And they probably thought turning VA 28 into I-366 was a crazy idea...

Was the idea of upgrading VA 28 to a I-366 an actual idea at one point?

Search the forum for posts by ethanman62187.
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #15 on: December 08, 2020, 11:12:34 PM »

I for one am certainly surprised how much they're doing in Loudoun, right on the edge of rural Loudoun even!
 I'm not hoping for interchanges all down the corridor, but some at high-profile intersections will do fine.

Here's an interesting concept that never really took off.
https://www.urban-ltd.com/northstar-boulevard
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2020, 03:35:11 PM »

Why don't they just move mainline US 50 to the Dulles freeway and change the existing US 50 in the area to US 50 Alternate?
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2020, 03:53:34 PM »

Why don't they just move mainline US 50 to the Dulles freeway and change the existing US 50 in the area to US 50 Alternate?

With what as the goal?
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MillTheRoadgeek

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #18 on: December 17, 2020, 07:54:57 PM »

Why don't they just move mainline US 50 to the Dulles freeway and change the existing US 50 in the area to US 50 Alternate?

Not sure how they'd pull that off - the DTR ends a ways off of Route 50 in Falls Church. Might need to route it along 66 still to do so.
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kernals12

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #19 on: December 17, 2020, 08:05:03 PM »

I for one am certainly surprised how much they're doing in Loudoun, right on the edge of rural Loudoun even!
 I'm not hoping for interchanges all down the corridor, but some at high-profile intersections will do fine.

Here's an interesting concept that never really took off.
https://www.urban-ltd.com/northstar-boulevard

I can see why. Cloverleafs are out of fashion
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MillTheRoadgeek

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #20 on: December 17, 2020, 08:48:58 PM »

I for one am certainly surprised how much they're doing in Loudoun, right on the edge of rural Loudoun even!
 I'm not hoping for interchanges all down the corridor, but some at high-profile intersections will do fine.

Here's an interesting concept that never really took off.
https://www.urban-ltd.com/northstar-boulevard

I can see why. Cloverleafs are out of fashion

I believe it's still planned as a parclo - one loop was taken out as there is now a housing development in place. That may be the only reason they've taken it out. The Loudoun County Parkway interchange still has plans for a full cloverleaf though.
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kernals12

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #21 on: December 17, 2020, 08:56:41 PM »

I for one am certainly surprised how much they're doing in Loudoun, right on the edge of rural Loudoun even!
 I'm not hoping for interchanges all down the corridor, but some at high-profile intersections will do fine.

Here's an interesting concept that never really took off.
https://www.urban-ltd.com/northstar-boulevard

I can see why. Cloverleafs are out of fashion

I believe it's still planned as a parclo - one loop was taken out as there is now a housing development in place. That may be the only reason they've taken it out. The Loudoun County Parkway interchange still has plans for a full cloverleaf though.


You're kidding. The cloverleaf interchange is a menace. It is the worst thing New Jersey has hoisted upon this planet, yes, even worse than Snooki.
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MillTheRoadgeek

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #22 on: December 17, 2020, 09:11:29 PM »

You're kidding. The cloverleaf interchange is a menace. It is the worst thing New Jersey has hoisted upon this planet, yes, even worse than Snooki.

Just how it was planned by the Loudoun boards. Though one thing's for sure, not a single cloverleaf interchange built in this world is my fault.
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kernals12

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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #23 on: December 17, 2020, 09:33:54 PM »

You're kidding. The cloverleaf interchange is a menace. It is the worst thing New Jersey has hoisted upon this planet, yes, even worse than Snooki.

Just how it was planned by the Loudoun boards.

Those bastards. They've doomed us all.
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Re: Loudoun County's Ambitious Highway Plans
« Reply #24 on: December 17, 2020, 11:06:21 PM »

I for one am certainly surprised how much they're doing in Loudoun, right on the edge of rural Loudoun even!
 I'm not hoping for interchanges all down the corridor, but some at high-profile intersections will do fine.

Here's an interesting concept that never really took off.
https://www.urban-ltd.com/northstar-boulevard

I can see why. Cloverleafs are out of fashion

I believe it's still planned as a parclo - one loop was taken out as there is now a housing development in place. That may be the only reason they've taken it out. The Loudoun County Parkway interchange still has plans for a full cloverleaf though.


You're kidding. The cloverleaf interchange is a menace. It is the worst thing New Jersey has hoisted upon this planet, yes, even worse than Snooki.
lol
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