There’s a revealing comment buried deep in a Washington Post story about the furor over VDOT’s traffic estimates of development in Loudoun County.
“There is virtually no development going on now on the Fairfax side of the line,” said James R. Hart, a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission who lives in the western edge of the county. “The traffic is attributable to what’s happening in Loudoun.”
The chickens are coming home to roost. Fairfax County purchased itself temporary relief from traffic congestion by restricting housing development, even as it lapped up all the commercial development it could. The commercial/residential ratio in the tax base is highly favorable as a result, allowing Fairfax to maintain a lower overall tax rate. But the people who work in Fairfax County have to live somewhere. Increasingly, they’re living in Loudoun County. And they’re driving long distances — congest Loudoun and Fairfax roads — to get to work.
The problem is the inevitable result of the failure to build communities with a balance of housing, jobs, retail and amenities. If I sound like a broken record, I’m sorry: This fundamental principle has to be repeated over and over until people get it.