- In May 2011, the state pushed to add a “Corridor of Statewide Significance” from I-95 in Stafford to Route 7 in Loudoun. Audio of the meetings in February and March 2011 demonstrate the goal of moving trucks to Dulles Airport.
- On January 17, 2012, the new Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 9-0 to order staff to study expansion of Belmont Ridge Road and Northstar Boulevard beyond what had been approved in the 2010 County Transportation Plan.
- Bills in this General Assembly (Jan to Mar) promoted Dulles freight expansion (HJ134) and extending the Outer Beltway across the Potomac (HJ131). Fortunately, we helped stop these bills.
- In February 2012 at the Commonwealth Transportation Board Meeting in Richmond, Deputy Secretary David Tyerar said “we’ve got to get that road up to Route 7,” referring to the TriCounty Parkway.
- On March 15, 2012, transportation authorities overcame a key hurdle with the National Park Service, getting the NPS to advance the idea of a Battlefield Bypass to move local traffic out of Manassas National Battlefield Park. But in doing so, the NPS must agree to a highway that will become part of the Outer Beltway, cutting through the historic landscape on the western boundary of Manassas National Battlefield.
- During one or both tri-state Governors meetings so far in 2012 (Virginia and Maryland Governor’s and the DC Mayor), Governor McDonnell reportedly pushed Maryland to join Virginia in studying a Potomac River Bridge crossing. Maryland is staunchly opposed to a new highway crossing into Montgomery County.
- On March 28, 2012, the Loudoun County Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors add Northstar Boulevard and Belmont Ridge Road expansion to the county plan. These roads line up exactly with the TriCounty Parkway and the long-proposed route for an Outer Beltway.
- In April 2012, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to expand Belmont Ridge Road and Northstar Blvd.
- Even though some Supervisors claimed that Northstar and Belmont Ridge Road were a long-term plan, not something immediate, just one week later a Board action appeared on the docket to approve moving forward with condemnation of land on two development parcels for the roads.
- In April and May 2012, Deputy Secretary Tyerar made two trips to Loudoun from Richmond to lobby for VDOT’s “Corridor of Statewide Significance.”
