Northern Virginia
Categories: Virginia geography
Northern Virginia is an area in the northeastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
It consists of Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park. Together with Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland and West Virginia, it makes up the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country.
The Northern Virginia area forms part of the Virginia portion of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA, a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Northern Virginia as a whole is very wealthy and the richest area in Virginia.
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Demographics
1.9 million people (about 1/4th of Virginia's total population) live in Northern Virginia.
The racial breakdown of the population of Northern Virginia is as follows:
Politics
Despite being the home of The Pentagon and well over 100 defense contracting companies, Northern Virginia is becoming known for being more moderate in its voting patterns than the rest of Virginia, which is more conservative.
In the 2004 presidential elections, 53% of Northern Virginia voters voted for John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, and 46% voted for George W. Bush, the Republican candidate. However, in the rest of Virginia, only 43% of voters voted for John Kerry and 56% voted for George Bush. Kerry also carried Fairfax County, the most populous county in Virginia, and Fairfax City, the first time those jurisdictions had voted Democratic in 40 years. The strongest support in the area for the Democrats lies inside the Beltway, in Arlington, Alexandria, and parts of Fairfax County. The more distant areas (i.e., Loudoun County and Prince William County) are generally more conservative though as they increase in population they are also becoming more moderate.
The 8th, the 10th, and the 11th congressional districts lie within Northern Virginia. The 8th district votes overwhelmingly Democratic while the other two districts generally elect Republican congressmen but by smaller margins. The current congressman from the 8th district is Jim Moran (D), the current congressman from the 10th district is Frank Wolf (R), and the current congressman from the 11th district is Tom Davis (R).
Culture
Northern Virginia is widely considered to be more Northern in its culture than the rest of Virginia. This can be attributed to the movement of Northerners to the area and its location near Washington D.C.
Northern Virginia's population is ethnically diverse with significant number of Pakistani-Americans, Indian-Americans, Korean-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, Salvadoran, Peruvian, Bolivian, Somali and Ethiopian immigrants. There are large numbers of restaurants, and international food of nearly any type is easy to find. Immigrants have established many shops and many in ethnic centers.
Due to the proximity to the capital, many Northern Virginians go to Washington D.C. for cultural outings. The Kennedy Center is a popular place for performances as is Wolf Trap Park in Vienna. Nissan Pavilion and the MCI Center serve as popular concert venues and MCI Center also serves as the home of sporting events. Smithsonian museums also serve as local cultural institutions with easy proximity to Northern Virginia and the new Udvar-Hazy center of the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport is popular as well.
Tysons Corner Center ("Tysons I") is one of the largest malls in the country and is a hub for shopping in the area. Tysons Galleria ("Tysons II"), its counterpart across Dolly Madison Boulevard, carries higher-end stores. Other malls include Springfield Mall, Fair Oaks Mall, and The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. Reston Town Center and Dulles Town Center serve the newer suburbs near Reston and eastern Loudoun county and are different from traditional malls. Potomac Mills is also one of the largest malls in the region and is located in Prince William County. Leesburg, in Loudoun County, is locally famous for its outlet mall, Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets.
Fairfax County is the second-richest county in the nation with an outstanding public school system, including Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, an award-winning magnet school. Since the mid-1990s, Loudoun County has become known as America's fastest-growing county.
Transportation
The area has two major airports, Washington Reagan National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. While flights from the older National Airport are restricted for distance, frequency, and flight paths due to the proximity to federal facilities, Dulles is the fastest-growing airport in the world, and as of this writing is number five in terms of aircraft movement. In recent years it has become a major center for low-cost flights as it is the primary hub of Independence Air as well as a major hub for jetBlue, Ted, and others.
Commuters are served by the Washington Metro subway and the Virginia Railway Express, a commuter railroad. It is the second-busiest subway system in the nation; only New York City's subway system carries more passengers. A planned expansion project will, if built, extend the system past Dulles Airport. Bus service is provided by WMATA's Metrobus and many local jurisdictions also provide bus service.
Major highways include interstates 495 (Capital Beltway), 95, 395, and 66; US routes 1, 29, and 50; and local routes Fairfax County Parkway and Franconia-Springfield Parkway. High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are used for commuters and buses in I-66 and I-95/395.
Northern Virginia suffers from severe road congestion. The congestion consistently ranks with Los Angeles, California and San Francisco, California as one of the worst three areas in the nation. To alleviate gridlock, local governments encourage using Metro, HOV, carpooling, and other forms of mass transportation. The conditions are only getting worse, however, as the population skyrockets. The roads are one of the biggest local issues. The current reconstruction of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge near Alexandria on the portion of the Capital Beltway which also carries Interstate 95 into Maryland will double the traffic lanes at that particular bottleneck area. Several public-private partnership proposals to increase capacities of the Beltway and Interstate 95 south of Springfield to be funded through collection of tolls are under consideration by VDOT. On November 5, 2002, voters rejected a referendum to raise the sales tax to pay for transportation improvements[1]. The measure was criticized as a subsidy for developers, who would merely build more houses along the new roads and add to the congestion[2].
Economy
In recent years, Northern Virginia has become so filled with technology companies that it is often referred to as the "Silicon Valley of the East." The best-known of these technology companies is AOL. This economic boom has attracted many people from outside the region, from all over the country and throughout the world. The region has recovered relatively quickly from the effects of the dot com bubble.
It also is a desirable spot for defense contractors because of the Pentagon and the proximity to the national capital.
The Federal government is a large employer in Northern Virginia and Northern Virginia is also home to several government agencies such as the CIA and the Pentagon, headquarters of the Department of Defense. The Federal Government helps to prevent Northern Virginia from feeling the effects of recessions.
The Northern Virginia Royals USL soccer team calls Woodbridge home.
External link
Reference
- Melton, R.H.: Voters Reject Roads Tax: Defeat Is a Major Loss for Gov. Warner, The Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2002.