I know there are other roads that do this, like 123 (Ox Rd, Chain Bridge Rd, Maple Ave, Dolley Madison Blvd, Gordon Blvd), but the distance over which 123 changes names is huge.
Screenshots go from South to North (Sanders Ln to Northstar Blvd).
I know there are other roads that do this, like 123 (Ox Rd, Chain Bridge Rd, Maple Ave, Dolley Madison Blvd, Gordon Blvd), but the distance over which 123 changes names is huge.
Screenshots go from South to North (Sanders Ln to Northstar Blvd).
This is peak NOVA. Here are my directions from Alexandria to Fair Oaks Mall:
Take Duke St. West to Little River Turnpike
Take Little River Turnpike to Main Street
Take Main Street to Fairfax Blvd
Take Fairfax Blvd to Route 50
You will see the exit for Fair Oaks Mall
Number of turns: Zero
Keep going-
Take Route 50 to Little River Turnpike
Take Little River Turnpike to Washington Street
Take Washington Street to Little River Turnpike
Take Little River Turnpike to John Mosby Highway
Take John Mosby Highway to Millwood Pike
Take Millwood Pike to Millwood Ave
Take Millwood Ave to Jubal Early Drive
Take Jubal Early Drive to Meadow Branch Ave
Arrive at Winchester Medical Center
Zero turns.
At least we got the number of Confederate names on that route down to two from four.
also fun is when you get directions that have you stay on the same road but they do involve turns which also happens around here
Lawyers Rd has entered the chat.
Turn left to stay on lawyers road
Hunter Mill also, where it turns at Sunrise Valley by the toll rd
🤣🤣🫣
Go look up some of the old USGS Topo maps of your area. They are not road maps persay...but they do show roads.
You'll be amazed at how many road segments got merged over the years and the names remained.
Hahaha I didn't even see the subreddit and thought, "Sounds like northern Virginia!"
Part of the reason this happens is our area was nothing but teeny little towns, farms, and outposts until the 1950s, when they all grew together like samples in a petri dish. What used to be somebody's "Main Street" was another's "Maple Ave" when they met. Around Vienna and McLean is some of the worst.
Sounds like a cultural exchange.
🙌🏼
I see I’m not the only one that was trying to figure out where the new data center was going.
Haha yes, I read this article and then went to Google maps 😅🫣
https://www.insidenova.com/news/prince_william/sanders-lane-data-center-plans-proceeding-in-western-prince-william/article_08357754-e18a-4738-91c1-f05799a46dc3.html
Whoa! I actually live in development that backs up to that plot of land and regularly take this road to a friends house off 234. Funny story, when the northern lights were visible last year a couple friends and I decided to go back behind our neighborhood to the huge plot of empty land just to get a clearer view(pic attached where we were standing) we didn’t go too deep knowing it’s private property but about an 30 min in a guy pops out of nowhere in the dark. We thought we got caught but apparently the owner of the land lets this guy who is his friend bow hunt deer on his property. Nice guy, chatted it up and he mentioned the owner was selling all of his farm land for tens of millions of dollars (I can’t remember the exact amount but it was A LOT of money) sad to see as I grew up here. He also told us where some of the trail cams were just in case we wanted to star gaze again lol.
https://preview.redd.it/eqn0lp93kd8g1.jpeg?width=1039&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f632f05bfdda5feba3812f0060af7161059d3733
Do tell
https://www.reddit.com/r/nova/s/ZmQKvfNqTF
This is the road the data center will be located.
I think Stone Road in Centreville gets the prize. I believe it ends at Chez Francois in Great Falls as Walker Rd.
Wow never realized that. You go through Centerville, Chantilly, Herndon, Reston and Great Falls without a single turn. It becomes some majors like Elden and Baron Cameron.
Rad
I remember when the Braddock-Sequoia Farms little section of it was called Poplar Tree Rd, but iirc it became an extension of Westfield Blvd when they widened it.
I was about to say this too. Now that Popular Tree Rd. is connected all the way through (from the Rocky Run Middle area to Westfield Blvd), you can see why Westfield Blvd used to be the disconnected part of Popular Tree Rd.
Dang, that's crazy! Who knew in NOVA you could make no turns while driving on 9 different "roads!" 🤣😳🤷♀️
You could argue that Springvale Rd turns left and ends at a dead end on Brockman Ln as well.
