McLean residents sue to stop I-495 widening over environmental impacts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/03/20/mclean-residents-sue-to-stop-i-495-widening-over-environmental-impacts/

NIMBYism strikes again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some visitors of this forum.

What a nasty post, OP! If you had bothered to read, you would know that the citizens working on this are aligned with the Sierra Club. Have you seen what VDOT is doing at the Georgetown Pike interchange and the bridge? The trees have been all stripped out. It's horrible. And schools and churches sit right there along with homeowners.

Oh noooo! Not the poor churches!! Lmaooo

Cut it out. Cooper Middle School sits right there. Once upon a time it had a tree buffer but VDOT ripped the trees out in front if it without notice. That resulted in citizen outrage and protests from Cooper’s principal about air quality. Body then moved all of its vehicles in. John Foust promised it would become a dog park. It wasn’t now all of the remaining trees have been ripped out. It’s an unsightly mess

No one else is saying it, so I will...won't somebody *please* think of the CHILDREN??!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Widening doesn’t help. This has been well proven.

Yup. Widening the roads is a cop out instead of doing the very hard work to find other solutions. Good for them.

I just don’t understand how some of you think people should get to work. Not everyone can afford to live within biking/walking distance of where they work (particularly those who work in McLean!), and not all workplaces are near a metro. Most people would prefer not to spend hours on a soul-sucking metro commute but don’t have a better alternative.

Just because you widen major highways doesn't make traffic better. Widening 495 doesn't mean all of the access roads, neighborhood roads, and streets that are off 495 get bigger, the just stay the same size and now all you've done is encourage more car culture. Traffic is barely impacted because flow slows down when the same 2 way street with tons of traffic from the 495 off ramp is still the same 2 lane street even after widening.

Oh please, the Wilson Bridge was rebuilt bigger and better 10+ years ago and traffic is still much much better than it used to be in that direction. One of the reasons is because of the thru lanes that were extended across the bridge, and the better interchange with 295.

The reality is that the American Legion bridge has to be rebuilt at some point, because it is deteriorating. They aren't going to demolish the bridge and eliminate any future river crossing, and it doesn't make sense to spend the billions to rebuild the bridge to be the same size it is now or smaller without attempting to improve the traffic. I actually agree a double-decker is a better option. However, the very rich people living close by on both sides of the river don't want to see a double decker bridge from their homes. So, the current plans are make accommodations for future HOT lanes connections, if Maryland would get its act together too.

1) The reconstruction of the Wilson Bridge didn't impact residential homes on both sides of it - homes, in some cases, that have been there since the 40s and 50s.
2) The bridge is Maryland's problem, as we all know. There are proposals but nothing ever happens.
3) I live there - no one has seriously suggested a double decker highway at any VDOT meeting.

1. Whether residential homes are there or not, American Legion bridge must be rebuilt and will be made bigger. It's going to happen, because it has to.
2. Maryland will eventually get in line as well, because they have to. Again, American Legion bridge must be rebuilt eventually.
3. No one has seriously suggested a double decker bridge because they know it's a non-starter with the residents of the area. But it is the most logical solution given the amount of throughput.

Look, I sympathize anyone living near any of these projects, but you know...that's life. Those living along I-66 had a rude awakening to it as well, only most of those people don't have the money to file these nuisance lawsuits.

The project may be delayed, but it will happen. Resistance is futile.

But nothing ever starts with the bridge. Proposal after proposal, and suit after suit, in maryland. So you can claim "it's going to happen" all you want but nothing ever starts. I've lived in the area 30 years and seen this discussed over and over and nothing ever happens.

I'm actually a bit worried about the continued stalling because sooner or later the bridge will become a safety concern. Can you imagine if they need to shut it down completely because officials couldn't get their act together?

The bridge won’t shut down. Funds would be found to keep the existing span safe enough to cross. I wonder if VA could sue MD eventually if MD continued to dither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/03/20/mclean-residents-sue-to-stop-i-495-widening-over-environmental-impacts/

NIMBYism strikes again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some visitors of this forum.

What a nasty post, OP! If you had bothered to read, you would know that the citizens working on this are aligned with the Sierra Club. Have you seen what VDOT is doing at the Georgetown Pike interchange and the bridge? The trees have been all stripped out. It's horrible. And schools and churches sit right there along with homeowners.

