Dimensions - Annual Review 2017 - 4

FEATURE

A Truck Climbing Lane for
Loudoun, Virginia's Route 7
Project Adds Capacity and Safety for Bicyclists
and Equestrians Along Major Tourism Corridor
The Blue Ridge Mountain's foothills in Loudoun County,
Virginia, are noted for their beauty. But, for a particular
stretch of Route 7 west of the Town of Leesburg, those
undulating hills were causing dangerous conditions as
drivers struggled with congestion and dangerous at-grade
intersections on the 55 mile-per-hour, four-lane road.
The area of Route 7, from the West Market Street
Interchange to the Route 9 Interchange west of Leesburg,
is an important commuting corridor, and is also a
gateway for tourism in the Commonwealth, serving as
a signiﬁcant route to and from West Virginia.
Working with Shirley Contracting Company,
LLC for the Virginia Department of Transportation
(VDOT), Dewberry designed the corridor improvements,
performing ﬁnal design, construction inspection,
environmental permitting and permit monitoring, and
ﬁeld surveying for this design-build project.

New Roadway Design
In order to add roadway capacity, a truck climbing lane
was added in the westbound direction between the West
Market Street Interchange and the Route 9 Interchange.
It also changed the access management for the roadway,
converting several full intersections to right-in right-out
entrances, or providing acceleration/deceleration lanes in
the middle of Route 7 to accommodate speciﬁc left turning
movements. The Route 7/West Market Street Interchange
was improved, and, at Route 9, the design incorporated
two roundabouts at the ramp terminals to improve the
existing conventional diamond interchange design.
The $28-million project included six stormwater
management basins, approximately 75,000 tons of
asphalt, 1,200 linear feet of retaining walls, and 1,000
square yards of concrete truck apron to enable turning
radius at the roundabouts.

4 Dimensions

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At-grade separations of bicycle lanes accommodate
recreational users of the W&OD Trail.

Pedestrian and Equine Accommodations
The project also incorporated a pedestrian and bicycle
path. The Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail
runs through the Route 9 Interchange, and, prior to the
improvements, pedestrians and bicyclists would travel
along adjacent roadways and cross at-grade with vehicular
traffic on Route 7. Dewberry designed grade-separations
for the path, running it underneath the existing Route
9 bridge, and through a new stone archway below the
eastbound entrance ramp from Route 9 to Route 7. The
retaining walls and arch structure were treated with a
dry-stack stone pattern to match the adjacent stone arch
structure under Dry Mill Road. The underpass is also tall
enough to accommodate equestrian use.

Overcoming Challenges
Public meetings were held to explain the new
access conﬁgurations and emphasize that previous
commitments made by VDOT were being incorporated
into the ﬁnal design. Aesthetic concerns were quelled by

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dimensions - Annual Review 2017

In This Issue
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