You can also travel from Davis Dr & Old Ox Rd in Sterling to Tower Hill Circle in Kingstowne (Alexandria) without making any turns
I have never realized that but you are 100% correct. My mind is blown.
One of the changers is a jurisdiction change. When it crosses Bull Run it goes from Prince William to Loudoun County. It switches from Sanders Ln to Auburn Farm Rd there.
I actually think Lurette Road is a mistake on Google. The PWC property map does not show that stretch as Lurette Rd. It is Sanders Ln all the way to Bull Run.
I don't know why that short section is called Auburn Farm Rd but it seems to have been named that after Northstar Blvd was constructed which is apparently a major project in Loudoun. Perhaps there is or was a farm on that road called Auburn Farm.
Ahh, yes I didn't consider county line changes. The length of the "road" in question is actually split nearly in half between the two county lines!
So...it's like this.
Sanders Rd never originally crossed the river...at least not before the 30's. The main route was to go up Aldie Rd, which is now a dead end, cross the river, cut across that field, meet up with that small stretch of Auburn Farm Rd, then cut north west to meet what is now Braddock Road. That went ALLL the way up most of the current alignment to 15...where it kept going along that treeline, meets a small section of Toad Hall Ln...and ends as part of someone's driveway at 50.
The maps I have don't list names....they weren't standard that far back.
So..maybe it was jurisdiction change..but the one thing I can point to is that all those roads were hodge-podged together from old routes and new construction.
The 1937 aerial photos show the modern alignment...but does show remnents of the old one. USGS topo maps from 1894 shows the original network of trails.
Ask me about Yates Ford Sometime. Holy cow that's a story.
https://loudoun.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=88&clip_id=4193&meta_id=87573
I found this which is an agenda for a BoS meeting from 2015 where they discussed renaming sections of the road because they had just built the Northstar Blvd and it created some disconnected roads.
Evidently the county didn't want the name Auburn Farm Road but they must have been overriden by the public or something because the name got applied anyway. If it had been me I would have just called it Northstar Blvd all the way to Bull Run.
Usually it's because they used to be completely separate roads, that were combined at some point in the past. And sometimes it's not worth all the logistical hassle of renaming (like changing people's mailing addresses)
Sanders Rd basically didn't exist. You had to go up Aldie Rd, cross the river there, then take a hard left across the lower portion of that field. The road then followed what is Auburn Farm for just a little ways before it originally hooked around to the NW to hit what is now Braddock Rd.
My favorite is Hoes Road was chopped up for FFX Parkway so we have short segments of Hoes Rd sprinkled randomly around Springfield.
Hoes all over the place around here.
Hoes Rd 😭
Different area codes?
Braddock Rd. is chopped up all over too.
From Leesburg to Sterling you get Plaza St, Sycolin Rd, Ashburn Farm Parkway, Farmwell Rd, Waxpool Rd, W Church Rd with 0 turns
You can find old maps of this area and suddenly it makes a lot more sense.
There's lots of roads like that in the area because they used to be individual roads that ended up getting joined together as the area expanded.
I don't know but be careful driving over that little bridge.
...and stop going one-at-a-time. (It is a one lane bridge for those that are not familiar)
Turns what should be a 30second wait into 5+minutes during peak traffic times.
Go 5 or 10 or 20 at-a-time on your side, then let the other side do 5 or 10 or 20 cars.
Unless you enjoy the scenery or listening to Audible more than just arriving at your destination earlier. Then by all means, just continue to go one-at-a-time.
That bridge badly needs a light to meter the traffic.
The 1 at a time is frustrating but actually it’s the safest method. Perhaps off peak you can do the “everyone on one side goes all at once” but at peak hour if you’re going against rush hour you’d almost never get across bc you’d the be the lone person waiting for a break. So yes it is NOT the most efficient method to go one at a time it’s by far the most predictable and safest method.
Back when Hunter Mill Rd. used to have a one lane bridge, people would alternate 2 at a time during rush hour. It was a reasonable compromise.
Thank you, I use this road and never understood the 1 at a time thing, I always just follow the car in front of me lol
I’m so glad I’m not the only one that gets this. Honk all ya want people I’m saving you time whether you like it or not.
