With Thanksgiving nearing, are you planning on staying in the area or going away for the holiday?
According to AAA Mid-Atlantic, nearly 1.35 million people living in the D.C. area are expected to travel during the upcoming holiday period around 50 miles or more away from home.
About 91% of all D.C. area travelers will travel by car, compared to 7% traveling by air, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.
For people staying — or coming — here, forecasters predict the weather will be partly cloudy.
Let Tysons Reporter know what your travel plans are for the holiday weekend.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
Updated 11/21/19 — Corrects location’s hours.
Virginia Tire and Auto recently rolled into Tysons with a brand new location.
The auto repair shop is now open at 2055 Chain Bridge Road, the former Merchant’s Tire and Auto Centers, a spokesperson for the company said. The 11-bay facility will be open from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
“It is especially meaningful to now have two Virginia Tire and Auto locations in our hometown,” Mike Holmes, the co-CEO of Virginia Tire and Auto with his wife, said in a press release. “Given that we live in Vienna, we’ve had a front-row view of the rapid transformation of Tysons.”
Earlier this year, Virginia Tire and Auto opened a location in Vienna at 141 Maple Avenue.
To celebrate the opening, the auto repair shop is offering an oil change special at the Tysons spot through Dec. 31.
Fairfax County police are investigating a burglary at the Stohlman Automotive Subaru in Tysons.
The incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. on Sunday (Nov. 11) at the 8433 Leesburg Pike.
“Someone broke into the dealership and stole a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta,” police said.
Image via Google Maps
Vienna police are looking for the suspect(s) who damaged several vehicles around town — and also “ripped branches” from a tree.
“A citizen stated they were driving down Nutley Street when someone threw something over a fence in the area of Roland Street, leaving scratches on their vehicle,” police said.
Police said they did not find anyone in the area, but did find branches and a large rock in the road. “They also observed a tree where it appeared someone ripped branches from it. “
The incident occurred around 2 a.m. at Courthouse Road and Roland Street SW on Friday, Aug. 30.
In the last 10 days, the police received four other reports of damage to vehicles.
A man reported to the police that someone damaged his vehicle in the 700 block of Meadow Lane SW while he was visiting a friend on Friday, Aug. 30, night.
The Vienna resident said that someone threw paint on her car in the 500 block of Yeonas Drive SW between 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31, and 9 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1.
“The resident was able to clean the paint off before notifying the police,” according to the police report.
On Labor Day (Sept. 2), a Vienna resident told police that someone had “tampered with” his vehicle in the 200 block of PArk Terrace Court SE. “An officer examined the vehicle but found no evidence indicating that anyone had done anything to the vehicle,” police said.
Last Tuesday (Sept. 3), a Vienna resident said that his son left his vehicle parked on Windover Avenue by James Madison Drive NW while he was in school and then found the vehicle damaged.
Photo via Facebook
The unofficial end of summer is approaching with Labor Day coming up this weekend.
Drivers can expect moderate to heavy congestion between noon-6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, and Monday, Sept. 2, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
On Monday, HOV restrictions will be lifted on I-66 and I-395 and rush hour tolls on the 66 Express Lanes Inside the Beltway.
“With nearly 100 million Americans embarking on getaways with family this summer, and with 33% of Americans indicating they would go on at least one additional road trip, if gas prices remained low, which is occurring, odds are millions are packing up their cars for their final summertime excursion this Labor Day,” according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration expects 263 million passengers and crew to pass through security checkpoints nationwide from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
Whether you’re hopping on a plane, speeding away in a train, hitting the roads or staying local, Tysons Reporter wants to know your Labor Day weekend travel plans.
Tysons company Urgent.ly has sparked national attention after its recent partnerships with Uber, Volvo and Amazon.
Its partnerships with Uber, Volvo and Amazon were all formed within the last year, but the company is still focused on outward expansion Chris Spanos, the co-founder and CEO, told Tysons Reporter.
“I think it’s important for people to know we have the largest digitally connected network in the U.S.,” Spanos said.
Urgent.ly is a roadside assistance app that works on-demand with standardized pricing — no subscription needed.
Uber’s and Volvo’s partnerships allow their companies to receive rewards for roadside assistance including discounts, while growing Urgent.ly’s userbase and aligning them with well-known brands, according to the company’s website.
With Amazon, users can order Urgent.ly roadside assistance through Alexa.
