This will never happen but it should (Leesburg, Vienna: living in, lawsuits)

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by SilverJD

Look at a map, they aren't really that far apart. Plenty of people make much larger commutes. Once Met a guy who commuted from Manassas to Baltimore.

You're right; it's not that far compared with other highways like 66. But I like that one section of this traffic-choked ocean of development--Northern Montgomery--has been set aside. Extending 200 through it would inevitably lead to development nearby.

[WittyUserName]

Doesn't seem to deter the many Maryland commuters that already clog Leesburg area roads during the AM and PM commutes. I'd be happy with less.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by WittyUserName

Doesn't seem to deter the many Maryland commuters that already clog Leesburg area roads during the AM and PM commutes. I'd be happy with less.

We should build a moat between Virginia and Maryland.

Oh, wait...

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by SilverJD

Look at a map, they aren't really that far apart. Plenty of people make much larger commutes. Once Met a guy who commuted from Manassas to Baltimore.

They are that far apart. There is a river between them. If you can fly like a bird then they aren't that far apart. That said, I support a bridge to connect the ICC to Rt. 28, not Leesburg. Leesburg isn't that far away from there though.

[hertfordshire]

Originally Posted by dkf747

They are that far apart. There is a river between them. If you can fly like a bird then they aren't that far apart. That said, I support a bridge to connect the ICC to Rt. 28, not Leesburg. Leesburg isn't that far away from there though.

Exactly. I sometimes commute from Sterling (Algonkian Pkwy) to Gaithersburg. 'As the crow flies,' they're just about 10 miles apart. But the commute frequently takes me about an hour in the morning, and more than that in the evening. The ferry isn't a feasible option ... just the drive time to the ferry and then to Gaithersburg is longer than the 495 route, not accounting for actual ferry time.

[Nate_VA]

Drones that carry a passenger will soon make bridges obsolete.
Just kidding... ?

[Pub-911]

If you choose to live in Leesburg, you have effectively ruled out working in a long list of places. Atlanta is on the list. Topeka is on the list. So is Montgomery County. If you want to work in any of those places, you will first need to move to a place other than Leesburg.

[car54]

I don't blame the western Montgomery folks a bit. All they have to do is look across the river at Loudoun and Fairfax to see what unrestrained growth does.

And they should allow their quality of life be destroyed so a bunch of commuters, most of whom will be gone in a few years, can get to work quicker? Hell no!

[johnsonkk]

Don't know how it occured but eventually after decades of lawsuits, Louisville and the states of Kentucky and Indiana finally gained approval to start their East end bridge to form the outer Beltway. Now they have portions that had to go underground and "pops" out right the start of the bridge. This was done to protect the million dollar homes that protested. Million dollar homes convert to 5 million dollar homes here.

The build had to agree to noise barriers the whole way and absolutely no exits were allowed so there is at least five miles without any exits.

[Carlingtonian]

I don't think government should be in the business of enabling people to live farther and farther from their jobs. If they want to do that, why should taxpayers foot the bill for it? Why should people living in small towns and on farms endure another superhighway in their backyards? We've already done this with I-66.

Extending highways and transit to the outer reaches also contributes to the emergence of megacities at the expense of small cities and towns, in that all the jobs agglutinate in the largest cities, so that they also draw more population while the small cities and towns wither or stagnate.

So what we need is less consolidation of corporations and government and more branch offices--BRAC in reverse, if you will.

If that were to happen, then Leesburg might have a branch of a large corporation or of the federal government, instead of people living there and driving to DC, Tysons, or the Pentagon, etc.

But that would require central planning by a powerful federal government--a la Germany. So it won't happen. Sad to say it, but that highway extension probably will, eventually.