| VDOT’s Original Plan for Route 50 When citizens joined to protect the Route 50 corridor, it was in response to a proposal for building a 4-lane highway from Lenah to Paris, with bypasses around Aldie and Middleburg. The plan focused on four major changes: - From the Fairfax County border to Gilbert's Corner, widen Route 50 to 6 lanes.
- Expand the Gilbert's Corner intersection to 6 or 7 lanes in each direction.
- Construct 4-lane divided bypasses around Aldie and Middleburg, cutting through vast areas of countryside.
- Widen the entire length of Route 50 from Gilbert's Corner to Paris to 4 lanes.
This plan would have transformed our area into something we would no longer recognize as home. Citizens learned that through Traffic Calming we could protect the areas surrounding our villages, enhance the corridor, and keep traffic moving through our communities in a safe, respectful way. The original plan views Route 50 only as a commuter highway, not as a vital thread in our communities, along which people live, work, walk, and do much more than just drive. This has been the traditional approach among highway engineers across the nation, but the citizens of the communities along Route 50 have other traditions to uphold. Return to top of page |
