Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia (NoVA) is a region in the
U.S. state of
Virginia consisting of
Arlington,
Fairfax,
Fauquier,
Loudoun,
Prince William, and
Stafford 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 diverse and wealthy and is the richest area in
Virginia.
2 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:
* 66%
White* 11%
Hispanic* 11%
Black* 9%
Asian* 3% mixed race.
Despite being the home of
The Pentagon and well over 100 defense contracting companies, Northern Virginia is becoming known for being more
liberal in its voting patterns than the rest of Virginia, which is generally considered to be
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. This contrasted with the rest of Virginia, where 43% of voted for John Kerry and 56% 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 since
Johnson national lanslide in 1964 (although now the county is almost consistently voting Democratic). 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 have increased in population they have also become more liberal. In 2005 65% of the voters of Northern Virginia voted for Democrat
Tim Kaine for governor over
Jerry Kilgore, who received only 32% of the vote, easily 14 points lower than George W. Bush's showing only a year earlier.
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). All three districts have moved toward the Democratic Party in recent years, though the Republicans Wolf and Davis have not yet seen serious threats to their seats.
In the 2005 Gubernatorial election, the entire region continued to move away from the Republicans. Fairfax County, Arlington County, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax City, and Falls Church, and for the first time, Loudoun County and Prince William County, went to
Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate. The area continued to be more Democratic the closer it was to
Washington, D.C., but Richmond native Kaine was able to accomplish what Northern Virginian
Mark Warner had been unable to do just four years earlier in 2001: carry Loudoun County and Prince William County (as well as win over 60% of the vote in Fairfax County).
In 2006, Democrat Mark Herring swept every precinct in the 33rd state Senate District Tuesday, Jan. 31, en route to beating Republican Loudoun County Supervisor Mick Staton by a wide margin of 62 to 38 percent, evidencing Loudoun's transformation into a liberal county. The district sits primarily in Loudoun County but also includes nine precincts in western Fairfax County: Floris, Fox Mill, Frying Pan, McNair, Franklin, Kinross, Navy, Lees Corner East and Lees Corner West.
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. and the
BosWash megalopolis, as well as the fact that more
urban areas in Virginia tend to have more frequent migration and mixing of cultures.
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, such as the
Eden Center.
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 National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna.
Nissan Pavilion and the
Verizon Center serve as popular concert venues and Verizon 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 Route 123, carries higher-end stores. Other malls include Springfield Mall,
Fair Oaks Mall, and
The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City.
Dulles Town Center is the region's newest mall and serves the eastern Loudoun County area.
Reston Town Center is a high-density mixed-use retail, commercial, and residential development located just off the 267 Toll Road in
Reston.
Potomac Mills is also one of the largest outlet malls in the region and is located in Prince William County. The
Town of Leesburg, in
Loudoun County, is locally famous for its
outlet mall, Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets.
Fairfax County has 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, having grown by almost 50% from 2000 though 2005. Since the 2000 census, both counties have been listed in census estimates among the top 5
Highest-income counties in the United States by median household income.
The area has two major airports,
Ronald Reagan Washington 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 (now defunct)
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. Metro 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
U.S. Route 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. (Also see
slugging.)
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].
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 government/defense contractors due to proximity to
the Pentagon and the national capital.
The Federal government is a major employer in Northern Virginia, which is home to numerous government agencies; for example,
CIA headquarters and the Pentagon (headquarters of the Department of Defense) are located there. All of this tends to shield Northern Virginia from the effects of recession.
After the giant retail centers such as
Potomac Mills and
Tysons Corner, the sites which attract the greatest numbers of visitors are Washington, D.C., and Civil War battlefields. Outdoor recreational amenities such as biking and running trails, whitewater and sea kayaking, and rock climbing areas are focused along the Potomac River, but are also found at other locations (
List of parks in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.)
Woodbridge is home to two minor-league sports franchises, the
Northern Virginia Royals soccer team and the
Potomac Nationals baseball team.
*
Northern Virginia trolleys*
Northern Virginia Regional Commission*
Prince William Conservation Alliance*
Northern Virginia - Official State Tourism Website & Map*
Fairfax Underground - a message board designed to improve communication between residents of Northern Virginia
*
Fairfax Crime - a crime map of most of Northern Virginia and sex offender locations
*Melton, R.H.:
Voters Reject Roads Tax: Defeat Is a Major Loss for Gov. Warner, The Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2002.
