Dulles Greenway Tolls Going Up…Again

The tolls along the Dulles Greenway are about to go up…again. Effective January 1, 2009, tolls at the Mainline Plaza/Route 28, Route 606/Ox Road and Route 607/Loudoun County Parkway will increase by $0.40 for a 2-axle vehicle. During rush hour, the toll at the Mainline Plaza, Route 606/Ox Road and Route 607/Loudoun County Parkway will increase $1.00 for a 2-axle vehicle. 

The increase means that those passing through the main Dulles Greenway toll plaza are looking at $3.90 during non-rush hour, $4.50 during rush hour* (each way).

Though not too many people are happy about it and haven't been for quite a while, it seems that the State Corporation Commission's ruling has been made and there's not much that can be done about it.

*The Dulles Greenway defines rush hour as 6:30 am through 9:00 am (Eastbound) and 4:00 pm through 6:30 pm (Westbound)

The "good" news? The Dulles Greenway has improved their VIP Cash Back Program. That's right folks… Toll prices are about to go up 10 and 22 percent, but you still get 5 percent back!

Related Articles

Complete list of Dulles Greenway toll prices

History/background of the Dulles Greenway

Brambleton’s “Green” Public Safety Center Gets Red Light

Brambleton's "green" public safety center just got the red light from Loudoun County last month due to funding concerns. The Brambleton public safety center is one of 22 projects Loudoun put on a 90-day hold last month because of concerns about funding.

Loudoun is putting the Brambleton public safety center and other projects on hold until they review the budget. But Loudoun may also be putting this project on hold until they see whether a group called Climate Communities will succeed in their plea to President-elect Barack Obama to free up $10 billion nationwide for conservation and energy-efficient block grants and $18 billion for mass transit improvements. Should Climate Communities succeed, Loudoun will try and get some of that money to use on the Brambleton public safety center and other projects.

But Loudoun is not the only player in the game. The county is facing stiff competition from Arlington County, Alexandria, Montgomery County and other jurisdictions locally, as well as across the U.S. Everyone is battling for a piece of the stimulus pie.

About the planned Brambleton public safety center:

Plans for the Brambleton public safety center include a $7.2 million, 22,350-square-foot facility that would house a county fire and rescue station and sheriff's office. It would have a geothermal system for heating and air conditioning, bioretention pool, premium parking spots for car poolers and hybrid drivers, low-flow shower heads and urinals, ground-source heating pumps and bike racks, among other energy-efficient features. This would result in a savings of about 30 percent a year, or about $14,000 at the current rate, according to Loudoun County Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac).

The planned Brambleton public safety center is designed to reach the silver level of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building standards and recoup the county’s investment within three years.

Source: bizjournals.com and washingtonpost.com

Photo credit

Loudoun County Community Spotlight: Belmont Greene

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about Belmont Greene, a community within Ashburn, Virginia. Since then, the Washington Examiner has also written an article about Belmont Greene and what the community has to offer. The article also touches upon how/why the community has not been hit as hard when it comes to a drop in market values.

Click here to check out the Washington Examiner article on Belmont Greene. 

Click here to check out my original post on Belmont Greene.

If you have additional questions about the community, the builders, homes, etc., feel free to drop me a line – danilo.bogdanovic (at) gmail (dot) com or 703.582.6900 (cell).

Loudoun Business Spotlight: Pristine Acres – Estate Management

 

This Loudoun County business spotlight falls on Pristine Acres, an estate management company based in Ashburn, Virginia. The company was born when Steve Waldron came up with the concept and Kevin Calderwood provided VC funding. I had the privilege of working with Steve Waldron a while back and think that his first-of-its-kind concept in the area is great and definitely worth talking about.

Pristine Acres is an estate management company that consolidates many of the various services that homeowners require and currently have to use different vendors for. For example, if you need your lawn mowed, siding replaced, a deck built, your gutters cleaned and your pool maintained, you're probably going to call a lawn service, a general contractor, a gutter cleaning company and a pool company. This means contacting and coordinating with 4 different companies, numerous people and writing 4 different checks or giving out your credit card information to 4 different companies.

Pristine Acres offers all 4 of these and other services under one roof. This mean you'll have one point of contact, you'll only have to write one check or give your credit card information to only one company and you'll pay less overall than you would by using 4 different vendors. This saves you time, energy and money, which are all very valuable to most of us. And you don't have to pay for the entire service(s) all at once – you can pay for the services over a period of up to two years.

Here are the various services Pristine Acres offers:

• Garden Services
• Lawn Maintenance Services
• Landscape and Lawn Installations
• Irrigation and Landscape Lighting Maintenance
• Pool and Water Feature Services
• Exterior and Interior Home Cleaning and Maintenance
• Home Improvements and Solutions
• Snow Removal

Though Pristine Acres is based in Loudoun County, the company provides services throughout the DC metro area (VA/DC/MD). For more information, check out the Pristine Acres web site or contact Steve Waldron directly.

News Stories, Developments Affecting Loudoun County Real Estate

In case you missed them, here are a few news stories and recent developments that affect Loudoun County real estate:

- Stephen Fuller, Economist, outlines how important Dulles Region is to Loudoun, Fairfax – calls it a "magnet"

- Developer, Mike Scott, wants to build Minor League baseball stadium in Loudoun County – revenue, traffic impact?

- NVRPA plans new Loudoun County park along Potomac north of Leesburg

- Leesburg making it easier for developers and businesses to set up shop downtown 

- Loudoun County and Town of Purcellville reach agreement on new high school

- Loudoun County Planning Commission recommends approval of Broadlands Regional Medical Center land use applications

- Loudoun County hiring senior budget analyst to be part of Loudoun's budget team

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