The Transportation Committee of the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the county Government Center in Leesburg to discuss closing a portion of Ruritan Circle in Sterling.
The proposal has drawn opposition from area residential and business people. A developer has petitioned the board to abandon 2,133 square feet in the middle of the circle and convert its vehicle use to pedestrian and bike trail use.
George Phillips, a senior transportation planner for the county, organized a meeting of the interested parties last month to try to resolve their differences.
David Mahoney, a Dewberry & Davis LLC project manager for the Route 28 and Route 625 interchange project, is seeking the abandonment. The move would coincide with the realignment of Church Road, also known as Route 625, and the bridging of Route 625 over the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) trail.
The interchange project would add two lanes to Route 625 across the trail, which is owned by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. Under federal requirements, the Virginia Department of Transportation would have to obtain replacement land in exchange for the crossing. VDOT also would buy a small parcel southwest of the W&OD intersection for a paved connecting path.
Opponents have cited disruptions to business and safety concerns in their opposition to the plan.
Proponents say abandonment is essential to widening and relocating the Route 625 approach to the Route 28 interchange bridge. They also say it also would remedy a traffic problem involving the pedestrian and bike trail. Proponents say there should be a better solution to that problem.
<1b>— Andrea Zentz