What are they building at the intersection of Rt. 7 and 28?

[normie]

A pedestrian bridge over the intersection of Atlantic and 7 does not make sense to me. That's a raised interchange, so the bridge would have to be unusually tall. The logical place for a pedestrian bridge would be where City Center Blvd. crosses 7. That's where you see people crossing the road, and the bridge could be normal height.

City Center Blvd. is closer to the mall, and it's where the residential neighborhoods are. It's also where you see people walking. Atlantic serves a hotel and office buildings, but is a bit far from most parts of DTC. Atlantic passes underneath 7, and there is room to paint a stripe indicating a bike lane. I think that's what they mean by extending a "walking trail" there. In other words, a developer is trying to sound like a big shot when all he's really talking about is painting a stripe for a bike lane. I'm not sure many people would use this pedestrian lane, since that intersection is too far from both the homes of Countryside and the mall to be practical for walking, but it might be useful for bike riders.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by normie

I disagree with the assumption that people will be more likely to walk on a sidewalk in front of an office building, rather than a sidewalk in front of a grove of trees. Maybe you don't understand suburban walkers? We like trees.

I love trees. You might check out the threads I started about the accotink trail, and other walking Ive done in FFX county. My personal observation has been that driveways from office buildings in groves dont draw the levels of pedestrian activity that (holding constant for density) more urban streetscapes with retail frontage AND street trees do. Of course office buildings with no retail frontage, generally unfriendly to the street, tend to result in less pedestrian activity than either. It may well be that this will make very little difference either way in this location.


I am really not THAT interested in this building. I would not have responded again, except to make clear that I love trees, and that my opinions are not at ALL based on any dislike for trees, forests, groves, etc. Its possible to love cities AND to love forests, and many people love both, and find their loves to be complementary.

[mimitche]

It looks like construction is complete at the new National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) HQ building. I admit to being somewhat intrigued as to why the organization would spend so much money building their HQ at this site.

• The site prep work was incredible, involving a very long period of heavy rock removal.
• It's an extremely indirect access road to the building- they even had to build a bridge over a small stream.
• Construction lasted just over 2 years although it appears that less than 1/4 of that time was spent on the above ground construction of the main building itself.
• They're tax-exempt so I'm guessing that it's a big loss to Loudoun County in terms of tax revenue.

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by mimitche

[*]Construction lasted just over 2 years although it appears that less than 1/4 of that time was spent on the above ground construction of the main building itself.[/list]

Probably due to the construction of the closed-loop geothermal system.

CFC’s New HQ in Green Spotlight