Proposed annexation of Valley Commerce Center expected to increase Purcellville traffic 

By Lloyd Harting

The number of commercial trucks passing through Purcellville will increase significantly if the pending application submitted by 17110 Purcellville Road LLC for annexation of its 117-acre property along Purcellville Road is approved by the Purcellville Town Council and results in the construction of a 1.2 million square foot industrial/commercial Valley Commerce Center on Purcellville Road across from the Mayfair Community Association.  

This is supported by a privately-funded unofficial traffic study report submitted to the Town of  Purcellville Planning Commission which indicated that an average of 148 commercial trucks entered Purcellville at the Purcellville Road gateway during the morning rush hour, and an average of 263 commercial trucks exited Purcellville at the Purcellville Road gateway during the afternoon rush hour.

The study revealed that the majority of commercial trucks crossing at the Purcellville Road gateway come from and return to the Mayfair Industrial Park at East Nichols Lane. Most commercial trucks enter the town at Purcellville Road in the morning and exit the town at Berlin Turnpike in the morning, while the truck traffic flow is reversed in the afternoon with most commercial trucks entering at Berlin Turnpike and exiting at Purcellville Road. This is because Purcellville Road north of the entrance to the Mayfair Industrial Park at East Nichols Lane is a Virginia Department of Transportation Road on which through truck traffic is prohibited. 

Consequently, all commercial trucks entering and exiting a future Valley Commerce Center would have to travel on Hirst Road in order to either turn in or out of Purcellville Road, thereby increasing vehicle traffic on Hirst Road and exacerbating the daily traffic jams that occur during the morning and afternoon rush hours at Hirst Road and Berlin Turnpike. 

There is also a second possible route to the Valley Commerce Center if the Town of Purcellville exercises its existing right-of-way easement on the remaining 7,000 square feet of undeveloped land at the western end of Mayfair Crown Drive.

If the Town of Purcellville exercises that easement and extends Mayfair Crown Drive to the boundary line between the Mayfair Community Association and the Loudoun County Public Schools property, and if Loudoun County also extends the eastern end of Centerfield Road currently under construction and connects it to the western end of Mayfair Crown Drive—then commercial trucks would be able to reach the proposed Valley Commerce Center by travelling on Hillsboro Road, turning east on the future Centerfield Road across the Loudoun County Public Schools property, driving through the Mayfair residential community on Mayfair Crown Drive, and then crossing Purcellville Road to reach the proposed Valley Commerce Center. This route would be part of the planned Northern Collector Road that would stretch from Hillsboro Road to Berlin Turnpike and which remains on both the town and county transportation plans.

The traffic study report revealed that 29,000 vehicles on average cross the town daily at eight key gateways during the morning and afternoon workday rush hours. Vehicles were counted crossing the gateways during the morning rush hour and during the afternoon rush hour. Vehicles were also counted by type of vehicle (passenger car, bus, or truck) and state license plate (Virginia, West Virginia, or Maryland). The town gateways with the numbers and percentages of vehicles crossing those gateways were:

Berlin Turnpike: 9,301 vehicles (32%)

West Colonial Highway/Business Route 7 East End: 5,662 vehicles (20%)

Main Street/Business Route 7 West End: 4,969 vehicles (17%)

Hillsboro Road/North 21^st Street: 2,737 vehicles (9%)

Purcellville Road: 2,482 vehicles (9%)

Silcott Springs Road/Route 690: 1807 vehicles (6%)

Lincoln Road: 1,096 vehicles (4%)

20th Street: 969 vehicles (3%)

Total of all gateways: 29,022 vehicles (100%) 

The traffic study only compiled traffic data, analyzed that data, and reported conclusions, but did not offer any recommendations regarding solving the town’s rush hour traffic problem. The traffic study report did yield the following insights:

The majority of vehicles crossing the gateways during the morning rush hour entered Purcellville from the west and exited to the east.
The majority of vehicles crossing the gateways during the afternoon rush hour entered Purcellville from the east and exited to the west.

The majority of vehicles crossing the gateways were passenger cars with Virginia license plates occupied by commuters going to and from work. The number of vehicles with West Virginia license plates was small, and the number of vehicles with Maryland license plates was insignificant. 

The number of passenger cars entering Purcellville during the afternoon rush hour exceeds the number of passenger cars exiting Purcellville during the morning rush hour, which indicates that some commuters returning from work during the afternoon rush hour stop in town in order to patronize businesses before driving home. 

The majority of commercial truck traffic passed through the Purcellville Road Gateway.

The majority of buses crossing the gateways were Loudoun County Public Schools buses.

Also, the traffic study data is valid and is sufficient information for the Purcellville Town Council to use in order to remove the Northern Collector Road from the Town Transportation Plan—as a majority of council previously publicly stated was needed before they would support the removal of the NCR from the transportation plan.

Lloyd Harting is a six-year resident of Purcellville. He is a retired U.S. military officer, a retired U.S. government civilian employee, and a former federal government contractor employee.