Oh noooo! Not the poor churches!! Lmaooo

Cut it out. Cooper Middle School sits right there. Once upon a time it had a tree buffer but VDOT ripped the trees out in front if it without notice. That resulted in citizen outrage and protests from Cooper’s principal about air quality. Body then moved all of its vehicles in. John Foust promised it would become a dog park. It wasn’t now all of the remaining trees have been ripped out. It’s an unsightly mess

It’s a construction zone.

And you cut it out. Cooper is across Balls Hill Rd and set back from the street. Its outdoor spaces are behind the school and angled even further away from the Beltway. There’s plenty of green space where the kids actually spend their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/03/20/mclean-residents-sue-to-stop-i-495-widening-over-environmental-impacts/

NIMBYism strikes again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some visitors of this forum.

What a nasty post, OP! If you had bothered to read, you would know that the citizens working on this are aligned with the Sierra Club. Have you seen what VDOT is doing at the Georgetown Pike interchange and the bridge? The trees have been all stripped out. It's horrible. And schools and churches sit right there along with homeowners.

Oh noooo! Not the poor churches!! Lmaooo

Cut it out. Cooper Middle School sits right there. Once upon a time it had a tree buffer but VDOT ripped the trees out in front if it without notice. That resulted in citizen outrage and protests from Cooper’s principal about air quality. Body then moved all of its vehicles in. John Foust promised it would become a dog park. It wasn’t now all of the remaining trees have been ripped out. It’s an unsightly mess

It’s a construction zone.

And you cut it out. Cooper is across Balls Hill Rd and set back from the street. Its outdoor spaces are behind the school and angled even further away from the Beltway. There’s plenty of green space where the kids actually spend their time.

On the one hand, you have the families who live near the 495 widening who think highlighting the impact on Cooper strengthens their case and, on the other hand, you have other Cooper/Langley families who are heavily invested in making those schools out to be paradise. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Didn't realize that people who live in McClean take the bus and walk to buy groceries. Good for them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't realize that people who live in McClean take the bus and walk to buy groceries. Good for them!

I'm missing the relevance to the topic. There are people in McLean who take the bus and/or walk to buy groceries, but they don't live near the site where there's a plan to widen 495.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The GW Pkwy exit should be removed altogether from 495. MD has their own parkway. Nobody uses that exit from VA.

Huh? You are nuts.

[Anonymous]

I used to go to Baltimore a lot when I could get there in 45 minutes. Not so much now when it takes an hour and a half.

More lanes with the same traffic will still mean more cars able to travel on 495. It also will reduce the usage of side roads. I am going to be taking a trip to a place on University Blvd near 495. From there I want to go to something on Georgia. If I think traffic is light, I will take 495 to Georgia; otherwise I will take Univ Blvd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/03/20/mclean-residents-sue-to-stop-i-495-widening-over-environmental-impacts/

NIMBYism strikes again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some visitors of this forum.

What a nasty post, OP! If you had bothered to read, you would know that the citizens working on this are aligned with the Sierra Club. Have you seen what VDOT is doing at the Georgetown Pike interchange and the bridge? The trees have been all stripped out. It's horrible. And schools and churches sit right there along with homeowners.

Oh noooo! Not the poor churches!! Lmaooo

Cut it out. Cooper Middle School sits right there. Once upon a time it had a tree buffer but VDOT ripped the trees out in front if it without notice. That resulted in citizen outrage and protests from Cooper’s principal about air quality. Body then moved all of its vehicles in. John Foust promised it would become a dog park. It wasn’t now all of the remaining trees have been ripped out. It’s an unsightly mess

No one else is saying it, so I will...won't somebody *please* think of the CHILDREN??!!!

+1. The Patch ran this today: Almost 1,900 Virginia students attend schools within a half-mile of the locus of the project’s scope change, and about 7,500 students attend school within two miles of the project, the plaintiffs contend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/03/20/mclean-residents-sue-to-stop-i-495-widening-over-environmental-impacts/

NIMBYism strikes again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some visitors of this forum.

What a nasty post, OP! If you had bothered to read, you would know that the citizens working on this are aligned with the Sierra Club. Have you seen what VDOT is doing at the Georgetown Pike interchange and the bridge? The trees have been all stripped out. It's horrible. And schools and churches sit right there along with homeowners.

