LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — The old expression “you can’t get there from here” applies to many challenged commuters in Loudoun County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. But a federal transportation grant aims to help with that.
The $25 million in federal money for the Northstar Boulevard project will help provide a key missing link to the planned Northern Virginia North-South Corridor.
The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant was announced Wednesday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
“Can there be a better occasion than to celebrate $25 million?” Chao asked, eliciting a laugh from those gathered. “This will benefit not only the residents of Loudoun County but every person in the region who depends on Dulles International Airport.”
It’ll only be about 1.5 miles of new pavement, but it will add a second major road link to Dulles airport and help ease a quality-of-life issue.
“It’s very frustrating when you’re driving down a road…and you hit a bunch of barriers because you can’t keep going,” Loudoun County Supervisor Matt Letourneau noted.
The new portion of roadway west of Dulles Airport will help create an uninterrupted path between U.S. Route 50, the Brambleton community, Belmont Ridge Road, and Virginia Route 7.
“What this is going to do is to open up the rest of the county to the people in the southern part of the county. And vice versa. It’s going to allow access to route 50, it’s going to allow a lot better access to [Virginia Route] 267, and of course to the Silver Line.”
More money still needs to be lined up.
“We’re hoping to get good news from the Northern Virginia Transportation authority,” said Letourneau, who expects that the Northstar project will be ready for commuters by the early 2020s.