Except the one-at-a-time law is mostly there due to worries about the structural integrity of the bridge. Has nothing to do with the flow if traffic. So don't ever do this.
Unless you enjoy paying to have a wreck of what was once your vehicle out of a ditch plus hospital bills all of which wont be covered by your insurance, then by all means, continue "sneaking" in behind that vehicle obeying the law in front of you.
Go ahead and obey the phantom law that only allows one car on the bridge...just don't waste everyone's time alternating sides every single car.
Allow 5 or 10 (or 2 if you're feeling stingy) cars from one side to go (only one-at-a-time on the bridge), then let the other side do 5 or 10 (or 2).
Anything but the 'alternating sides every single car' silliness - that's just the least efficient way you can possibly approach that bridge...hence the unnecessary backups there....
Are you even familiar with this bridge? When there are no cars on one side, everyone crosses it safely without "stopping and waiting for all cars to clear off the bridge" or whatever you are suggesting...
For my part I’m not referring to a bridge with laws or signs that say one at a time. I’m referring to one lane bridges where people alternate in a gigantic waste of time. The use of multiples at once aren’t even closely spaced enough to generate a weight concern on my observation, but again I’m not referring to violating signage.
If there is a stop sign or a yellow diamond "one lane bridge sign" the law is one car at a time. Again it's nothing to do with weight or traffic flow. It is about the bridge not being built to handle the dynamic forces of multiple vehicles crossing at the same time. The only time it works the way you want it to is if the only signage you see is a blue one way priority sign in which case that side gets to go through until nobody is left then the other side can go.
North, South, East, West, and Old Glebe Road have entered the chat.
Been told reason is, remember many of these were small town/villages and been told since i've lived here is to go by the route name, not the street name. Because this is common in many places in NOVA.
Also, at times these roads with different names were actually different roads. But as sprawl built everything up, they connected two roads together to make a larger road. Both roads would keep their original names.
What about Braddock Road scattered across multiple disconnected roads?
That one’s actually pretty easy, it’s because it’s been chopped up a million times around Centreville to accommodate I-66. There’s no relation to West Braddock Rd in Alexandria either, historically Braddock Rd ended closer to Backlick.
That will always be my Braddock!
This question has mostly been answered but thought I’d add my two cents. I used to use this road a lot to go between Gainesville and Haymarket but then I moved back to Loudoun.
That road has so many stories. For one the name changes, it starts as Sanders in Gainesville (Prince William County) then when it crosses the river it is now in Loudoun and changes to Auburn Farm Lane. This is an old road that used to veer more northwesterly and head towards Braddock but once Northstar Boulevard began being constructed in Brambleton years ago they incorporated it into the county plans to extend the road south to hook up with Auburn Farm lane and ultimately give drivers a straight shot between Loudoun and Prince William.
If you look closer at a map and look for Lightridge Farm Road you can see how the alignments of that and Auburn Farm Lane look like they used to be one road because they were but Lightridge Farm was truncated in order to give North Loudoun (Ashburn/Leesburg) drivers a straight shot to South Loudoun (Aldie/Stone Ridge area) and eventually to Prince William.
Unfortunately in Prince William (and I know this because I lived there for some time) there is a sentiment to NOT improve roadways hence why the one lane bridge still exists even though it is basically a commuter route of significance. Historically this road (Sanders Lane) was supposed to be realigned to hook up with Pageland in rural Gainesville (Catharpin, VA) and then hook up with 234 bypass to give drivers a straight shot from North Loudoun all the way to Dumfries. Loudounites are for it, Prince William folk are not (or at least the elected politicians aren’t).
Hope this helps. Geography nerd here.
Picture of the original alignment of Auburn Farm/Lightridge Farm Road in blue
https://preview.redd.it/tz32sr5v6e8g1.jpeg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d457b7664bef8a831f358bf6855933bd61772c7
Yet you didn't go back even further.
If you look at the 1890 maps; it makes much more sense. Sanders Ln didn't exist. It was Aldie Rd. that crossed the river, across the field, and up to what is now Braddock Rd.
I suspect...at some point...the stretch was all known as Aldie Rd, until it was truncated at 15. Then they renamed it Braddock.