Oh noooo! Not the poor churches!! Lmaooo

Cut it out. Cooper Middle School sits right there. Once upon a time it had a tree buffer but VDOT ripped the trees out in front if it without notice. That resulted in citizen outrage and protests from Cooper’s principal about air quality. Body then moved all of its vehicles in. John Foust promised it would become a dog park. It wasn’t now all of the remaining trees have been ripped out. It’s an unsightly mess

No one else is saying it, so I will...won't somebody *please* think of the CHILDREN??!!!

+1. The Patch ran this today: Almost 1,900 Virginia students attend schools within a half-mile of the locus of the project’s scope change, and about 7,500 students attend school within two miles of the project, the plaintiffs contend.

My kids go to Churchill Road ES. Yes, the construction site is ugly, but it doesn’t really impact the school. I’m sure it’s annoying for the kids at Cooper, but they spend most of the day indoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you live out in the boondocks or (sometimes) in a forsaken area with declining population, buying within a mile of an Interstate highway is a dumb idea. The road will inevitably be improved. The road will inevitably be widened — often many times. It’s been like this for decades and it’s going to be like this for decades to come, even after the paradigmatic shift to electric vehicles.

I have no sympathy for the folks in McLean and Great Falls. They try to sound so smart and educated in their lawsuit attacking the scope of the project. Maybe they should have applied those “smarts” when choosing a place to live.

That's all well and good, but it's a lot to ask people to sacrifice for an action that has continually proven to be ineffectual just because it allows government to tell commuters they are doing something. A purple line extension over the Potomac is one obvious solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you live out in the boondocks or (sometimes) in a forsaken area with declining population, buying within a mile of an Interstate highway is a dumb idea. The road will inevitably be improved. The road will inevitably be widened — often many times. It’s been like this for decades and it’s going to be like this for decades to come, even after the paradigmatic shift to electric vehicles.

I have no sympathy for the folks in McLean and Great Falls. They try to sound so smart and educated in their lawsuit attacking the scope of the project. Maybe they should have applied those “smarts” when choosing a place to live.

We live in McLean and the project doesn't affect or bother us. If the plaintiffs think it's in their interests to litigate, that's fine, but we're also mindful that at various times people in that area lobbied for other changes such as shutting down the northbound exit off Georgetown Pike onto 495 entirely. Had VDOT acceded to their requests, which it did not, it would have magnified existing traffic bottlenecks in Tysons and simply diverted traffic to other parts of McLean that also have plenty of traffic. It's the price you pay for living near major commuter routes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.ffxnow.com/2023/03/20/mclean-residents-sue-to-stop-i-495-widening-over-environmental-impacts/

NIMBYism strikes again. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some visitors of this forum.

What a nasty post, OP! If you had bothered to read, you would know that the citizens working on this are aligned with the Sierra Club. Have you seen what VDOT is doing at the Georgetown Pike interchange and the bridge? The trees have been all stripped out. It's horrible. And schools and churches sit right there along with homeowners.

Oh noooo! Not the poor churches!! Lmaooo

Cut it out. Cooper Middle School sits right there. Once upon a time it had a tree buffer but VDOT ripped the trees out in front if it without notice. That resulted in citizen outrage and protests from Cooper’s principal about air quality. Body then moved all of its vehicles in. John Foust promised it would become a dog park. It wasn’t now all of the remaining trees have been ripped out. It’s an unsightly mess

No one else is saying it, so I will...won't somebody *please* think of the CHILDREN??!!!

+1. The Patch ran this today: Almost 1,900 Virginia students attend schools within a half-mile of the locus of the project’s scope change, and about 7,500 students attend school within two miles of the project, the plaintiffs contend.

Such BS. How many thousands of students attended schools within two miles of the Beltway being widened down to Springfield and through Alexandria to the new Wilson Bridge, or within two miles of the Mixing Bowl? The kids argument is just smoke and mirrors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Adding separate lanes only for the rich to use so they can have less traffic than the poor plebian folk is not exactly widening.

Isn't that what this is?? How is this not discriminatory?

I would rather the states just pony up the $$ rather than a HOT lane project. But I suppose they know residents do not have the appetite for a tax increases. So, here we are.

Due to population growth and inflation, just keeping tax rates the same increases tax revenues every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GW Pkwy exit should be removed altogether from 495. MD has their own parkway. Nobody uses that exit from VA.

Huh? You are nuts.

Who uses it? Anybody in VA?? I can't imagine a situation where it would make sense from VA. So just remove it. And that would reduce some Amerucan Legion traffic. MD folks can take Canal Rd/MacArthur Blvd.