The company was co-founded in 2013 by Spanos and five other colleagues. They used to gather at the McLean coffee shop Star Nut Gourmet for brainstorming sessions until they moved onto a permanent office, Spanos said.
Since Urgent.ly’s founding, the company has hired 250 employees, opened several offices throughout the U.S. and also began offering roadside service internationally. The company’s recent growth nabbed it the #12 spot on the 2019 Inc. 5000Â national rankings as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.
“Our international strategy so far is to license our technology to players in those markets who operate a service directly,” Spanos said.
Though no subscription is needed to use the app, the company is offering a discounted $50 yearly membership that gives users access to discounts and free services like jumpstarts or lockout services.
Looking to the future, Spanos said he will watch for upcoming technology and may eventually offer roadside service for technology beyond traditional vehicles. “It’s fascinating to have a look into the future and how we may be receiving our packages.”
He said that he thinks drones and robots delivering packages may be a reality in the near future and that a company — like Urgent.ly — will need to fix them when they break on the job.
Though he couldn’t give specifics about future partnerships, he said that the company is looking to build alliances with early-stage companies exploring new technologies, like drone and robot deliveries.
“That’s where we see the next five years,” said Spanos.
Image courtesy Urgent.lyÂ
Fairfax County police are investigating a burglary at the Koons Tysons Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram dealership in Tysons.
The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday (Aug. 22) at 2050 Chain Bridge Road.
“A suspect broke into the business and stole cash,” police said.
Image via Google Maps
Jim Koons Automotive is expanding its car dealership near the Spring Hill Metro station.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the expansion plans on Tuesday (July 30) on the north side of Leesburg Pike right below the Dulles Toll Road.
The two-phase development would convert a 73,000-square-foot warehouse into vehicle storage and offices for the dealership, reconfigure a parking lot and allow for a second dealership franchise.
“The warehouse was once showroom space for an Ourisman dealership on the site, but Koons acquired the property in a $19.4 million land deal in 2016, according to county records,” the Washington Business Journal reported.
Koons is one of the D.C. area’s largest car dealers and has two other Tysons locations in addition to the Koons Tysons Toyota at the 8600 block of Leesburg Pike, WBJ noted.
According to the county’s staff report:
Auto sales and retail uses are the predominant land uses along Leesburg Pike, along with one high-rise office building. This area is developed and planned for auto sales and retail uses, as well as portions developed and planned for office use with support [from existing] retail and service uses.
“This proposal will improve the appearance and repurpose an aged building that is located along Leesburg Pike in Tysons with minimal site disturbance,” Lynne Strobel, an attorney representing Koons, told the board.
Image via Fairfax County
Fairfax County police arrested three people in connection with a burglary at a Maserati dealership in Tysons.
The incident occurred shortly after midnight Thursday (Aug. 1) at 8448 Leesburg Pike.
More from FCPD:
Officers responded to a report of several suspects that were seen inside a dealership. The suspects ran when officers arrived. Two suspects were immediately caught by officers and a third suspect was caught with the assistance of a police K9.
Police arrested and charged an 18-year-old man from D.C. with burglary and destruction of property. “Two juveniles face similar charges,” police said.
In a separate incident, more Infiniti cars were stolen from the Infiniti dealer at 8527 Leesburg Pike around 4 a.m. on Wednesday (July 31).
“Someone broke into the business and stole a 2015 Infinity QX60 and a 2009 Infinity FX35,” according to police.
The dealership also had a 2012 Infiniti QX 56 and a 2008 Infiniti M35 stolen on Thursday, July 25, and a 2011 Infiniti G35 and a 2010 Infiniti FX35 taken in June.
Image via Google Maps
Fairfax County police are looking for whoever stole two Infiniti cars from a Tysons car dealership after a burglary in June.
The incident occurred around 1 a.m. on Thursday, July 25, at the Infiniti dealer (8527 Leesburg Pike).
“Someone broke into the building and stole a 2012 Infiniti QX 56 and a 2008 Infiniti M35,” according to the crime report. Police said both cars were found in D.C.
Back in June, someone stole a 2011 Infiniti G35 and a 2010 Infiniti FX35 from the same dealership around the same time in the morning, police said.
In a separate incident on the same day last week, police said someone broke into Caliber Collision (1572 Spring Hill Road) and stole keys around 12:30 a.m. — making it the second time burglary this month at the auto body repair and paint shop.
Image via Google Maps