Mon-Fayette Expressway to open on July 11, 2011 (Pittsburgh, Uniontown: home, living in, manufacturing)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

"Freeways" facilitate suburban sprawl. Tolled highways do not.

Someone needs to tell that to the Dulles Tollroad/Greenway.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Someone needs to tell that to the Dulles Tollroad/Greenway.

It's probably more a function of the airport than the highway. Hell, for as sprawltastic as Orlando is, there's still very little development around its Green Belt tollway, and there's not a tremendous amount along Florida's Turnpike, for that matter. Most of the sprawl around Orlando is along I-4.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

It's probably more a function of the airport than the highway.

All of the sprawl in Loudoun County is because of Dulles?

The toll road happens to be the main road from the Beltway into Loudoun. It sufficed to open up Loudoun to rapid sprawl, tolls notwithstanding.

[Bazzwell]

Originally Posted by WestLibertyAve

Everytime I get to Uniontown I wonder why the toll road cuts back to the west (edit: got my directions mixed up) and I'm stuck in a long line of cars following a slow moving tractor trailer through the Nemacolin Woodlands.

I've mentioned this in other posts but since you brought it up....

The original plan was for I-70 to run through Washington County and then into Fayette to head over the mountains and offer an alternative eastward into Maryland. Fayette politicians fought hard to keep that from happening and as a result I-70 was rerouted through Westmoreland County to the turnpike. Look closely on any map, you'll see not an inch of I-70 runs thru Fayette although it comes close at lower Belle Vernon.

But back to the valley, if they started to build a highway extension from the end of Toll 43 into Pittsburgh today, none of us reading this forum at this moment would be alive to see any real development take place in the valley as a result of the effort. The valley isn't like 79 north from the turnpike interchange. Old timers, remember when the highway first opened? There was nothing from the turnpike interchange until you got to a single Exxon station at Grove City then nothing again until Erie. Development started there because there was nothing but empty land to work with. You'd have no end of issues (and already have) by just suggesting that a good chunk of the existing valley would have to be gutted to spur development.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

All of the sprawl in Loudoun County is because of Dulles?

Nope. Loudoun County (or "LoCo" as I call it) is sprawling due to the continued growth of the major employers, namely private-sector Federal consulting firms, in the "Dulles Tech Corridor" (referring more to the Dulles Toll Road/Dulles GreenWay than Dulles Airport, actually) in communities such as Reston, Herndon, Fairfax, Chantilly, and McLean. Very few people commute from LoCo into areas inside the Beltway, but as my Route 7 commutes from Reston to McLean would show there were thousands upon thousands of people who were willing to tolerate hellish commutes for the "bliss" that is Ashburn. The Greenway/Toll Road was too expensive for me to justify on my salary, which was relatively low for NoVA; however, many in LoCo had money to burn, so paying the tolls was of little or no consideration to them. Ashburn is Cranberry's future.

[BrianTH]

Nice little article on the Greenway:

Greenway Drivers Face Dilemma

It details the rapidly growing population/use of the Greenway, and explains why people use the toll road despite the fee (in a nutshell, because the alternatives cost them more in other ways).

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Someone needs to tell that to the Dulles Tollroad/Greenway.

And the Dallas North Tollway, the LBJ Tollway, Beltway 8, the Hardy Toll Road...

[jimsmith022968]

BrianTH,

Since the 1980s, the plan was to build a highway from Route 48 in West Virginia (now I-68) to the eastern side of Pittsburgh. To make the connection to I-68, West Virginia had to build a four-mile section of expressway. Otherwise, the road would have dead-ended permanently at the state line, which would have made no sense.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by jimsmith022968

Since the 1980s, the plan was to build a highway from Route 48 in West Virginia (now I-68) to the eastern side of Pittsburgh. To make the connection to I-68, West Virginia had to build a four-mile section of expressway. Otherwise, the road would have dead-ended permanently at the state line, which would have made no sense.

Yeah, but I think people are asking WHY that was the plan, instead of connecting to I-68 eastward, over in Maryland. Particularly since it connects to I-68 just a few miles from I-79 in West Virginia.

And if the question is why are they building a highway in West Virginia when it would seem to make more sense to build elsewhere, it is a good bet the answer involves the late Senator Byrd.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Nope. Loudoun County (or "LoCo" as I call it) is sprawling due to the continued growth of the major employers, namely private-sector Federal consulting firms, in the "Dulles Tech Corridor" (referring more to the Dulles Toll Road/Dulles GreenWay than Dulles Airport, actually) in communities such as Reston, Herndon, Fairfax, Chantilly, and McLean. Very few people commute from LoCo into areas inside the Beltway, but as my Route 7 commutes from Reston to McLean would show there were thousands upon thousands of people who were willing to tolerate hellish commutes for the "bliss" that is Ashburn. The Greenway/Toll Road was too expensive for me to justify on my salary, which was relatively low for NoVA; however, many in LoCo had money to burn, so paying the tolls was of little or no consideration to them. Ashburn is Cranberry's future.

I almost didn't comment because you got the essence correct, but a few details are off. So, for the sake of answering the question a little more fully, here are a few more details. The Dulles Tech Corridor stretches from Reston to Leesburg. Since Tysons Corner is also growing by leaps and bounds, many people also include it in the Tech Corridor, but they're actually separate. Brian, since you used to live here you would be amazed at how Eastern Loudoun has filled in. It's now very easy to live, work and play right here. We're even starting to develop some pockets of density. A new development being built near the airport features a cluster of 10-story buildings. Brian, I'm sure you remember how this area was nothing but cow fields. Not any more.

As SCR pointed out, these days, the majority of people who live in Loudoun commute to jobs outside the beltway. Maybe a decade ago most people here commuted to DC, but not these days. I live in Loudoun and walk to my job in the same town. Although there continues to be a lot of growth in DC, it draws people who live closer to the city. There's also a huge amount of job growth in Tysons, Reston/Herndon,Chantilly, Ashburn and Leesburg, which draw the people who live out my way.