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This afternoon I noticed the Herndon Observer in our driveway. As a child I always loved reading the Observer as it made me feel like I had a small town with which to connect in the middle of the sprawling suburbia that is the Metro DC Area. The Observer just recently began delivering to our neighborhood. I look forward to reading it each week.

As I scanned the front page a picture caught my eye:I hurriedly turned to page five and read the article. From the article:

Bowman's Furniture Company will soon close its doors in order for the commonwealth to finish widening Centreville Road. The store is located along a portion of Centreville Road where it merges into a single-lane road, and the shop received a notice Tuesday, Oct. 31, that it must close within 90 days.

Curtis Holdaway, owner of Bowman's Furniture, said he had known about the construction project since 1989, but he expected to receive at least six months notice of the closure.

For the past 10 years one stretch of Centreville Road, where it narrows from six lanes to two then opens back up to six lanes a half a mile later, has been a major bottleneck to traffic traveling from the Toll Road down to Franklin Farms and Chantilly. The county has long planned to widen the road, but the land that Bowman's Furniture sits on is needed for the project to move forward. For whatever reason, the store has remained and traffic suffered. As I rarely see customers, I've wondered how they have stayed in business. I'm all for local business - small businesses are a major part of our economy. But Bowman's Furniture is an eyesore. The building is run down, the windows are filled with junk, and the lot is run down. To some, it may be missed.

But as for me, I'm looking forward to the six lane road.