Supercharger - Fairfax, VA

[Chuq]

Don't know how this one got missed! @RobinMS70D's intel appears to be pretty accurate based on National Harbour and Gaithersburg, so have submitted this to supercharge.info (just as "permit" for now, since construction site doesn't appear to be 100% yet)

 

[MXFan]

...since construction site doesn't appear to be 100% yet

...and no permit has been issued yet.

I’ve been checking the Fairfax County permit status site regularly and unfortunately nothing has popped up yet for either Fairfax or Tyson’s Corner.

 

[luckyj]

Yeah, a listing on supercharge.info seems premature. The install might be going in there, but there are no official references that I've seen. What information was provided to substantiate a permit? @BlueShift

 

[Chuq]

Not every site even has a permit. It varies a lot depending on the local government rules. "Permit" locations on sc.info have historically been placed with evidence such as correspondence from site owners being quoted here, or articles from local newspapers which refer to them.

The evidence is all contained in @RobinMS70D 's post of 5 October. He mentioned two other locations both of which have since had superchargers installed.

 

[boaterva]

Interesting... saw this on supercharge.info and came to see what was up.

As for all the 2017 changing to 2018, I saw somewhere that that may have been a website programming change (if 2017, change to ++1 or somesuch....).

 

[Lanny]

I agree with @luckyj, the supercharge.info "permit" listing, apparently prompted by @Chuq from Australia, seems premature.

As @MXFan has noted, and others can verify, there is no permit for a Supercharger at this location in the Fairfax County, Virginia FIDO database.

At the National Harbor Supercharger ribbon cutting, I heard the same plans about that location in Fairfax as @RobinMS70D did. I don't think Robin intended to infer that construction was imminent. Plans sometimes change. I've seen it happen to Superchargers that seemed to be a "sure thing." Sometimes plans have to be delayed. Delayed for years.

I've contributed info to @BlueShift in the past and started many Supercharger threads on the forum including:
Supercharger - Lexington, VA
Supercharger - Aberdeen, MD
Supercharger - Martinsburg, WV
Supercharger - Breezewood, PA
Supercharger - Laurel, MD
Supercharger - Wytheville, VA

I hope @BlueShift will reconsider the "permit" pin in Fairfax, VA until the locals find more solid evidence of a permit or actual construction.

Thanks @mrjwen and other locals for keeping watch on this location.

-Lanny

 

[obiwin]

A couple comments:

1.

Random details for travelers: if you're going westbound, and if it's open, the left-hand exit onto Monument Dr will save you lots of time getting to Fairfax Corner. It's HOV-only during rush hours, and it's only open in one direction at a time. There are signs before it, although you don't get much notice before you have to make a decision (Monument vs 50 West vs 50 East).

View attachment 251892 View attachment 251891

And if you're traveling eastbound, I don't think there's any way to know whether the ramp back onto I-66 East is open until you're on Monument Dr approaching the I-66 overpass:
View attachment 251894

Here's the official hours for when the Monument exit is open and in which direction:

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Systems

Exit ramps at Monument Drive and Stringfellow Road

• On weekdays, the ramps are open eastbound to HOV-2 traffic only from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and westbound to HOV-2 traffic only from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• The ramps are closed to all traffic from 5 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays for the directional switch.
• At all other times and throughout the weekend, the ramps are open westbound to all traffic.

From my personal experience recently, at least once on the Sunday of a daylight savings time change, the timing was wrong, and did not adjust until Monday, so my guess is that perhaps they have to change the timing manually.


2. For what it's worth, Fairfax County has a reputation for taking at least 3 to 5 months approving permits (based on 2 general contractor friends of mine and my own recent home renovation plans), so I was dubious that this would be completed by the end of 2017 based on RobinMS70D's comment from the National Harbor ribbon cutting that they had not yet finalized the location as of early October, so I figured if they had not yet finalized the actual placement by then, permit wasn't going to be approved in time for it to be finished by the end of 2017. My personal guess based on this assumption is that if they finalized location selection at some point in October, it was more likely going to be sometime in the late Jan to April 2018 time frame for the permit to be approved. Of course, I was hopeful I was wrong, and that they would indeed finish in time. There's no worse hope than false hope I guess.

 

[Chuq]

I'm not fussed if the dot stays either way; I was just going by the standards used for many other locations. "Permit" status has been used to represent any location which is known or planned but construction has not started. It has drawn people browsing supercharge.info into this thread so has had a positive effect anyway.
Quick way to end the speculation - get back in touch with the original source and re-confirm!

 

[MXFan]

I’m sure it varies by country, but in the US construction cannot begin until the permit is submitted and approved ... and so far there has been no permit application submitted.

Supercharge.info likes to track time from approved permit to end of construction, so yes marking it as “permit” does seem premature.

Perhaps @BlueShift can weigh in on this.

 

[boaterva]

My understanding is that the whole point of a permitted pin drop is to show people where a SuC is going to be. For sure. Locations based on 'what someone says' without a permit being filed are almost as useless as ones based on the random locations from the pins dropped on the town/city locations (which mean nothing at all except that one will be around here somewhere someday).

I vote for removing this until we have paperwork filed somewhere.

 

[emupilot]

There are cases where it has been considered enough evidence for supercharge.info if someone reported having talked to the manager at a mall or hotel or whatever and they confirmed that a lease was in place and superchargers were definitely coming. In this case, it appears that the location of the superchargers hasn't been settled yet, which means there probably isn't a lease yet (at least as of the original report).

 

[Big Earl]

I scouted out both Fair Oaks Mall and the Fairfax Corner shopping center yesterday. As mentioned upthread, the construction fence near Ruth’s Chris is related to building renovations, with workers actively using the site. I saw no construction activity or survey markings anywhere in either area that would indicate the beginnings of a Supercharger site.

That said, the section of parking lot where that fenced area is seems to be the ideal location for a Supercharger site. It’s a bit away from the madness of the stores and the easiest spot to access from the major thoroughfares. I was also wondering if Tesla might be considering an Urban Supercharger installation in the parking garage, although I didn’t drive through it for a look.

 

[obiwin]

I happened to drive by this again a couple nights ago and the construction fencing I previously saw is no longer there, and sadly, no Superchargers .

 

[tangent]

I saw constructions around Lord & Taylor's parking lot in Fair Oaks, and I wonder if that could be a candidate site similar to Washingtonian Center.

 

[boaterva]

I was at Fair Oaks recently and I didn’t see any likely construction. I believe the only construction is the first (upper) floor of the old Sears complex which is being converted into two restaurants (I believe). Nothing on the L&T side at all that I could see.

I’d really pull this pin.

 

[MXFan]

@BlueShift please remove the permit pin for Fairfax as there is no permit yet.

 

[Big Earl]

@BlueShift please remove the permit pin for Fairfax as there is no permit yet.

As a few members discussed upthread, the permit pin was placed based on a conversation with the property owners at the opening of the National Harbor Supercharger. Unfortunately, that was quite some time ago and we haven’t received any new information since then.

 

[tangent]

I might have overlooked before, but I notice there is an indication on Tesla's website that Tysons would have superchargers soon.

 

[MXFan]

I’ve been tracking both Tyson’s and Fairfax. No permit for either yet.

 

[boaterva]

Yeah, there’s all this good stuff that was originally supposed to be done in 2017.