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Route 15 Improvements Approved
Leesburg to Montresor Road
Dear Residents,
After many years of work, I am pleased to inform you that improvements are finally coming to Route 15.
In an unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors, I was able to get long overdue improvements on the section of the corridor between Leesburg and Montresor Road. I would like to thank my colleagues on the Board for their support.
This effort has always been about the balance of preserving the rural historic beauty of Route 15 while giving residents living on the corridor a quality of life not wasted in endless hours of traffic trying to get to work, take kids to school, or attend sporting events. These are not mutually exclusive outcomes. On any given day, Route 15 is full of traffic, shut downs and accidents.
Route 15 is a unique and special road. It is a National Scenic Byway, and part of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage area and full of residences, farmer markets, farms, historic homes, wineries, breweries, parks, and a school.
Daily life and commuter traffic coexist on this corridor. It's our responsibility to find the balance that allows people to live their daily lives on a safer, less congested beautiful rural road. I have always believed it is possible to achieve this balance and the improvements adopted last week will allow us to achieve that goal.
The improvements will include widening Route 15 to a four-lane median divided roadway between Battlefield Parkway NE and Montresor Road,
realignment of the Route 15/North King Street intersection to become a continuous green T-intersection controlled by a traffic signal,
replacement of the existing traffic signal with a new signal at Route15/Whites Ferry Road/Raspberry Drive to accommodate four lanes of through traffic plus turn lanes,
realignment of Limestone School Road across from Montresor Road and to design and construct a hybrid two-lane roundabout at the intersection.
In an effort to determine the necessary point of widening on Route 15 for this phase of the corridor, I requested analysis to determine the impacts of widening Route 15 to a point 2000 feet beyond White's Ferry. The analysis (Congestion Report p. 53-56) found that if widening occurred to 2000 feet beyond White's Ferry there would be no problem with queuing into the White's Ferry intersection only until 2020. However, the analysis also showed that the widening to Montresor Road will handle traffic demand through 2030. Unfortunately, widening only 2000 feet beyond White's Ferry would put the corridor in a failing status before completion of the project and therefore was not viable.
Our next step will be to enter into the design phase of the project, which will incorporate context sensitive design methodology and incorporation of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground's design guidelines where feasible. This phase will also include analysis for all the environmental obligations required for the project including archaeological, steep slope, storm water management, floodplain, and limestone geology review.
By way of background, please note that the project is divided into two distinct sections. The southern section includes Route 15 from north of Leesburg to north of the White's Ferry intersection. Traffic analysis, data and concepts for this section are included in the " Congestion Report." The improvements adopted last week impact this section of the corridor.
The northern section of the project runs from north of the White's Ferry intersection up to the Virginia side of the Point of Rocks Bridge. Traffic analysis, data and concepts for this section are included in the " Safety and Operational Study." The Open House tomorrow evening at the Lucketts Community Center focuses on this section of the corridor. Please see the next section below for details.
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