Preparing for Beulah Road Construction

The town leaders approached this project with the same expertise that is apparent in all their efforts--none. The main reason for the reconstruction was that they could get state funding so it would cost the town very little. That was the same logic used for the brick sidewalk project. Just pump all that state money right over here--doesn't matter what it's for. Now, I'm not saying that Beulah Road doesn't need upgrading--it does. But once the money was allocated, the town didn't care at all about what they were getting. It was up to neighborhood association members to fight out the details with VDOT, who wanted to plow down every tree in sight and build a 3/4 mile highway that would revert back to a winding 2 lane road at the town line. We still don't know exactly what we're getting and the town is being very secretive about it. The project doesn't even merit mention on its website. It's not important, like the Town Green.

>>Beulah Road will definitely be a transportation nightmare for some time.

I think that it is absolutely OUTRAGEOUS that VDOT will take over a year to rebuild this very small stretch of critical access roadway in our area. It is an utter failure by our state and local government to not deploy the resources required to get this job done in a few months tops. This is a small project, folks, and it should not take a year. Where would we be in this country today if it took a year to build one mile of 2-lane road?

VDOT in Northern Virgina is a JOKE and has been a JOKE!, Richmond is laughing at us from atop our tax dollars, and Mayor Seeman hasn't raised a finger to point out how ridiculous VDOT is and how absurd it is to take one year to rebuild one mile of Beulah Road. Our Mayor is stuck in her fixodent waving her pom-poms from the sideline cheering, "It's long overdue, it's long overdue!". Rah! Rah! Rah!

VOTE, Vienna! It's time to get the representation we're paying for! You have a share in affairs and a voice that deserves to be heard both in the community and at the polls... VOTE! Beware any dinosaur politician or reporter that tells you to shut up, that what you say and how you say it doesn't count. Everyone has their right to express their views, no matter how rough; it is the right of the collective community to wage its public discourse however it can and as best it can. Through this and from this we all learn and grow and come away the better for it. You who have frequented this website know much more about your community's affairs than you ever did before. This is a good thing! Express yourself. Be heard. And Vote!

Someday down the road, after the sunshine has been let in, our elected representatives will facilitate and participate in online community dialog without risk, as Brehony and Stich have already demonstrated here. There will be tolerance... people will be allowed to differ, to experience other viewpoints, and to even change their minds! Imagine that... how did CHANGING YOUR MIND become such a dirty word, "flip-flop", like has happened to the word "liberal"? There is no hope if we can not tolerate people changing the minds! But for now, incumbants will hiss and moan and run and hide for they have hid so long in the dark behind closed doors that this new light blinds their minds to their future.

You can poke off, Brian Trompeter, no offense intended. No one has invited you to print and toss your views onto our front lawns every week without the freedom to respond. Instead of pushing your views at us and dumbing down our community affairs in the process, why don't you put a stack of newspapers outside your front door every week and see how many people stop by to pickup a copy? I bet far more Town residents read this website regularly than have ever bothered to visit your paper's website... even with its desperate new video feature. Why is that?

Beulah appears to be another poorly thought-out project where no one considered burying the ugly utility lines. What century is this??

The Beulah Road Construction has turned to nightmare for Vienna residents especially residents live along the section of construction. The contractors VDOT authorized have not exercised care or respects to not to encroach the property right of the residents involve on the path of construction.

There are several incidents that contractors used drive ways or private properties to be the staging area of their equipments and caused some drive way damaged after their equipments were removed. Residents spoke to on site manger of Martin and Gass to express the concerns of these property damages and the contractor has yet to dispatch any personal to fix the problem.

There was another incident around 9:30 PM on October 17, 2007 when the utility company was trying to work on the water utility. The utility company worker placed some lighting device in the middle of one resident’s drive way. When the resident requested the utility company to temporarily remove the lighting device so that she can pull into the drive way the utility company worker not only refused to do so and she started cursing, swearing and threatening the resident about the utility company’s right to take over the drive way when they’re working on the project. The utility worker started walking toward the garage and taking pictures of the resident and the house. When this worker was asked to leave the private property she not only refused to do so and she continued to occupy the drive way and swear to the resident.

From all these incidents it’s showing the miss-management of VDOT and lack of oversight from town of Vienna has allowed contractors and associated working groups to ignore resident’s legal rights and quite enjoyment of their properties. And phone calls made to VDOT management posted on VDOT web site were never returned by any VDOT officials. It’s yet to be determined if VDOT’s contractors have broken any Virginia law by allowing their workers to trespass private properties.

Like many bloggers mentioned it should not take one year to construct this 0.8 mile of two-lane road. The lack of planning and mismanagement of Town of Vienna and VDOT have caused properties residents along the way suffer serious noise, dust, property trespassing and harassment of un-trained workers.