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Moving traffic around businesses: Transportation improvement projects leave businesses with less customer traffic
Traffic congestion is probably one of the biggest pitfalls of living in Northern Virginia and Loudoun County. But while county government and Virginia transportation officials put into motion new traffic patterns on Route 7 and Route 28 to relieve the congestion, some Loudoun business owners are affected by the loss of direct access to their front doors from these major roads.
Business owners in Old Ashburn and Belfort Park are still feeling the results of changes that took place two to three years ago, and business owners in Belfort Park are gearing up to go through some traffic changes again.
Old Ashburn
Ashburn Road, which used to be a major roadway through Ashburn, was cut off from direct access to Route 7 in 2006, causing fewer people – and potential customers -- to drive by businesses in Old Ashburn.
“It has affected us,” said Kim Heung, owner of Salon Essence in Old Ashburn Square. She said some business owners are talking about moving their businesses out of the area because customers are not coming in.
Leon Joyce is one such owner.
Joyce, who owns Ashburn Square Barber Shop, said he has a lot less business since access to Route 7 was cut off, and he is thinking about relocating.
“I have a loyal following, but when people move away, it is hard to get new clients,” Joyce said.
Joyce's barbershop sits next to two empty business spaces, and just down the shopping center strip, another business, Breads Unlimited, went out of business in November.
Across the street from Old Ashburn Square, Bernadette Spencer, manager at Mediterranean Breeze, said business is “hit-or-miss.”
The restaurant's owner, Terry Kasotakis, said his lunch rush suffered in 2006 because of the roundabout route patrons had to travel to get there. Spencer recently said the restaurant never got the lunch business back.
“We still have a dinner crowd, but people who live nearby don't know that we are here because they don't drive by,” Spencer said. “We're not in everyone's eye.”
Knocking on wood, Spencer added, “But two years later, we are still in business.”
A couple business owners and managers said the changes have not had any impact on their business.
“It really hasn't affected us,” said Dave Miller, manager at Potomac River Running Store.
Sister's Boutique and Gifts owner Susan Novak said her business hasn't been hurt. She said other business owners should not have been surprised about the road closure.
“Most everyone who leased here knew the road was going to close, but I didn't do my lease based on it,” Novak said.
“There are still a lot of cars [driving by], but not as many,” she said. “We are in a great location, but I think the biggest negative is the cops that are sitting along the road ticketing all the time.”
Novak said police conduct traffic speed radar on the road about two times a week.
Dan Chung, owner of Frame Decor, said business is going well but his shop was never a high-volume business.
“The business is holding our own,” he said. “But [since the re-routing of traffic] there has been a 40 to 60 percent decrease in traffic coming by the area.”
Chung added, “Overall, [the impact of the roads on business] is hard to tell because of the economy.”
Belfort Park
East of Old Ashburn, business owners in Belfort Park worked through a traffic rerouting when the Waxpool/Church Road interchange came on line in winter 2005. The interchange cut off the business park's direct access from Route 28 – customers used to turn right on Church Road and right onto Shaw Road into the shopping center. Now customers coming from Route 28 south must exit through the interchange, turn right onto Davis Drive, then turn right, take another right, left, another left, and finally turn right into the shopping center.
The chief executive officer of Belfort Furniture, Mike Huber, said the interchange at Waxpool did not impede traffic coming into his store, “but anytime there is a [road] closure, traffic goes into a tailspin.”
Since his store is more of a destination, Huber said, people will make the extra turns, but other businesses in Belfort Park saw an immediate impact on business due to the direct access that was taken away when Shaw Road was closed off from Church Road.
Diane Lang, owner of Bristles and Shears, which has been in Belfort Park for 12 years, said the change deterred potential new customers. “We don't have walk-in business,” she said, “and every business has to have new clients.”
Lang said her business survives because she has a very loyal customer base, with some people coming from Old Town Alexandria.
“What killed us with getting new clients was trying to tell them how to get here,” she said. “It is unbelievable.”
Both Huber and Lang, as well as other Belfort Park business owners, are now awaiting the decision for their one direct access point to Route 28 -- Cedar Green Road.
The Virginia Department of Transportation was planning to close off Cedar Green Road from Route 28 as part of its plans for improving traffic flow on Route 28. But in May, the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved a request by business owners and government officials to keep the entrance from Route 28 to Cedar Green Road open.
But access from Cedar Green Road to Route 28 will eventually be closed, with transportation officials saying they fear motorists coming off Cedar Green Road will try to cut across the lanes of Route 28 to exit left onto Waxpool Road.
“The closing of Cedar Green Road is more of a matter of convenience,” said Huber, who also is co-chairman of the Belfort Park task force, which began earlier this year with the mission of planning out the future of the office park and surrounding area.
Huber also added that he doesn't see the road closure affecting his business in regard to customers coming to Belfort Furniture.
“My concern is that the commercial traffic does not have very good access, and tractor-trailers will be cutting through residential neighborhoods,” he said. “It doesn't make sense to not leave [Cedar Green Road] open until secondary road improvements are done.”
Supervisor Andrea McGimsey, co-chairwoman of the task force, said dealing with the traffic patterns in the Belfort Park area is a “high priority” to the board.
“Route 28 interchanges are awesome, but we have to deal with the communities along [Route] 28 and the incomplete road systems,” McGimsey said.
As of right now, she said, there is no money assigned for these road improvements, but the task force is looking into potential road systems that could be put in place.
While the task force works on the issue, Huber said he is hoping VDOT does not close off the Cedar Green exit to Route 28 until alternatives routes are up and running.
McGimsey said she has the sense that VDOT will close off the exit from Cedar Green Road to Route 28 in the next couple of months but she doesn't know when the road will actually be closed.
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