The new Loudoun United soccer stadium in Leesburg, Virginia, won’t be ready for games until Aug. 9, but a stretch of road offering much-needed access to the stadium complex opens Wednesday.
Until now, there has only been one small road — Claudia Drive — to get into and out of the portion of Philip A. Bolen Memorial Park, adjacent to where Loudoun United’s new stadium is being built.
A new stretch of Crosstrail Boulevard will provide a new, second entryway into the complex from Sycolin Road, across the street from Leesburg Executive Airport.
“This will provide a new signalized intersection at Sycolin Road,” Loudoun County Supervisor Matt Letourneau told WTOP. “It will help unlock our Loudoun United project, and provide access to our new stadium, so we can be ready for play later this summer.”
A new segment of Crosstrail Boulevard will connect the stadium site with Sycolin Road — which is in the midst of a Leesburg widening project — south of the airport, providing access to those traveling from neighboring Ashburn.
“We’ll be able to circulate traffic a little bit better into that area,” said Letourneau. “Our traffic studies show that with this addition, we can move traffic more effectively.”
The Loudoun United stadium will have a seating capacity of 5,000.
“When we have a stadium event, when we have a large number of people leaving at the same time, having multiple ways to get in and out of the area will be very helpful,” Letourneau said.
While the new stretch of Crosstrail will offer a second way into the complex from Sycolin Road, a still-to-be-built stretch of Crosstrail connecting to Route 7 is still approximately two years away, Letourneau said.
Currently, a stretch of Crosstrail Boulevard at Route 7 runs only a few hundred feet, ending at Russell Branch Parkway, near Leesburg.
“We also have a project to connect the rest of Crosstrail Boulevard with Route 7,” Letourneau said. “That’s been funded by the Board of Supervisors and is currently underway with the county.”
The newly open portion of Crosstrail Boulevard passes the barricaded end of Kincaid Boulevard, which was built by the county, but has not opened to traffic.
“It’s within the limits of the town of Leesburg, and the Leesburg Town Council has elected to not open the road,” because of residents’ concerns about cut-through traffic.
Kincaid Boulevard runs between Battlefield Parkway, through the Kincaid Forest neighborhood, to the Bolen Park complex.
“The Town Council has said once Crosstrail Boulevard is fully completed (to Route 7), they will open Kincaid Boulevard,” said Letourneau.
