VDOT scrutinized over maintenance on Rt. 7

Drivers say maintenance of Rt. 7 from the Fairfax County line to Purcellville has decreased in 2024, leaving them to complain about the way the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is caring for the state highway.

"It's a hot mess," said Sharin Donnelly, a Hamilton commuter who drives the road each day. "There is so much trash on the road. And the trees is what gets me. They topple over in heavy storms and come within an inch of the roadway." She has run over a few branches. "You just hear the crunch and you're like, oh God. I just try to drive now more in the left lane to avoid those areas where I know the trees are super close to the road."

Earlier this month, a tremendously large directional sign for Rt. 659 South was cut at the top and had fallen precipitously close to the edge of the highway. Had it slipped further, it would have likely gone right into the highway.

VDOT contractors have only cut grass twice this cutting season, which spans April to October. Entrance ramps and exit ramps grew so tall with grass between cuttings that they caused blind spots in some areas for drivers. And even when grass was cut, crews delayed in cutting adjoining ramp areas.

Twelve guards rails were noticed to have been damaged and still have yet to be fixed over a period of six months. Orange cones and brightly spray painted X's mark the mangled guard rails, but VDOT seems quite slow to fix them once they mark them for repair. In a few instances, vehicle pieces broken off during collision with the guard rails are still at the locations as well. The picture below is located on Rt. 7 near Mission BBQ.

Massive amounts of trash litter the highway, everything from bags of household trash, bottles, wrappers, furniture, car parts, tires, clothing, cardboard boxes, electronics, etc. In one instance, a black trash can was laying in the middle of an entrance ramp onto Rt. 7 at Clarks Gap and Loudoun County Sheriff's Deputy Ostrowski stopped, picked it up off the road and put it in his patrol car.

VDOT and contractor staging equipment, along with cones, orange stationary caution and work zone signs are left behind on the shoulders of the highway for lengthy periods of time after road projects have completed instead of being promptly removed after work is finished. When left out in the elements, the cones and signage were noticed to have fallen over and apart.

In one instance, a video was made of the littering by a work crew that had worked in a Leesburg area for a two week time span in August. Materials used in their road repairs was left behind and scattered throughout their staging area, along with meal wrappers, work gloves, and a beer bottle on the ground.

In Ashburn, a shopping cart was seen in the median strip of Rt. 7.

At an exit ramp to Wegmans in Leesburg, two dining room chairs that had been disposed of in the grassy median sat for four months without ever being picked up. The only reason they were picked up is because it was reported to VDOT.

VDOT said it was the Town of Leesburg's responsibility to have picked it up.

In February 2024, weekly monitoring of the state road from Sterling to Purcellville began after it was noticed that a man who lives in Fairfax County was driving into Loudoun County every Friday night after sundown and erecting real estate signage at every exit ramp off Rt. 7. He would erect 5-9 signs for Pulte, Brookfield Residential, Maronda Homes, Stanley Martin, etc. at each exit ramp. In the starkness of winter, the brightly colored signs were very noticeable.

Eventually, video of the man was captured while he was in Leesburg erecting signage. The video, along with his license plate number, was given to Leesburg Police Officer Jacobus Schoeman, who said he would attempt to make contact with the individual and request he stop putting up signage. After multiple follow ups with Officer Schoeman, it was determined he never reached out to the individual.

The issue was then brought to the Town Attorney's Office. Leesburg Assistant Attorney Jessica Arena stated erecting signage within Town limits was not considered a crime, but rather a civil infraction.

However, Leesburg Town Code on littering states:

Sec. 28-38. - Dumping trash, etc., on highway, right-of-way or private property.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to dump or otherwise dispose of trash, garbage, refuse, litter, a companion animal for the purpose of disposal, or other unsightly matter on a public property, including a public highway, right-of-way, or property adjacent to such highway or right-of-way, or on private property without the written consent of the owner thereof or his agent.

(b) Any person convicted of a violation of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not less than $500.00 or more than $2,500.00, either or both.

Asked how many civil violations the Town Attorney had issued to either the man erecting the signage each week or the real estate companies who hire him to do so, the answer was none. Rather, the Zoning Administrator Michael Watkins prefers to approach the manner starting with a conversation first, said Kara Rodriguez, the spokeswoman for the Town.

However, verbal contact has not abated the problem as is evidenced by the photo taken this past weekend in Leesburg at the intersection of Potomac Station Drive and River Creek Parkway:

Loudoun County and the state of Virginia also have littering laws.

The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and Virginia State Police were also contacted. Both referred the matter to VDOT. Lauren Mollerup, VDOT District Maintenance Engineer, supervises maintenance of state roads in Northern Virginia. She sent some initial letters out to real estate companies whose signs had been erected on Rt. 7, but then stopped doing so without an explanation as to why, only saying that she would revisit the issue in the Fall or Winter.

The signage still continues to this day to be erected by the same gentleman every single Friday night.

"It's beyond unsightly. It's abusing our highways," said Letecia Brown, a Sterling resident who said she uses Rt. 7 daily. "At Christmas, I saw signs for foreclosure auctions nailed to trees along Rt. 7 at major intersections. Like, why hurt a tree? The Northern Virginia Community College intersection and every shopping center intersection east of the college have stuff hanging from every pole and planted in every median."

A comprehensive report was sent to Virginia Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller, several VDOT employees, and John Littel, Chief of Staff to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, on Sept. 13 providing several pictures and videos of the state of Rt. 7.

Secretary Miller said VDOT moved $600 million in its budget from other areas into its maintenance budget this year to try and keep up with maintenance needs. The total VDOT budget for 2024 was $8.6 billion; $2.8 billion of which was budgeted for maintenance and operations, second only to construction which garners the highest amount of VDOT's budget.

Yet the state agency still struggles to maintain even the most basic of functions - removal of trash from the road - and often relies on Loudoun County to assist in debris removal.

When asked about the signage which has become a massive problem, Miller said even though in his role as Secretary he also oversees the Department of Motor Vehicles, laws prevent VDOT staff from running the license plate number of the individual putting up the real estate signs. He did not clarify further.

He did, however, say based on the report submitted to him that he had conversations with his staff and directed them to get back to contacting the real estate companies and if need be, bring them to court to enforce Virginia's law on littering.

"Some of what I saw in the report was troubling to me. That's not the way we do business. I'm a black and white kinda guy. If something's wrong, we fix it. I've communicated that to the Northern Virginia team."

We will continue to monitor Rt. 7 to see whether those fixes occur.

If the public sees a concern on a state road, here is the number to call:

VDOT 24/7 hotline at 800-FOR-ROAD (800-367-7623):
The hotline is mainly for the following, but anything VDOT related can be called in.
- Report unsafe and hazardous road conditions
- Report work requests for state roads
- Ask questions about VDOT