New Ramp from Dulles Airport Access Highway to I-495 Opens Saturday

A new ramp and flyover bridge connecting the eastbound Dulles Airport Access Highway to I-495 will open to traffic tomorrow, Saturday, September 8.

The ramp provides a direct connection to the northbound and southbound Capital Beltway (I-495), improving safety and convenience for traffic near the interchange.

Drivers on the Access Highway will no longer need to exit to the Dulles Toll Road and cross multiple lanes of traffic to reach the Beltway. New overhead signage on the Access Highway will direct drivers to the new ramp.

Airport traffic destined for Route 123 or the 495 Express lanes (opening later this year) will continue using the existing ramp to the eastbound Dulles Toll Road near the main toll plaza.

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Letter to the Editor -- Widening of Belmont Ridge Road

This is a letter to the editor that appeared in the April 23 "Leesburg Today"

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors plans to vote May 2 on the widening of Belmont Ridge Road to six lanes. There is currently no reason to widen Belmont Ridge to six lanes unless there are plans to extend the road across the Potomac River and connect with Maryland’s Inter County Connector Road.

Why build a six-lane road from I-66 to Rt. 7 and stop? Rt. 7 is already gridlock. Why dump the I-66 traffic into Loudoun County? The traffic problems in Loudoun County are east-west, not north-south. If there are no plans to make Belmont Ridge Road the next beltway, leave the width at four lanes. Dulles Airport has Rt. 28 and Loudoun County Parkway as adequate transportation corridors and doesn’t need a six-lane Belmont Ridge Road to transport goods. Belmont Ridge Road is not located near Dulles Airport.

Look at Google Earth to see real purpose of widening Belmont Ridge Road to six lanes. The Belmont Ridge Road route is the Virginia Department of Transportation’s best clear route to build an Outer Beltway to and across the Potomac River without condemning thousands of hoes [sic]. A Belmont Ridge “Beltway” could be extended through Lansdowne by passing over an open corner of the Xerox Training Center property and “bridging” the river bottom golf course. Few homes would need to be acquired. The state of Maryland would only need to extend the “Outer Beltway” across farmland from I-270 and/or to the Inter County Connector. 

I recommend everyone who cherishes quiet, residential living in Ashburn and Lansdowne write his or her supervisor telling him or her to vote no on the widening of Belmont Ridge Road from four lanes back to six lanes. Our children who play on the soccer fields along Belmont Ridge Road should not have to be faced with the dangers of a six-lane “freeway” at the edge of the goal posts. 

Howard Miller, Ashburn

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10 Reasons Why Loudoun County Will Get Metrorail

From the Ashburn Patch...

Controversy over the location of a proposed Metrorail station at Dulles Airport has raised the possibility that the extension of the Silver Line to Dulles Airport and into Loudoun County might be scrapped altogether.

Over the past few weeks, the discussion among local, regional and federal officials has broadened in focus, from the location of the rail station to the need to reduce the overall cost of the project.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York, among others, has raised the possibility that Loudoun County might withdraw its support from the project if costs to Loudoun taxpayers and toll road users are not reduced. This would certainly kill the extension of Metrorail into Loudoun County, and perhaps the extension of the Silver Line to Dulles.

I doubt that it will come to that. Here are 10 reasons why I believe Loudoun will eventually get the Silver Line.

Click here to read the complete Ashburn Patch article and all 10 reasons author Jim Barnes thinks Loudoun County will get Metrorail.

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