Last week, the eastbound interchange linking the Loudoun County Parkway with Route 7 was completely opened. Great news for commuters, except that there was still a traffic light just prior to the Route 28 South on-ramp.

Imagine my surprise yesterday afternoon as I was driving from Leesburg to my son’s school in Sterling and found, to my delight, that the aforementioned traffic signal at Richfield Drive/George Washington Blvd. had been completely removed and the crossover blocked.  So now, except for 3 remaining traffic signals, at Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn Village Blvd., and Lexington Drive, there is practically a free-flow of traffic from Battlefield Parkway in Leesburg to Route 28 in Ashburn.

The intersections at Belmont Ridge and Ashburn Village will probably be there for some time, as they are slated to be converted into interchanges with no traffic light, but there is no funding currently in place to do so.  But the light at Lexington is vexing. It would be impossible to make it an interchange, with its’ proximity to Ashburn Village Blvd., but you also just can’t block it off. Blue Mount Nursery is served with that interchange, and one would think that it would hurt their business if that light were removed.

Or would it?Here’s a possible solution – if the traffic light at Lexington Drive were removed, couldn’t eastbound drivers who wish to patronize Blue Mount Nursery simply drive the half mile or so to the Loudoun County Parkway interchange, cross over Route 7, and head westbound to make a right into Blue Mount? Surely that can’t take any longer than waiting for a left-turn signal at Lexington Drive, would it? What it would do is keep a freer flow of traffic both ways. The number of drivers inconvenienced by this, relative to the volume of drivers who drive Route 7, would be minimal.

There is also the issue of westbound drivers making the left on to Lexington to get to their homes and offices in the Ashbrook Commons area of Ashburn. Again, driving the quarter-mile or so to the light at Ashburn Village Blvd., and either making a U-turn and heading east to a right on Lexington or accessing Ashbrook Commons from Ashburn Village Blvd. would also keep traffic moving. The inconvenience factor would be slightly higher, but (I would assume) probably not much.

And there is already precedent for this, as eastbound drivers who seek access to the Holiday Inn on Route 7 West in Leesburg have to utilize the interchange at River Creek Parkway, as do golfers coming from the east who wish to play at Goose Creek Golf Club.

What we do know, though, is that we currently don’t have the funding to modify any of the existing interchanges, so we need innovative solutions to keep traffic flowing and keep congestion down to a minimum.