Re: Wegmans on Westfields Blvd. WTF were they thinking?
Posted by:
mhxtj
()
Date: November 22, 2017 03:59PM
News of the Absurd Wrote:
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> As it is now (November 2017) Westfields Blvd
> (westbound) is a parking lot from Newbrook to
> Stonecroft during evening rush hour. Traffic
> doesn't move from 4PM-6PM. I sit there on Park
> Meadow or Newbrook watching the late change
> several times before I finally get my chance to
> sit on Westfields, without moving, for 15 minutes.
> All of this because of the 28 South traffic.
>
> Now they're building a huge new shopping center
> with Wegmans and God knows whatever else there,
> plus the new townhouses across 28. Traffic is
> already at a standstill during rush hour and now
> they're going to effectively double it.
>
> How does this shopping center get approved? Was
> any traffic study done? Or is all of this another
> case of developers buying off local politicians?
I attended the public hearings for the townhouse development rezoning and also the Wegman's complex rezoning.
The argument made by the developers was that changing the zoning from commercial to residential and retail was going to reduce traffic. Especially when combined with the addition of the new light at the Stonecroft Boulevard entrance to the townhouse development and the addition of a second 300 yard turning lane from Stonecroft Boulevard onto Westfields Boulevard.
In sum, an additional stop light on Stonecroft and a short stretch of turning lane was going to magically transform the intersection into a gridlock free zone.
The real reason for the rezoning is that commercial development ground to a halt and there were no prospects for the foreseable future to develop those properties. So as usual, previous zoning and planing be damned. Just change it. And of course the planning commission and bos rubber stamp all rezoning proposals in fairfax county.
With the complete re-building of the Walney-Braddock-28-66 interchange over the next 5 years coincident with the addition of HOT lanes on I66... prepare for more traffic pain in that area.
Oh yeah, about that reduction in traffic. That was only when compared with projections of full build out of the current zoning at the time. Those parcels would have remained undeveloped for a few more years and that would have contributed to a slower growth in traffic short term.