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There is a huge difference beteween the traffic in South Riding and Ashburn. It absolutely has affected the home values. I have lived in South Riding for 10 years: the most significant improvement was toll brothers finally living up to their end of the bargian and paving Braddock rd some 6 years ago. Now the urban sprawl is spreading to Gum springs road. Gum springs road has had the same configuration for 40+ years and needs to be widened to 4 lanes for current traffic. Now all this extra traffic will have to come through the overcrowded infrastructure of SR to reach dulles.
Take Brambelton for instance: Built in the last 10 years, has a gym, a nice town center with movie theater and parking garage. Good restraunts, not Ruby Tuesdays as the Prize of the development in South Riding, the town homes of equal age are holding their value way better.
Ashburn has continued to mature with many redundant roads, but South Riding continues to suffer as developments are continued further west but bring no new roads. In fact, a real concern is that the new rt 50 work would only correct the issues for the current conditons.
The traffic studies performed by VDOT don't take into account the mix of industrial trucks and the bailout traffic from 28 coming from Gainesville and Manassas and points south. Gumsprings and 606 don't just serve south riding, they serve every landscaping truck coming from manassas. Plus Luckstone is going to close the quarry on 29 and move all that business to Gum Springs. And all the quarry had to do was relocate the 2 lane road. Why? Because they are in good with Loudoun county who once again thumbed thier nose at South Riding and the general Dules South region.
Gumsprings and 606 don't just serve south riding, they serve every landscaping truck coming from manassas.
Not to mention the large volume of truck traffic bringing cargo to/from Dulles Airport and the industrial businesses/warehouses.
Of course, I don't drive over near Ashburn much but I'm told Waxpool Road and environs is not really any better during peak rush - I'm not so sure the picture is that rosy over there.
Yes absolutely, I herd a staggering statistic about how much money trucking companies and others loose from just the amount of time the trucks in the area have to sit in traffic. That is one of the reasons everything costs more here because the trucks loose so much time on the roads. I though this is where all the big government models were supposed to work... transportatin and interstate highway system. Instead we have utter gridlock at and all around the nations capital. Can anyone say IRONY? Do you really want these guys taking over healthcare???
I wish I could have asked both Kane and Allen why they continued to let the infrastructure atrophy in northern va while the tidewater area, though not perfect, is driving on 8 and 10 lane roads with smooth new pavement and light traffic density. They were both VA governors and opted to do nothing. How is 50 just now being widened? How is 66 still 4 lanes inside the beltway?
I don't understand how two of the wealthiest counties that have the top incomes and tax rates have infrastructure based on cow paths and old creek bridges. Getting back to subject, South Riding Traffic is terrible not only from the landscape trucks, but all manner of commuters and industrial, construction, and commercial traffic looking to "escape" to the dulles greenway/toll road from the I66 disaster before they head east. They just completed the project to widen I66 from manassas and it's completely insufficient. Thus all the traffic is looking to escape north not only to work in areas that are to the north, but to then head east after they work around 66. Where does this put them on Gum Springs Road, through South Riding, and onto 606.
Here's a novel idea: Raise the speed limit!!!!!!!! just like water in a pipe, if you need more volume through the same size pipe, you increase the velocity. Everyone's car goes 70 mph, probably on a daily basis, so why don't we start slowly raising the speed limits?
If we can travel 55 mph on a two lane road with traffic coming at us with just feet between the cars, what can't we all go 70 mph on a divided highway where everyone is going the same direction? It does not makes sense. Sure there will be the one car going 45mph in the left lane, but if the speed limit is 70 they will have to work to stay there with everyone zooming around them.
Last edited by terribletraffic; 11-06-2012 at 01:02 PM..
I wish I could have asked both Kane and Allen why they continued to let the infrastructure atrophy in northern va while the tidewater area, though not perfect in transportation, is driving on 8 and 10 lane roads with smooth new pavement and light traffic density.
I'm guessing you haven't really driven around Hampton Roads during rush hour. Light traffic density is NOT correct.
yes, they have traffic at rush HOUR but it is just that, an hour or two of the day not 4-6 hours in the mornign and evening, or 8 to 12 hours per day.
I was down on 664 to 64 and even on 264, there's just not even the same situation. looking at where the traffic map is red for delays, there it is moving at 20 mph. Here red is stopped, creeping along, car length by car length. In Hampton Roads, the major issues involve issues in the tunnels, for which there is no shortage I admit.
Point being, Route 50 is a rolling gridlock even on Saturday and Sunday morning at 8-9am and it doesn't let up till late afternoon because EVERY light trips red just as the prior cycles to green.
All the residents of South Riding and beyond have to travel out of communtiy for basics despite the recent addition of shopping centers that can't hold or attract stores save the Home Depot and grocery stores. The Home Depot in South Riding is a small store, so often I have to go to Manassas in order to get a full selections or what's advertised online.
