Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Reston, VA

Maryland has renewed its commitment to replacing the American Legion Bridge and adding express lanes on the Capital Beltway, much to the relief of Northern Virginia transportation officials.

The Maryland Department of Transportation has applied for a federal grant to fund the initial phase of its project to widen the Beltway (I-495/I-270) and reconstruct the aging bridge, which provides the only road connection between Fairfax County and Montgomery County, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced today (Monday).

The announcement is the first indication of how Maryland will proceed since private express lanes operator Transurban backed out in March over concerns about delayed environmental approvals, lawsuits and the change in leadership after Moore succeeded Larry Hogan in January.

Since Hogan and then-Virginia governor Ralph Northam announced an agreement in 2019 to replace the heavily used American Legion Bridge, Maryland’s cooperation has been seen as critical to the success of Virginia’s I-495 Northern Extension (495 NEXT) project, which is now under construction and will extend the Beltway’s toll lanes from the Dulles Toll Road in Tysons to the bridge north of McLean.

“Governor Moore’s plan ensures these long-awaited improvements will become a reality. This is great news for area travelers and the economic competitiveness of our entire region,” Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance President Jason Stanford said in a statement. “The Alliance applauds Governor Moore for finding a multimodal solution to address one of the region’s worst bottlenecks and move more people through one of our most congested corridors.”

The Virginia Department of Transportation has estimated that 495 NEXT will move 2,500 more people per hour in both directions when the express lanes open in 2025. However, it would move 5,400 more people an hour with Maryland’s project in place.

Skeptics of 495 NEXT, including Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, have argued that widening I-495 in Virginia without a concurrent widening in Maryland will only push the existing congestion further north, leaving McLean residents to deal with the traffic, environmental and neighborhood impacts without getting any of the supposed benefits.

Shifting away from the public-private partnership that Hogan sought and that has built Virginia’s growing express lanes network, Moore emphasized in his announcement that Maryland’s project will incorporate transit and other multimodal improvements, including pedestrian and bicycle access.

Under the new plan, Maryland will first add toll lanes on the bridge, I-495 to the I-270 West Spur, and the I-270 West Spur in Montgomery County.

According to MDOT, the widening will allow the American Legion Bridge and Beltway to support buses between Fairfax and Montgomery counties as well as a shared-use path on the bridge across the Potomac River — extending a trail that VDOT has planned along the I-495 corridor towards Tysons as part of 495 NEXT.

“The transportation network throughout Maryland and the National Capital Region must be able to get people where they need to go in a timely and reliable manner,” Moore said. “Providing long-desired, equitable transportation solutions in the American Legion Bridge and I-270 corridors is critical to eliminating employment barriers, linking more people to high-demand jobs and stimulating local economies.”

A March 2021 study conducted jointly by MDOT and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation recommended several bus routes between Tysons and Maryland using the widened bridge, with lines to Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Silver Spring among the top candidates.

Metro has already added a Tysons-Bethesda route to its “visionary” bus network for the future.

“There will be a seamless managed lane network between Virginia and Maryland once this project and Virginia’s 495 NEXT project are complete,” Stanford said. “Together, these projects will relieve congestion at one of region’s worst bottlenecks and support reliable transit service between Tysons and Bethesda.”

Reston Association is asking Fairfax County to find ways to ensure that future development in Reston’s Transit Station Areas (TSAs) commit to joining the association.

In a statement to FFXnow, RA says more than 3,000 units in the TSA areas have been approved without a commitment to join RA.

The Reston Master Plan — the latest version of which is under review — states that development within the area can be better integrated into the fabric of the community with access to existing many amenities — an end “best achieved” by incorporation into RA or the Reston Town Center Association.

“Each of these entities has indicated a willingness to include these new developments in their associations,” the plan states.

But over the last few years, some developers have declined to join RA, despite using amenities managed and owned by RA in marketing materials. RA maintains 55 miles of trails, 15 pools, 54 tennis courts, ballfields, pavilions and four community buildings.

“Unfortunately, over the years several developers have not yet joined RA while using RA facilities in their advertising to entice tenants to rent their apartments,” RA said. “Among them are Comstock, EYA and the Apeture.”

“We have not heard an explanation for these decisions,” RA wrote in a statement.

That issue came to light at a July 28 Fairfax County Planning Commission meeting. During a public hearing on proposed changes to Reston Row, RA president John Farrell expressed the association’s concerns about Comstock, the neighborhood’s developer, not planning to join RA.

“A wise man said the proof of insanity is to make the same mistake over and over,” Farrell said, urging the commission to deny the application. “Let us not continue the insanity of allowing the people of Reston and the taxpayers of the county to subsidize some TSA residential developers.”

Developers that have joined RA include Sekas, Pulte and Toll Brothers.

RA argues that if the nearly 3,000 units authorized in the TSA area were built and subject to RA’s deed, the association would reel in nearly $2.4 million in revenue — enough to reduce the yearly member assessment by $100 each for the 24,000 homeowners in Reston.

“Over the next several years, many of those developers will be coming to the County to reposition their projects and RA will ask that the Hunter Mill Supervisor condition any future approvals on those projects joining RA so that the developer support[s] the maintenance of the RA facilities upon which the developers’ marketing efforts are based,” RA wrote.

The county says that, while the master plan encourages developers to join RA, the plan is intended as a land use document and can’t compel developers to join a local organization.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said he appreciates Reston Association “raising the financial burden associated with managing their extensive network of community recreation and park facilities.”

