Has Supervisor Geary Higgins checked out?

Has Supervisor Geary Higgins checked out?  Geary is now all consumed by his race for Virginia’s 13th District Senate Seat.  Below are some questions for Geary:

Geary, why are there no project updates? 

Geary, why is there still NO project plan?  

Geary, where is the Safety and Operations Study for the northern corridor?  

Geary, why did you terminate the Route 15 Stakeholder Committee?  

Geary, what do you plan to do for Route 15 as a Virginia State Senator?

Remember, Geary said: “I do not want to widen Route 15 any more than I have to.”  Disappearing is one way to achieve this.  Does anyone know where Geary is?


Fix Route 15 Now!

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Why have the roads and schools been ignored in the Catoctin District?

Over the past 5 years Loudoun County had almost $435M in leftover funds – almost a half a billion
dollars!

Where did these funds go?

Did the Catoctin District receive any of these leftover funds for roads and schools?

Does the safety of your families and educational needs of your school-age children matter?

Should the media investigate what happened to all of these leftover monies?

Fiscal Year Leftover Funds Available*
2014 $ 66,634,741
2015 $ 68,935,851
2016 $ 87,662,109
2017 $ 98,085,058
2018 $ 112,927,386
Total $ 434,245,145

*All leftover monies were identified by the auditors in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.


https://www.loudoun.gov/1476/Comprehensive-Annual-Financial-Reports

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What happened to Route 15’s SmartScale Application (North of Montresor Road)?

Route 15’s SmartScale application requesting $110M for improvements north of Montresor Road  was screened out before it had a chance to be scored.  Here is the application:

2018-Route-15-SmartScale-3593-Application

List of screened out applications:

http://smartscale.org/documents/20190115/1final_screenout_01152018_v4.pdf

Overall Loudoun County projects scored very poorly both within the Northern District and overall against other projects across Virginia.  See the Northern District section (06-01 to 06-39):

http://smartscale.org/documents/20190115/7scorebook2020p.pdf

Thank you to Supervisor Umstattd and Virginia State Delegate LaRock for speaking in front of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) on November 28, 2018 supporting the Route 15 SmartScale Application.  We thank you for your continued leadership!!!

Although the six year Loudoun County Capital Improvement Program (CIP) was presented to the Board of Supervisors on February 13th with a line item for Route 15 improvements from Montresor Road to the Point of Rocks Bridge in the amount of $110M, the majority of funding ($75M) was shown in the out years (beyond six year CIP) .  There is an expectation that State and Federal funding will cover the majority of the project (similar to the NVTA funding that was won for the Route 15 improvements south of Montresor Road).

For more information and additional insight:

See Page 7-26 for “Capital Improvement Program by Function Area – Schedule of Appropriations”

https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/149150/FY-2020-Proposed-Budget—Volume-Two

See the Virginia SmartScale website:

http://smartscale.org/default.asp

See Loudoun Now article “Loudoun Strikes Out on State Funding” from February 5, 2019:

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Route 15 Safety Improvements from Montresor Road up to Point of Rocks Bridge

Is there any proposed funding for Route 15 (north of Montresor Road) in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) of Loudoun County’s Proposed FY 2020 budget?

The answer is YES!

The Loudoun County Administrator presented his recommended budget last evening, February 13, 2019, with  recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year which begins on July 1, 2019. The budget development process begins with guidance from the Board of Supervisors in the Fall, and more specifically each Board Member’s priorities and requests for their district for inclusion in the County Administrator’s budget presentation in February.

The County Administrator has recommended the funding of another 10 year Route 15 project in the amount of $110M with anticipated completion in FY 2029.

More details to follow on this 7 mile stretch of road that will take 10 years to complete!

See Page 7-26 for “Capital Improvement Program by Function Area – Schedule of Appropriations”

https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/149150/FY-2020-Proposed-Budget—Volume-Two
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Moving Forward in 2019

Welcome to 2019 and the start of a promising new year!  Now that the holidays are behind us, we at FIX Route 15 Now plan on updating the community with where things stand with respect to actions or inactions on improving the Route 15 Corridor from the Town of Leesburg to the Point of Rocks Bridge.

