By Lawrence Emerson
FauquierNow.com Editor
They want a calmer, safer Bealeton.
The county planning commission agrees. The five-member commission expressed support Thursday night for a comprehensive plan amendment that envisions a Bealeton bypass and redevelopment of Route 17 as a tree-lined boulevard.
|
Photos/Lawrence Emerson
Traffic will reach 40,000 vehicles a day by 2030, VDOT predicts.
|
|
|
The bypass would swing southwest of Bealeton, connecting Route 17 with Routes 28 and 29 just northeast of Remington.
“Traffic calming” measures and new development standards would turn Route 17 into a “Main Street.”
“We’re working toward making this a more pedestrian-friendly area,” county Chief of Planning Susan Eddy said.
But, such changes probably remain decades away, even assuming the board of supervisors approves the plan.
“We feel the urgency is there to do something long before the bypass,” Julie Wickham testified during a public hearing on the plan Thursday. “We can’t cross the street. There’s no way to connect . . . without the development of a safe walking, community.”
Citizens push for 35 mph speed limit. |
|
|
Ms. Wickham said she and other members of the Liberty Community Church want to help Bealeton become a more connected place. They’d like to see a coffee house, for example.
“We’re not just about saying do this; we’re willing to get our hands dirty,” she said.
Ms. Eddy told her how to get started with a request — for slowing traffic — to the county transportation committee.
Ms. Wickham recommended lowering the speed limit on Route 17 from the Marsh Run Mobile Home Community north to Old Marsh Road, past Liberty High School.
Heather Mullins, a fellow member of the church, said she has watched Bealeton change dramatically over the last few decades. Mrs. Mullins said the village has gone “from a 7-Eleven” to a community with intense housing development, two new schools, the shopping center and dozens more businesses.
Routes 17 and 28 divide the community into quadrants without pedestrian connections.
Vehicles frequently exceed 55 mph as they cross above the railroad tracks and enter Bealeton on Route 17 from the south. |
|
|
Traffic on Route 17 will double, reaching 40,000 vehicles per day by 2030, the Virginia Department of Transportation projects.
“My concern is watching these kids,” Ms. Mullins said. “Somebody’s gonna get hit; somebody’s gonna get killed.
“It’s such a pedestrian unfriendly place . . . . Even if the kids (from Cedar Lee Middle School) want to walk to the library, good luck.”
Ms. Wickham said Route 17 traffic enters Bealeton at speeds well in excess of the 45 mph limit.
In addition to a lower speed limit and more enforcement, Ms. Mullins and Ms. Wickham asked for marked crosswalks.
Don Tharpe, who hopes to begin construction of his mixed-use White Marsh development near LHS in “the next two years,” agreed.
“I think it should be done immediately,” Mr. Tharpe said of lowering the speed limit.
Planning Commissioner John Meadows (Lee District) shares that opinion but said it will be difficult to convince state transportation officials.
“VDOT wants to move traffic through Bealeton,” said Mr. Meadows. “However, we still need to live there, work there.”
VDOT Culpeper District Planner Dan Painter outlined his agency’s concerns about the Bealeton transportation plan in a Jan. 6 letter to the county.
The planning commission, which kept the public hearing open, will revisit the proposal next month.
The planning staff received citizen suggestions in two community meetings last year as it developed the traffic proposals.
> Sign up for e-mail news alerts from FauquierNow.com