“We have a rather balkanized system of community facilities across Reston Association, Reston Town Center Association, Reston Community Center, and the Fairfax County Park Authority – in addition to all the cluster associations and NOVA Park’s W&OD trail,” Alcorn said. “I welcome the discussion on how Reston’s community infrastructure could be maintained and updated fairly and sustainably during the coming years and decades.”

All signs are pointing to an El Niño winter in VA, and forecasters are seeing signs that it will likely turn out to be a strong one.

Deb Belt, Patch Staff

VIRGINIA — The probabilities have reached near certainty that strong El Niño conditions will persist through at least February, which could spur a snowier winter than D.C. and Northern Virginia saw last year, the Climate Prediction Center said this month.

Newly updated forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center upgraded the odds to 95 percent in favor of El Niño hanging on through at least February. The pattern typically reaches peak strength between November and January.

During past El Niño years, temperatures and precipitation from December through February averaged near normal in the DC-Baltimore region, while seasonal snowfall averaged above normal, the National Weather Service said.

These findings can partly be linked to a stronger than normal sub-tropical jet that typically occurs during moderate to strong El Niño winters, which would favor more active storm systems from the south that draw warm, moist air northward as opposed to the drier Alberta clippers from the northwest. Seasonal snowfall averaged above normal, especially for moderate El Niño episodes.

Signs of El Niño are all around, especially in the very warm surface temperatures in the Pacific.

Forecasters say their increasing confidence is due to a few consistent factors, including surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, weaker pressure in the eastern Pacific, and higher pressure in the western Pacific.

"Taken together, these are all signs of the atmospheric component of El Niño, providing more confidence that the system, is engaged and that these conditions will last through the winter," NOAA explained on its ENSO blog Thursday.

After three consecutive La Niña winters, El Niño — the warmer phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) — arrived early in June. The opposing climate patterns are a departure from normal conditions in the Pacific and can have global impacts on the jet stream and weather, particularly during the winter months in the United States.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, El Niño causes the Pacific jet stream to shift south and spread east, which is usually associated with warmer and drier winter conditions in northern states and wetter conditions in the South and Southwest, including much of California.

Usually, the weather phenomenon's impacts are less pronounced in the summer and stronger in the winter. Since it formed a month or two ahead of schedule, its impacts this year could become apparent early. In the United States, El Niño is most associated with warmer, drier conditions in northern states as cool and wet patterns develop further south, including in D.C. and Northern Virginia.

As NOAA explains:

"El Niño can affect our weather significantly. The warmer waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position. With this shift, areas in the northern U.S. and Canada are dryer and warmer than usual. But in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast, these periods are wetter than usual and have increased flooding."

Should El Niño continue to gain strength, scientists caution it could fan more extreme weather events in areas already hit hard by the effects of a changing climate.

"The three-month-average Niño-3.4 Index, the Oceanic Niño Index, was 0.8 °C above the long-term mean for the May–July average, the second three-month-period in a row above the El Niño threshold of 0.5 °C. We need to see five consecutive three-month averages above this threshold before these periods will be considered a historical 'El Niño episode' and colored red in our ENSO record). Two is a good start, especially with the 0.8 °C recording from May–July. If this El Niño were to collapse after hitting this high, dropping back below the threshold of this magnitude before next winter, it would be the first time in our historical record, dating back to 1950."

With a few more months to go until the peak El Niño influence, there are still plenty of factors to monitor in the coming weeks. ENSO forecasters update their El Niño outlooks every month, and NOAA typically releases its official U.S. Winter Outlook in October.

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The Centers for Disease Control confirmed a summer increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Virginia and elsewhere in the country.

VIRGINIA — Data published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points to a summer increase in COVID-19 cases in Virginia and elsewhere around the country.

The data shows COVID-19 hospitalizations were up 12 percent nationwide, and that emergency room visits and test positivity also increased in what health officials say is the greatest spike in COVID hospitalizations since last winter. Independent laboratories have also noted an increase in COVID-19 test positivity, CNN reported.

The CDC data for Virginia, current as of July 22, showed 123 people hospitalized for COVID, an 0.8 percent increase in the number of people hospitalized with the respiratory disease in the past week. That means 1.44 people per 100,000 residents were hospitalized with COVID.

Summer travel outside usual social circles, record heat that keeps people indoors and waning immunity are possible reasons for the uptick in cases. CDC data shows the number of Americans who are up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations is decreasing, and health officials say the low number of cases means people aren't developing enough antibodies compared to previous infections.

In Virginia, the state's COVID dashboard showed that as of Aug. 1, the total number of residents who were fully vaccinated stood at 18,553,328. Of that number, 74 percent of Virginians have received the primary vaccination, while 18 percent have updated vaccinations.

State records show 1,386,322 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maryland since the pandemic began, with 16,571 confirmed deaths from the virus.

Importantly, the mild spike in cases is from an already low level of cases. Health experts expect the wave to be far less intense than in previous summers, and aren’t sure how long it will last.

Wastewater surveillance data suggests new COVID-19 cases are already leveling off, but much of the data public health officials have used to track trends was scaled back when the federal health emergency ended in May.

The last time so little data was available was in the early days of the pandemic, Caitlin Rivers, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN.

That makes it difficult to “know what lies ahead,” Rivers said. “So it may yet peter out.”

Rivers noted that it is encouraging the increase doesn’t appear to have been driven by the emergence of a new variant.

Some U.S. counties are seeing much higher rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Two counties in Texas saw a 250 percent increase with 14 new people hospitalized — a “high” rate given their small populations, according to the CDC classification.

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