We will take a deeper dive this year on timelines, funding and legislative issues and their impact on improving the Route 15 Corridor.  We plan to cover over the next few weeks, in summary format, several related topics affecting the safety improvements and congestion relief along Route 15 to include the following:

  • A review of what has been accomplished on Route 15 over the past 2 years.
  • When will the County release Kimley-Horn’s next report on Route 15 (north of Montresor Road)?
  • Is there any interest in continuing the Route 15 Stakeholder Committee?
  • When will the County send monthly progress updates on Route 15?
  • Whatever happened to the $110M VDOT SmartScale road funding request for Route 15 improvements (north of Montresor Road)?  What funds have been allocated in the County’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)?
  • What did the Loudoun elected officials do with the $100M surplus funds from last year?  Were any requests made for Route 15 corridor?
  • When will the Loudoun Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure (DTCI) put out the RFP for Route 15 engineering services to start road widening from Battlefield Parkway to Montresor Road?
  • What have our Loudoun County, State and Federal elected officials done to support Route 15 improvements?
  • Why you should be concerned about the safety improvements along Route 15?

Route 15 safety should be everyone’s concern, don’t you agree? Join the conversation on our Facebook page!

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Another Day, Another Accident

Another day, another Route 15 accident. This time a single vehicle with a utility pole. We are told to “look for alternate routes”, which way? Waterford? West Virginia? Beltway? Helicopter? Ferry (is it open?)?

Our government and elected officials owe us an efficient and safe roadway!

Let us know what you think on our Facebook page.

FINAL UPDATE: Route 15 is open in both directions after utility crews cleared downed utility pole after crash. Expect…

Posted by Loudoun County Sheriff's Office on Monday, January 7, 2019
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Final Route 15 Stakeholders Committee Meeting

At the October 22, 2018 Route 15 Stakeholder Committee Meeting it was announced by Supervisor Geary Higgins that this would be the last Route 15 Stakeholder Committee meeting!  Mind you, not one piece of asphalt has been added to widen the Route 15 roadway.  It was announced that there may be a “task force” convened to oversee the Route 15 design.  It was not defined who or what expertise would be sought after.   Would this be a task force of “special interest no growthers”?  If so, than this process has been rigged with a pre-determined outcome!

Although some insight on what will occur in the next six months regarding surveying the 3.5 miles from Battlefield Parkway to Montresor Road, a project calendar still does not exist.

https://www.loudoun.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8232

Does Geary Higgins have an intent to FIX Route 15 NOW?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In other news:

Several statements were made and questions raised by the stakeholders, most notably the representative from the Catoctin Coalition stated that Supervisor Higgins reneged on his promise made at the July 16, 2018 Route 15 Stakeholder Meeting that his office would send out mailings to those homeowners of the then upcoming “public input” session on September 26, 2018.  Supervisor Higgins disagreed, his chief of staff stated that mailings were sent out regarding the session.  The Catoctin Coalition representative wanted proof and asked for the zip code mailings which would be made available.

The Catoctin Coalition representative had earlier made the declarative statement that the Little Springs homeowners along the section of road north of the King Street merge and between Tutt Lane were not included in the design of the road enhancements and modifications.  Supervisor Higgins pointed out that was not the case and in fact the 1 homeowner affected by the design was in attendance and was satisfied with the impact around his property.

The Catoctin Coalition representative also asked if water testing would be conducted to make sure that sinkholes don’t form and private water wells are not contaminated and county staff said environmental concerns will be accounted for.

The Selma Estates representative asked if there was any analysis conducted between a roundabout and a traffic signal at the proposed realigned intersection of Montresor Road and Limestone School Road?  The answer from Mr. Joe Kroboth, the Director of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure was “NO, the consultants only analyzed a roundabout in their traffic analysis – NOT a traffic light.  The follow-up question by the stakeholder representative was “why was there not any comparative analysis between a roundabout and a traffic light?”  There was silence by the county staff, the consultants and Supervisor Higgins and his chief of staff, Ms. Carey.  It should be noted that the “special interest no growthers” have all along insisted on roundabouts at ALL intersections regardless of the traffic engineering fact that VDOT does not support 2 lane roundabouts and a single lane roundabout will fail at this section of the corridor because of the high volume.

The Selma Estates representative asked if there were any plans to include a new project for the safety improvements north of Montresor Road to include the Western (or Eastern) bypass around Lucketts in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget currently being developed to take effect on July 1st, 2018, the start of the new fiscal year.  After much consternation among staff, Supervisor Higgins agreed that this project would be included in the budget.

