Route 15 is closed… again. This time near White’s Ferry Road. This has happened during a relatively light traffic time considering many are on spring break. Should we have to deal with this road as-is for another 10 years? Maybe Supervisor Geary Higgins should provide a project plan to get this road fixed.
Fix Route 15 Now!
Are you aware that Route 15 ranked as the single most congested and dangerous road in Loudoun County? Do you realize that there have been over 100 accidents per year over the past 5 years on Route 15? Are you tired of our local, state and Federal leaders ongoing failure to fix Route 15? Are you tired of being ignored, wondering why it will take 10 years to widen only 3.5 miles of Route 15 or hearing the solution to fix Route 15 is to study the problem some more? Many elected leaders and candidates neither have a position nor a plan. You have an opportunity in the upcoming primaries and election this November to make a difference and support elected leaders that can determine the outcome of Route 15. This is not about party affiliation, this is about basic services for you and your family. Do you really think Route 15 should take 10 years to be fixed and that it needs to be studied some more?
Public offices, that touch the Route 15 corridor, that have elections this November, include:
Loudoun County Catoctin Supervisor
Loudoun County Chair
Virginia State Delegate
Virginia State Senator
Our elected leaders need to be held accountable. We will provide updates on where all the candidates stand on a regular basis. Below is a list of candidates for each office. Stay tuned for updates.
Fix Route 15 Now!
Loudoun County Catoctin Supervisor
Forest Hayes (D)
Caleb Kershner (R)
(The Catoctin Supervisor has the greatest influence over the success of the Route 15 project by establishing the project tone and driving an accelerated timeline. This office carries even more influence as the Virginia Department of Transportation has delegated the project management of Route 15 improvements to Loudoun County).
Loudoun County Chair
Phyllis Randall (D)
John Whitbeck (R)
Virginia State Delegate
Mavis Taintor (D)
Dave LaRock (R)
Virginia State Senator
John Bell (D)
Mike Buscher (R) – (Republican primary June 11th)
Geary Higgins (R) – (Republican primary June 11th)
Ron Meyer (R) – (Republican primary June 11th)
The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) approved funding of $54M last June 10, 2018 to widen 3.5 miles of Route 15 from Battlefield Parkway up to Montresor Road. At the public hearing on May 10, 2018 the opponents to the widening of Route 15 repeatedly advocated for “roundabouts” and NOT widening. This was the same hearing that Supervisor Geary Higgins did NOT attend to advocate for this project, the single- highest ranked road project of the 9 Loudoun County projects due to it’s heavy congestion and danger due to frequent accidents!
After having the funding for 10 months, there is still NO project plan for Route 15! The NVTA will revoke this funding and re-distribute it to one of the other regional members (i.e. Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Prince William city-counties) if there is not a project plan with significant progress on this road.
The special interest “no growthers” are counting on these Route 15 funds being revoked by NVTA.
Why does Chair Phyllis J. Randall and Supervisor Geary Higgins not present a Route 15 project plan and why did they abolish the Route 15 Stakeholder Committee?
Do Catoctin Lives NOT Matter?
What are your thoughts? Visit our Facebook page and leave a comment.
Our no-growth friends always like to point out how amazing Gilbert’s Corner is at moving traffic. It’s kind of hard to move traffic around the inevitable accidents that will occur in these roundabouts.
Did you know?:
– Gilbert’s Corner used to be a 2 lane roundabout but VDOT changed the design due to the high volume of accidents
– No-growth groups think single lane roundabouts (or even double but with no widening) will fix problems on Route 15 north of Leesburg
While this accident is not on the stretch of Route 15 that we are always concerned with, just imagine all the trucks/trailers navigating “Roundabout Hell” that makes its way into so many proposals. Would you want to be next to a trailer like this going through a roundabout? We would hope not but Supervisor Geary Higgins wants to dictate to VDOT what kind of traffic control should be implemented along Route 15 North of Leesburg. This is if it even gets done within the next 10 years.
Maybe Supervisor Ron Meyer or Chair Phyllis J. Randall could help the Catoctin District get things done.
Fix Route 15 Now!
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!
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
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:
List of screened out applications:
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):
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”
See the Virginia SmartScale website:
See Loudoun Now article “Loudoun Strikes Out on State Funding” from February 5, 2019:
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”
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:
Route 15 safety should be everyone’s concern, don’t you agree? Join the conversation on our Facebook page!
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.