Anyone who regularly drives up and down the southern stretch of Belmont Ridge Road in Ashburn knows what an odd setup it is at the the intersection of Belmont and Northstar Boulevard (where Belmont takes a 90 degree turn). Two lanes suddenly turn into one lane. Turn only lanes pop up. Odd plastic barriers sit in the middle of the road. People turning onto Belmont often don’t know whether they need to stop or not.
Now comes word that the Loudoun County Department of Transportation is taking steps to fix this unusual intersection by putting in traffic lights and crosswalks.
The project is out for bid to construction firms right now, looking towards work beginning sometime in the summer. LoCo DOT hopes to have the project completed in early 2018.
The Belmont-Northstar intersection is just a short hop down the road from the recently installed lights at Belmont and Croson Lane. While it may make for a bit of a stop-go-stop there once the new traffic signals are operating, it’s probably going to be safer for everyone.
To eliminate the stop-go and to make that intersection much safer, and cheaper. They should install a roundabout.
Roundabouts reduced injury crashes by 75 percent at intersections where stop signs or signals were previously used for traffic control, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Studies by the IIHS and Federal Highway Administration have shown that roundabouts typically achieve:
A 37 percent reduction in overall collisions
A 75 percent reduction in injury collisions
A 90 percent reduction in fatality collisions
A 40 percent reduction in pedestrian collisions
We don’t need yet another light on Belmont/Northstar, if we don’t stop the light madness. The traffic will move to Claiborne or Evergreen Mill making those roads much more unsafe.
If we need a new light, it is at Watson and Evergreen Mill road and maybe the Evergreen Sportsplex.
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