The Lucketts Business Collaborative representative enquired as to whether the design for the widening would take into account safe entry and exiting around the businesses located along Route 15.  Mr. Kroboth and county staff answered affirmatively that those safety considerations would be part of the design features so as to not bring any harm, bodily, economic or otherwise to those businesses along the corridor.

The Lucketts Business Collaborative representative was also recognized by Supervisor Higgins as a recent Loudoun County Winery award winner for his vineyard’s wine.  The roomful of folks enthusiastically applauded this recognition of distinction.  It should be noted that there was no free wine flowing in the goblets of the stakeholders to joyously share any of vineyard’s bounty….

Finally, results from the recent online survey regarding concepts for Route 15 north of Montresor road were presented. 70% of the 1,043 responses favored “Concept B” which continues the 4 lanes with medians further north of Montresor Road with a Lucketts bypass. Over and over again these surveys continue to show community support for what past roadway studies have shown to be proper solutions to Route 15’s safety and congestion issues: 4 lanes with medians and fully paved shoulders. Its clear that the no growth group’s claims that citizens want a “traffic calming” or “alternative solution” are not true. More details regarding the survey and public input can be found here: https://www.loudoun.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8233

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The Unusual and Cozy Relationship Between the No Growther Special Interest Groups and Supervisor Higgins

Why is Supervisor Higgins constantly entertaining and communicating with a group of no growthers and their consultant in secrecy? Why is this being done outside of the “official” Route 15 Stakeholder Committee?

On August 31st Supervisor Higgins received a letter and 100+ page report from the following Route 15 “no growther groups”:

Stewart Schwartz
Executive Director
Coalition for Smarter Growth

William Sellers
Executive Director
Journey Through Hallowed Ground

Martha Polkey
Coordinator
Catoctin Coalition

Chris Miller
President
Piedmont Environmental Council

Morgan Butler
Senior Attorney
Southern Environmental Law Center

Ian Lockwood
Professional Engineer
Toole Design Group

Supervisor Higgins never shared the no growthers secret report with the official Route 15 Stakeholder Representatives Committee! In fact, Higgins included this group’s 100+ page report as an attachment in Staff’s “Route 15 – Congestion Report Improvements” that was presented before the Board of Supervisors on September 20, 2018 after having it for twenty (20) days – a shameful and deceitful act!

Supervisor Higgins not only continues to entertain and communicate with this “Shadow” Group of no growthers and their consultant, Supervisor Higgins fails to publish and share any of their e-mail communications or notes from these meetings.

Is this the “transparency” that Supervisor Higgins brags about?

Supervisor Higgins, when will you publish all of your communications to and from these no growther groups and their consultant (between you, Loudoun County Staff and/or the Loudoun County’s consultant Kimley-Horn)?

Is this project intentionally being delayed by Supervisor Higgins and the County’s transportation staff constantly meeting with these no growther groups?

Isn’t it time to Fix Route 15 Now Supervisor Higgins?

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More Lies and Fearmongering

Loudoun Now continues to offer the Catoctin Coalition, PEC, JTHG, and others a platform to spread lies and misinformation to Loudoun Citizens in their latest publication of Martha Polkey’s “opinion”: https://loudounnow.com/2018/10/17/op-ed-rt-15-plan-threatens-cascade-of-loss-for-rural-northern-loudoun/

Ms. Polkey has been the ringleader behind stopping all improvements to this road for 20+ years with the result being many deaths and the massive delays we all sit in daily. Nowhere in this ridiculous narrative of bogus lies and misinformation or in any of her other constant publications does she provide ANY realistic solutions to the problems on Route 15. No, she keeps pointing to “traffic calming” (code for slowing cars down) as a means to decrease congestion which is a big lie. Her goal is to make Route 15 so unbearable that no one wants to use it. The real boondoggle here is the idiotic roundabouts that she proposes which will saddle Loudoun taxpayers with $60 to $100 million dollars in debt and will fail on day one. Roundabouts are not designed to regulate peak one-way directional traffic and comparing Route 15 (a long stretch of highway) with Gilbert’s Corner (one intersection) is an apples to oranges comparison.

How about public input?