As far as the inter-county-connector....that was the NIMBYS out in the area that put a stop to that. They didn't want the road being built; and I think at the time the NPS had mandated a timeline for closing thru-traffic routes in the battlefield. I don't remember what happened with that...but everyone out there got really angry despite the threat that the NPS would literally just close the roads on them.
But...that blew over. They never built it....roads through battlefield still open. Infrastructure fails because the public doesn't want it in their backyard.
For the record, I think 123 has 5 names over like 8 or 9 miles when your entering Vienna from chain bridge, maple, chain bridges, dolley Madison, and then chain bridge for a 3rd time at GW parkway
I think it’s because it crosses Vienna, Mclean, and then to the DC side.
Shhh don’t tell OP about Waxpool Rd
Cause it’s NOVA
This is the way
So say we all.
when it changes county it usually has a different name
Whatever the names are that road has outlived its use as the speed limit is 30mph going towards bull run which then wraps around a blind curve to a one lane bridge.
Ha ha ha ha.... In Richmond, there's a city road that is Monument Ave, Stuart Circle and Franklin St. One straight line with three names.
There’s also the opposite where there are like 5 different Braddock Roads. I know that it’s because the original Braddock Road got broken up by highways cutting through it, but it’s still strange.
I'm wondering if anyone calls it any of those names? I just call it 123.
Yes, this is why I only refer to 123 as 123 🤣
I call Ox Rd 123 but refer to Gordon Blvd by name
Wait till you hear about waxpool rd.
Back in the late 70's, the construction shop I worked at was where Waxpool Road, Ashburn Road and Ryan Road intersects. It's name was North Star Concrete Foundations. I wonder where they got that Northstar Boulevard name from?
Loudoun County 1979 map
Broad Run High School was in the middle of nowhere. Boy times have changed!
Wait till you drive Rt 1. The fights over the name change was wild!
How about Buchanan Street in Arlington? It's in so many chopped up disconnected segments that when I lived there I had to give people specific directions to the court segment. It was hell with delivery drivers.
I used to live near Mt Vernon, and to get to my house, you had to go to Ft. Hunt Rd, which without warning takes a hard left down a tiny side street. But the "main road" you were on is now is "Old Ft. Hunt Rd" for like a block and becomes Vernon View rather suddenly, and that happened right before my house. Unless you lived around here, you'd be totally lost before GPS.
Probably better than Maryland with multiple roads with the same name. Like how many Livingston Roads do you need?
Why does the sun rise in the east? Some things you don’t question.
The sun doesn’t move.
Username checks out.
Actually, it does, along with our whole planetary system.
I'm very sad to see the data center locates right at the bridge. What do people do with the pollutant in the Summer time from those data centers? Sad.
It's nonsense typical of an area developing too fast.
Another one that's not even that notable for the area:
Langston Blvd. in Arlington County
N. and S. Washington St. in Falls Church City
Route 29 in Fairfax County
Blenheim Blvd. in Fairfax City
And you can tack on Main St. and Fairfax Blvd. if you want because 29 and 50 are the same road for a while in Fairfax City.
Those 'Adopt a Road' programs are great on paper but nobody thinks about what happens to the poor road that grows up with four different identities from four adoptive families. This is why a dirt road might think it wants to 'become' a paved road. Again, it sounds good on paper. But have you ever spoken to one of the paved roads who wishes they hadn't converted? It's a heartbreaking conversation.
Because it's actually multiple roads that have been merged.
I'm guessing...you're talking about what starts as Sanders Ln at 234. Yeah...it's got a very weird history.
Sanders Ln never originally went straight up; that distinction went to Aldie Rd just a little to the south. It's a dead-end now; but it used to cross the river, make a hard left, and meet back up at 705 where it becomes Auburn Farm Rd. At the change to Northstar Blvd, at the intersection of Grassland Grove and Arlington Oaks...the road originally went to the left and met up with what is now Braddock Rd.
While Google MAps says Sanders Ln changes to Laurette Rd...it still shows Sanders Ln when zoomed in and the PWC map shows this as Sanders Ln.
So...it was multiple roads that got merged in to one route.
Has the county ever considered renaming road sections from "obsolete" towns to make road names more consistent?
Trump
Ummmmm yeah welcome to the world?
Hey yall, just need to say that touching grass IRL is a lot more rewarding than doing it through google maps!
Okay, thanks for stopping by