A Father's Appeal

Board Responds to Call for Route 15 Safety Upgrades

Donald Muse, the father of two teenagers killed Dec. 6 on Route 15, speaks before county supervisors Monday. (Photos By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)

Virginia Department of Transportation officials said Tuesday that they will install a 700-foot guardrail on Route 15 at the site just north of Leesburg where two teenagers died in a car accident Dec. 6, and Loudoun County supervisors urged the agency to consider other improvements on the highly traveled road.

The Board of Supervisors drafted a letter to VDOT on Tuesday shortly after Donald Muse, the teenagers' father, appeared at the board's regular meeting and asked for its help in getting guardrails, improved lane markings, better lighting and other safety upgrades along Route 15 to prevent more fatalities.

Dustin Muse, 16, and his sister, Courtney, 13, were killed almost on impact when the vehicle Dustin was driving veered off the road, plunged down an embankment and hit two trees.

"This was a fatal and preventable accident," Muse told the supervisors during their public comment period as his wife, Kristi, watched from the audience. "A 30-foot section of guardrail could have saved the lives of my children."

Joan Morris, VDOT's spokeswoman for Northern Virginia, said the agency has been studying the road since October, when Leesburg Town Council member Kenneth D. Reid asked for a safety review. After the Dec. 6 accident, the agency expedited a decision to install the guardrail and will start work on the $10,000 project in January, she said. VDOT officials said they hoped to complete the rest of their review in February.

This month's accident was the third deadly crash along Route 15 in Loudoun this year. The portion of Route 15 between Leesburg and the Point of Rocks Bridge, where commuter traffic is heavy, has drawn the most concern among residents and county and town officials. Some sections of the winding road have shoulders less than five feet wide; other sections have no shoulders.

Donald Muse's children were traveling south and were just north of the split between Route 15 and the Route 15/Route 7 Bypass. In their letter to VDOT, Loudoun supervisors asked the agency to consider a number of changes at the split, including design improvements, rumble strips and better signage, lighting and pavement markings. They urged a similar review for the rest of Route 15 between Leesburg and the Maryland line.

The board also endorsed a resolution adopted by the Leesburg Town Council on Dec. 12 that calls for similar improvements at the bypass split, as well as a VDOT study of other approaches to town, including Dry Mill Road, Evergreen Mill Road, Edwards Ferry Road and Sycolin Road.

Muse, who lives in Leesburg, brought up a design issue that several other town residents have raised since the Dec. 6 accident. In August, VDOT changed the traffic pattern for southbound Route 15 drivers approaching the bypass by painting diagonal stripes in the right lane. The change requires motorists trying to get on Business Route 15 to merge left, then go right again within a matter of seconds.

VDOT engineer Jim Zeller said the change was made so that motorists traveling south on Route 15 would have an easier time getting onto the bypass. About 85 percent of the drivers approaching the intersection intend to take the bypass, he said.

But several residents said the new design is confusing and dangerous.

"Any inexperienced driver, like my son or any kid, could get confused," Muse told the supervisors.

Richard Zietz, chairman of the Loudoun County Transportation Safety Commission, agreed that the new diagonal lines are a problem. "You have to think of roads with the human factor in mind," he said. "You have 80-year-olds, you have 40-year-olds, you have mothers with children. They're not engineers. They may not know how to maneuver an S-curve."

Zeller said VDOT workers would reconsider that design as part of their ongoing study.

"We're reassessing the whole area, whether it's pavement markings, shoulders or roadside lighting," he said.

Zeller said VDOT can fund such projects as guardrails and new lane markings within its existing budget but would need additional money for such projects as widening shoulders or adding rumble strips.