Ms. Polkey would have you believe that it was all a show but the facts are she just doesn’t like the outcome. Survey after survey shows massive support for widening with proper medians. Don’t believe her lies, Ms. Polkey had direct input to the consultants who were studying every solution. Some of her strange “ideas” probably lead to tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars of extra work for the consultants to analyze. How about those who were supposedly not represented on the stakeholders committee? Supervisor Higgins directly mailed over 800 homes informing them of the work being done on Route 15 and how to give feedback. We frequently call out Supervisor Higgins for not moving this project forward fast enough but he has made sure people are involved. At this point, if you live along Route 15 and don’t know what is going on then you just don’t care.

Supervisor Higgins “slammed the door shut?”

What a fat lie. Ms. Polkey and her associates (PEC, JTHG, Ruritans, Ian Lockwood) constantly meet with Supervisor Higgins and county staff trying push their “solutions.” The mere fact that Mr. Lockwood’s “proposal” (which was really just 100+ pages of regurgitated BS from his previous presentations) was included in the document presented to the Board of Supervisors at the September 20th meeting shows that their “solutions” were considered. Again, the problem is Ms. Polkey and her group do not like the outcome so they are trying to say the process was not followed and people weren’t informed.

Less access?

Yes, this is going to happen and is a minor consequence of progress. Some homes will have to be “inconvenienced” and won’t be able to make left turns directly from their driveway. The safety and efficiency of the roadway for thousands of citizens trumps a handful of people’s need to make occasional left turns directly from their driveway. Its debatable whether they can make these left turns today due to the traffic and safety issues. Our suggestion? Move the driveway to another access road instead of directly connecting to Route 15 if possible.

Our elected officials should stop wasting their valuable time (and our taxpayer dollars) on solutions that have already been studied and shown not to work. Instead, they should be concentrating on a project plan which would expedite Route 15 safety and congestion improvements.

Fix Route 15 Now!

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Response to Loudoun Now Article

It used to be that the job of the press was to not only report the news but to investigate stories, learn the facts, and, when necessary, fact check quoted sources. In his recent article in Loudoun Now, Mr. Renss Greene made the statement that:

 “Fix Route 15 Now has argued that the process to widen Rt. 15 is taking too long, and has pushed to accelerate it. The organization has sent out regular email newsletters advocating a faster process and construction of roundabouts along the route.”

He did get the first few things correct here. We do think the process has taken too long. We do think that a 10-year timeline is outrageous. We do, in fact, generally agree with what the county is proposing but it should be fairly obvious that we do NOT advocate for the construction of roundabouts on Route 15. We hope this is a typo that will be corrected soon.

Meanwhile, it seems that the Catoctin Coalition, a special interest group which as WE reported on this site, was founded specifically to oppose widening Route 15, has splintered yet again into ANOTHER organization opposed to improvements which is of course, although they put Mr. Adams in as a figurehead, led behind the scenes by the same person now in charge of the original group and consists of the same members. Once again, an attempt to deceive the public about the amount of true support their anti-Route 15 agenda has. We do find it rather ironic that the same people attacking our group for remaining anonymous have forced their own members to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Why is it that despite being interviewed by Loudoun Now for basically every article about Route 15, Ms. Polkey is never asked to justify her group’s stance that single lane roundabouts and no widening is a solution to the safety and congestion problem on Route 15 even though ALL evidence says otherwise?  Why wasn’t she asked this time why one anti-route 15 group needed to form another anti-route 15 group? Evidently nobody at Loudoun Now looked into the proposal supposedly submitted by Mr. Lockwood. This did not actually happen. Because they were only able to raise $200 out of the $20,000 needed to hire Mr. Lockwood, the special interest groups merely combined a bunch of his old PowerPoint presentations he gives to various groups around the country into a giant file and sent it to the Board themselves. Of the more than 110 pages they submitted, only a handful have anything to do with Route 15 and none of those address with actual data how the 26,000+ vehicles on Route 15 would be handled. We discovered this with a cursory Google search of Mr. Lockwood’s prior engagements. Again, this is the type of reporting that used to be done by the press looking for the truth.

We also want to make clear that our non-response to this article was due to the fact that we were given mere hours to respond to an email before publishing and we all have our own jobs and families to focus on. We would be happy to answer any questions Loudoun Now may have via email.

-Fix Route 15 Now Team

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