There reason? Traffic is so bad in and to South Riding that major stores won't consider South Riding area because the infrastructure can't support people from adjacent locations coming into South Riding, VA to shop. Why would anyone come to South Riding to shop from Chantilly or Ashburn? my goodness I quit the golds gym in chantilly because it commonly takes me over 20 miutes each way to travel 5-6 miles. Walmart smartly opened up their store at the Dulles EXPO and now they have one opening with a Kohls in Haymarket, once again avoiding the traffic congestion associated with South Riding.
For the residents who have been promised improvemts were coming as part of the song and dance to sell you on the location, all I can say is, they are still a long way off. Rt50 done by 2015 and nothing else slated for construction until the last metro rail stop is completed in 2018 to 2020. Wow, that is a lot of time to be patient!
Who wants to be the loudoun county bord of supervisors changes over 2x before anything significant is complete? And with good reason, giving away proffers of $500,000 for improvements to studies. At least synchronize the lights on 606 to get traffic moving and stop letting construction yards pop up on every corner without any road improvement like say, a turn lane?!?!
Last edited by terribletraffic; 11-06-2012 at 02:01 PM..
Apparently you haven't heard that last month Walmart broke ground on a new store at 50 and 606 *in South Riding*, slated to open next fall, alongside several other national retail stores. So much for "major stores won't consider South Riding area"...
(To be fair, that's only going to make traffic worse, which was the original point of this thread, but I just felt the claim that major stores won't come to the area, needed a response, when they are.)
Apparently you haven't heard that last month Walmart broke ground on a new store at 50 and 606 *in South Riding*, slated to open next fall, alongside several other national retail stores. So much for "major stores won't consider South Riding area"...
(To be fair, that's only going to make traffic worse, which was the original point of this thread, but I just felt the claim that major stores won't come to the area, needed a response, when they are.)
Jarednova, you beat me to it, terribletraffic doesn't seem to want to use facts and appears to be quite bitter towards South Riding and the Dulles South corridor.
Not to mention the large volume of truck traffic bringing cargo to/from Dulles Airport and the industrial businesses/warehouses.
Of course, I don't drive over near Ashburn much but I'm told Waxpool Road and environs is not really any better during peak rush - I'm not so sure the picture is that rosy over there.
+1 on Ashburn, it's not as great as terribletraffic makes it out to be.
I beg to differ. Years ago, when my wife and I first moved here, we decided between a house in South Riding and one in Ashburn. We chose the latter. And we are so very glad we did. One of the deciding factors at the time was the road network. We could see very easily that Ashburn had multiple major roads converging on it, 7, 28 and Greenway, which meant options if one of the roads experienced a significant incident. South Riding had only one -- 50. And the current home values seem to reflect this -- the two homes we looked at back years ago were about the same then, but there is a substantial price gap between the two now in favor of the one in Ashburn.
You can disagree all you want, but you are not comparing both locations objectively. I lived in Belmont Country Club for 8 years, then moved to South Riding. My job is in Fairfax, the commute is simply closer and faster from South Riding than Ashburn (Belmont Country Club). As I mentioned earlier, your daily commute and the traffic associated with it very much depends on where your job is. Several people in my office live in Ashburn and get in the office later than me and have to leave earlier to get home.
For the record, Ashburn is a nice place, but to suggest it has a vastly superior road network or infrastructure is not entirely accurate. Rt. 7 and 28 are parking lots in the morning just like Rt. 50 and the Greenway is a poor option for anyone based on cost. The Greenway for example is not the same distance for everyone in Ashburn, you act as if it's super convenient and was built for only Ashburn commuters.
I heard the sales pitch about how great everything was 10 years ago. The same sales pitch is used on all my newer neighbors. If that shopping center is built as shown, that's great; however things like this have fallen through. There's a half built resort hotel that folded across from East Gate shopping center, what happened there? Wasn't the Home Depot shopping center supposed to reach out to rt 50 and have a movie theater? But as indicated, this is about traffic.
Unfortunately, if you look at the VDOT planned expansion for 606 its 2018 at the earliest, that's a fact right from their website. Route 50 will be complete sometime in 2015. That's still pretty far off in my world and I know how construction schedules go. I was born and raised in the area and see how the developers and politicians make deals for themselves, not the people that move there. I rode with my family on the exact same roads growing up decades and decades ago. Now quite often there are crosses and flowers next to trees that claimed someone's life because the people have been crammed onto the same roads that existed when there was 10 acres per house not 10 houses per acre.
The developers get rich and run off to repeat the cycle. The county gets their increased revenue from taxes to secure and issue bond funding for schools and Sherriff/fire "safety centers" at 2 per ballot. Still few if any concessions were or are made for the same old roads.
I'm not saying people shouldn't move to South Riding, or that Ashburn is any better, they are just further along in the infrastructure realization process. Someone needs to be honest about the traffic problem and how long it will be until the issues are resolved. If the people running and governing don't like it, then they should put some teeth in the developers proffers and stop spending 80% of the budget on schools. Though the public sector unions aren't behind them, roads are the epitome of serving the public.
Transportation facilitates the trade that is the key to economic success. Right now Loudoun is choking itself out and the people pay the price with their life due to unsafe conditions or with the part of their lives they spend just trying to get home...
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