County receives $33 million for four transportation projects

Prince William County recently received $33 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, or NVTA, to go toward four transportation projects across the county.

Prince William Supervisor Marty Nohe, who is also chairman of the authority, said Prince William County was primed to get the money because the NVTA looks for projects that are planned and ready for construction.

“Where it did make a difference, is that one of the major criteria is, has been, and will continue to be, project readiness. The authority is much more interested in funding projects for construction than they are in funding projects for planning,” Nohe was quoted as saying in a press release.. “Because we build our own roads, we had more projects that were ready to go. We had more projects in which the preliminary planning was done.”

The four projects that will receive funding are:

• U.S. 1 widening project between Featherstone Road and Marys Way, $3 million: The project is currently in the design phase. The road will be converted from a four-lane undivided road to a six-lane divided highway, which will include a multi-use trail on the west side and a sidewalk on the east side.

• VA Route 28 project from Linton Hall Road to Fitzwater Drive, $28 million: This project includes widening the road from a two-lane undivided road to a four-lane divided road; and the realignment of Vint Hill Road.

The Route 28 widening will include a multi-use trail on the south side with a sidewalk on the north side, while realigned Vint Hill will include multi-use trails on both sides of the new section of roadway.

This project has been planned for several years, and the County was to receive federal funding to complete these items. However, due to lack of federal funding in recent years, the project was delayed. The NVTA funding allows this entire project to be completed two years ahead of schedule. It is now scheduled to be complete in 2017.

• Virginia Railway Express, $1.5 million: Funding will be used for the preliminary development of a potential 11-mile Virginia Railway Express extension from Manassas to Gainesville to Haymarket.

• Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC), $559,275: PRTC received funding as reimbursement for the purchase of a Gainesville service commuter bus.

NVTA was created by the General Assembly as a regional body to address transportation and other issues in Northern Virginia. NVTA manages approximately $300 million annually in public funds for transportation projects designed to provide congestion relief throughout the region.

“Traffic jams don’t respect jurisdictions. A traffic accident in Arlington can back up traffic in Prince William County,” said Nohe. “Something that we’re very proud of across the authority is that the four counties and five cities across Northern Virginia have a long history of being able to work together. We have to go advocate for our share of the funding, but that isn’t difficult because the focus is on congestion relief and project readiness rather than being focused on statewide politics.”

For more information about NVTA, go to http://www.thenovaauthority.org For m.ore information about other transportation projects in Prince William County, visit http://www.pwcgov.org/transportation