When will the Minnieville Road widening project from Cardinal to Spriggs be completed? Thanks.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in August of 2009. For your convenience you may check on the status of this and other projects in the Dumfries district at any time at the County website's Project Planner.

What is all the construction for in the open field area on Van Buren Road (across from the new Holiday Inn)? What new stores/office buildings are going to be there? Thanks.

Thank you for your question. Directly in front of the Holiday Inn will be retail shops. The only ones we have been made aware of are: IHOP, a dry cleaners and a mattress store.

Hello, I live in the Wyndham Pointe Apartment community and would like to know why a "No turn on red" sign has been posted at the corner of Panther Pride Drive and Rt 1? As it is that particular intersection has an extremely long wait light when wanting to turn left onto Rt 1 or trying to turn left onto Panther Pride Drive. Not being able to turn right onto Rt 1 makes for an extremely long wait time and visibility is fine. Also, could you please tell me what business is being put up next door to the CVS on Rt 1 near Panther Pride Drive? Thank you.

Response from VDOT: I am responding regarding your inquiry about the â??No Turn on Redâ?? (NTOR) restriction from eastbound Panther Pride Drive to southbound Route 1. The installation of the â??NTORâ?? sign was made during the signal modification performed by the developer of the CVS on the southwest corner of the intersection. With this project, a pedestrian crosswalk was installed across Panther Pride Drive as well as Route 1 (on the south side of the intersection). Therefore, the stop bar approaching the signal on Panther Pride Drive was moved behind the crosswalk to ensure pedestrian safety. VDOT requires sight distance measurements to be taken behind the stop bar since that is the location vehicles are directed to stop. At this location, there is virtually no sight distance to southbound Route 1 motorists. Measurements were also taken at the beginning of the curb radius, which is where vehicles naturally will pull up to see approaching vehicles before making a right turn on red. There was not enough sight distance at this location either due to the hillcrest on Route 1 approximately 300â?? south of the Panther Pride Drive intersection. The speed limit at that location is 50 mph, which requires 590â?? of sight distance. Since sight distance criteria were not met, the â??NTORâ?? restriction must remain.

I'm an avid bicyclist and frequently ride my bike from my home in Montclair to the Fortuna Village Shopping Center on Route 234. The shoulder of Route 234 between Country Club Drive and the shopping center is covered with gravel, sharp pieces of metal and plastic and lots of broken glass. In one area near the Montclair Commuter Lot (on the east-bound side of the road) there is a huge amount of broken glass that covers the entire shoulder. Other roads in the county, such as Hoadly Road seem nearly as bad. How often are the shoulders of these major arteries cleaned, and if a particularly hazardous condition exists (such as the huge amount of glass on 234), is there some way to get VDOT or the county to clean that up?

VDOT generally conducts a street sweeping cycle at least once per year on these types of roads. If there is a specific hazard area identified in between sweeping cycles, that spot can be reported to 703-383-VDOT and the message will be passed along to one of our Maintenance headquarters to check the site. If the spot is deemed particularly hazardous, Maintenance will schedule to clean the area as warranted.