Over the past 40-plus years citizens have sought improved safety on our “Main Street” (which was designated the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Scenic Byway in 2009).
Grassroots (citizen-initiated) efforts have included
· the lowering of the speed limit north of Leesburg to 45 mph in 1999 that reduced fatalities;
· the traffic calming project that brought roundabouts to Gilbert’s Corner (Routes 15/50 intersection) that sharply reduced congestion and improved safety;
· a 2003 traffic-calming design for Lucketts (that the County declined to pursue); and
· the installation of rumble strips north of Leesburg in 2018 that alert drivers who are crossing the median or leaving the roadway.
The development industry has long sought expansion of Route 15 to become an outer beltway, opening up thousands more acres of farmland for development in Virginia and Maryland. Local citizens on each side of the river have repeatedly fought those efforts, arguing for more economical improvements (such as improved shoulders and roundabouts) that improve safety/accident response/access while preserving the scenic rural byway that benefits the rural economy.
The 1990s and 2000s, with development-friendly Boards of Supervisors, brought nine new housing developments to the Route 15 corridor north of Leesburg (951 units), adding about a thousand more daily trips on our rural arterial. Increased traffic across the Potomac River bridge from commuters to jobs in Loudoun, Fairfax, and points east (with about 21,000 trips/day across the bridge in 2024). The percentage of interstate truck traffic has stayed steady at about 4%. At the White’s Ferry signal, daily volumes are about 27,000 trips/day).
The number of roadside farm stands, wineries and breweries, antiques vendors, and event venues also have increased, bringing some additional weekend traffic (as well as local sources for food and entertainment).
Following a 2016 Loudoun Transportation Summit, the Board of Supervisors initiated a revision of the Countywide Transportation Plan, and then directed a consultant to conduct studies and public outreach to gain support for expansion of Route 15. A stakeholder group was named by former Supervisor Geary Higgins (dominated by representatives nominated from the newest HOAs and with just one voting member to represent the roughly two-thirds of remaining residents), and the majority supported the expansion plans presented by staff and the consultant. Supervisor Higgins declined to consider lower cost designs that would replicate the successful Route 50 and Route 9 traffic calming projects.
BOS votes in 2018 and 2019 approved
· redesignating Route 15 as a Principal Arterial (Other), prioritizing interstate traffic,
· 4-laning of Route 15 from Battlefield Parkway to Lucketts with a bypass, and
· restricting access to St. Clair Lane with a median to prevent left-hand turns.
The plan retains the signal at Whites Ferry, adds a roundabout at a redesigned Montresor/Limestone School Road intersection, a roundabout at a redesigned Spinks Ferry/New Valley Church Road intersection, and a new signal at Lovettsville Road just south of the Potomac Bridge. A multi-use path is planned for the west side of the highway. This huge project has been separated into about 8 separate sections.
The County received $56M from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority for widening from Battlefield Parkway to Montresor; its funding applications from VDOT and the feds for 4-laning to Lucketts were rejected. Currently most of the rest of the funding for Route 15 expansion is from county tax dollars, and Loudoun itself (instead of VDOT) is managing this highway expansion.
After turning Loudoun down for SmartScale funding, in 2020 VDOT presented to the County a $14M project to alleviate Lucketts signal congestion (a secondary focus of which was to aid local access), but Supervisor Kershner has never allowed it to be publicly presented or considered. Instead, in 2022 the BOS voted for a western alignment of a Lucketts bypass, despite surveyed citizens preferring an eastern alignment by a 3-to-1 margin (and with most of the speakers in favor of the western route coming from Raspberry Falls and Selma).
Supervisors voted in DATE to initiate the long-awaited Village Small Area Plan process for Loudoun’s rural villages, with Lucketts slated to be first.
In February of this year County Administrator announced the expediting of the Luckett bypass project; at the June 4 public meeting in Leesburg presented four prospective alignments for the new road. No consultant’s report or traffic studies were provided; nor was information on intersection controls (stop sign, signal, roundabout, tunnels) that were used to calculate the reduction in congestion. Geotechnical studies of the area’s karst geology had not been conducted.
The public survey on the alternatives opened June 6 and closed June 20. On October 8, the County will hold its final public input meeting in Lucketts to announce the final alternative(s).