IF Dulles Airport Was NEVER Built-Loudoun County Today Would Be..... (Burke: apartment, rent)

[Hudlander]

If Dulles Airport had never been built OR if it was built in Burke (as originally planned) what would Northern VA be like today?

1). Would Reston town Center exist?
-Would Route 28 be 2 lanes
-Would Eastern Loudoun be rural?
-West Fairfax?

2) IF Dulles was built in Burke would NOVA have a lot more compact developement?
-Would Clifton have been fully developed?
-Would Annandake/Springfield/Woodbridge be high tech Jobcenters?

3) IF Dulles airport was built in Montgomery County....would there ag reserve be history?

[VRE332]

it would be the same crummy pot holed roads, big box stores, spotty popped up condos and nothing unusual.

[Hudlander]

Let's see if we get more responses....

[NOVA_guy]

Likely Prince William County/Manassas 2.0. Some wealthy areas with people who commute to DC for work, some working class areas, etc.

Not sure about Reston and Herndon, a lot of the development and money out there radiates from its proximity to Dulles, remove that and I’m guessing you’d get a typical far out suburb from a major city - nothing really special or interesting, typical bedroom community.

[dkf747]

Growth would be different locations, but Easter Loudoun probably would still be built up. Fairfax county is filling up.

[ersatz]

Old Keene Mill Road would have been like present day I-66. Much of present day Lake Accotink Park would have been replaced by a stack of cloverleafs. Burke Lake Park would not exist, as it was created from much of the land seized for the original airport site. The story of how and why airport construction was relocated from Burke to Chantilly is a sad note in local African-American history. It was an injustice for the farmers in Burke too.

‘Burke Airport’ Story Revisited

[ozzyngcsu]

It seems to me that some people assume that an airport is typically surrounded by wealthier areas just bc that is what surrounds Dulles in Loudoun. Lots of airports such as Atlanta are surrounded by lower income housing or Denver are surrounded by vacant land and warehouses.

[skeddy]

I remember when Dulles was built (1962), there was very little traffic there until the late 60's when it began to pick up but still was 20% of what DC National served. Much of the growth throughout the region was spurred by the completion of the "Capital Beltway" in 1964. (you used to have to drive through DC to get to Md). Route 7 was a 2 lane road, one traffic light in Tysons, next one was in Leesburg.

[choff5]

Look at where it wasn’t build. The original plans were to put an airport in the area that now is Burke. I don’t remember the details about why that didn’t happen but you can look at that area now. I remember in 1977, just engaged and we went looking at new housing in this open under construction area that was going to be Burke.

[ecko_complex24]

Originally Posted by ozzyngcsu

It seems to me that some people assume that an airport is typically surrounded by wealthier areas just bc that is what surrounds Dulles in Loudoun. Lots of airports such as Atlanta are surrounded by lower income housing or Denver are surrounded by vacant land and warehouses.

I don’t know anyone who assumes this. I’ve never held the assumption that this is the case because of Dulles. If anything, Dulles doesn’t prove this entirely either. There is one cluster of houses (Loudoun Valley) that would fit this category.

The other spots surrounding Dulles property are townhouses (which are still fairly highly priced because of the location), data centers and warehouses, and a mobile home park. Not everything that surrounds Dulles is high dollar housing. My wife’s friend also lives in a county rent controlled apartment right to the north of Dulles. My wife says the airplane noise is loud over there. I personally would think the opposite, living real close to the airport should offer cheaper housing.