Roads & Common Drives

The Roads & Common Drives Committee acts on the HOA’s behalf regarding the public streets in the neighborhood and oversees the Common Drive Escrow Accounts.

All public Roads in the neighborhood fall under the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) control. All maintenance and repair of these roads and adjacent stormwater drainage ditches are VDOT’s responsibility, as is the sidewalk adjacent to Clara Barton Drive. The sidewalk adjacent to Robert Carter Road is Fairfax County’s responsibility.

The Committee maintains awareness of the condition of roads within the neighborhood, reporting to VDOT necessary maintenance and repairs to the road surface, shoulders, stormwater ditches, or storm drains, as well as identifying the need for more significant roadwork (i.e., major resurfacing). The Committee maintains contact with VDOT personnel to encourage their focus on any needed repair work.

Within the neighborhood there are sixty-six (66) Common Drives, also referred to as Pipestems. These driveways connect multiple homes to their adjacent public street and are jointly and equally owned by each homeowner located on the Common Drive. There are 236 homes located on Common Drives throughout the neighborhood.

The maintenance and repair of a Common Drives is the collective responsibility of the homeowners it serves. In order to ensure proper maintenance, each homeowner living on a Common Drive is subject to an annual charge. The HOA holds these charges in an escrow account specific to each Common Drive, with these funds made available to the homeowners for maintenance and repair purposes at their request.

The Committee maintains a current listing of Common Drive Escrow Account Balances, as provided by the HOA’s Accountant. It advises the Board regarding the setting of the Annual Common Drive Assessment rate charged to homeowners. It also establishes and maintains, in consultation with the Treasurer, Escrow Account Procedures to be followed when Common Drive homeowners require disbursement of funds for maintenance and repair.

Original Grading Plans for all lots within the neighborhood are held by the Committee.

If any homeowner in Fairfax Station wishes to contact VDOT regarding a complaint or concern related to the road on which they live, they are encouraged to contact VDOT directly for answers or resolution. Please refer to the following list for ways in which a representative can be contacted:

To report road/shoulder damage (i.e., potholes) or snow removal complaints:

Phone: 703-383-8368 or 1-800-367-7623. You should be given a work order number for future reference.

Online: www.virginiadot.org

E-Mail: novainfo@vdot.gov

For Traffic & Road Conditions:

Phone: 511

Online: www.511virginia.org

- Pat Flaherty

VDOT 2011/2012 SNOW PLAN

Delegate Tim Hugo has recently sent out information regarding VDOT’s preparation for winter, in which he described the content of a Snow Briefing presented by their Northern Virginia District.

In the briefing, VDOT stated that only one degree separates a rain event from a freezing rain event and the National Weather Service expects more of these hard-to-forecast events this winter. VDOT stated that it is the mixed weather (snow/rain/ice) events that create the most problems for VDOT not necessarily the large snow events.

In response, VDOT has increased the number of trucks by 400, doubled the amount of Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVLs), and added $19 million to the budget since last year. VDOT has allotted $55 million for this winter season for the Northern Virginia area; however, it must cover almost 18,000 lane miles of roadway.

As you may recall, last year was VDOT's first year implementing 'snow maps' and AVLs; both of these items were highly effective at improving VDOT's snow response. In addition, VDOT will be making interactive snow maps available on-line to the public which will display the locations of plow trucks and snow plow routes.

To make the snow removal process easier, VDOT has a few recommendations and reminders for local citizens:

When shoveling your own sidewalk/driveway, leave at least 5 feet of snow from the curb until after the plow has passed through.
Park your car on the odd numbered side of the street or in driveways. The more cars are parked on the street, the less amount of snow is able to be plowed.
Stay off the road if there are reports of a storm! One of the biggest things to slow down the plowing process are abandoned cars.
Remember that it is harder for crews to plow packed snow and especially ice. Don't expect to be able to see black pavement once the plow comes through.
The goal is to make all roads one lane passable, not clear them completely of snow.

In addition, contact information for VDOT is as follows:

Call 511 for road conditions.
Visit www.511virginia.org for road conditions and traffic cams.
Follow @511northernva on Twitter for road conditions and accidents.
Visit www.YouTube.com/VDOTweb for snow removal tips
Visit www.VirginiaDOT.org for news and road conditions.
Email novainfo@vdot.virginia.gov or call 1-800-FOR-ROAD to report unplowed roads.

VDOT has prepared very comprehensive briefing materials, 2012 Snow Fact Sheet and the NOVA 2012 Snow Briefing that you may find useful. In addition, VDOT had also prepared winter travel tips, Snow Travel Tip

VDOT ONLINE SNOWPLOW TRACKING TOOL

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is testing a new web tool that shows the status of plowing in Northern Virginia neighborhoods. Residents can navigate a map, similar to using a Google map, to find out if snowplows have started working in their neighborhood once it snows two inches or more. The information is provided through the use of Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVLs) as mentioned in the 2011/2012 Snow Plan. To date approximately 1/3 of the plow trucks have this equipment.

Once it snows at least two inches, residents can find out the status of plowing in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William county neighborhoods at http://novasnowplowing.virginia.gov. The webpage shows plowing status during storms when two or more inches have accumulated

VDOT has organized northern Virginia streets into 600 "snow maps" which are assigned to plow drivers. These are the maps users will view and be able to find out whether crews are plowing, have plowed or have not started a particular snow map. Street-by-street progress is not shown

Users can enter an address in northern Virginia to see a color-coded snow map that indicates the plowing status in that area:

Green indicates a neighborhood has been plowed,
Yellow means plows are in progress in the neighborhood,
Blue indicates plows have not yet started the neighborhood; and,
Gray means the area is not maintained by VDOT. Cities, towns and some developments maintain their own roads.

"It's important to keep in mind that VDOT is testing the new web tool and will make adjustments along the way. Our goal is to make the neighborhood maps user friendly and helpful as possible, so we welcome feedback from the public."

Quick Tips for Users:

Be sure to enter your complete address (i.e. 11603 Havenner Court, Fairfax Station, Virginia
The website tracks VDOT-maintained neighborhoods only.
The website is active only when two or more inches of snow have fallen.

View the video on how to use the new site at http://youtu.be/HMRaItZLgyo

Illustrative map of our community - Click to see pdf