A $14 million plan to expand the Mine Road Commuter Lot while the one across the street goes underutilized

STAFFORD — It would cost $35,000 a parking space to expand the Mine Road Commuter Lot in North Stafford. 

Officials are looking at securing federal monies for the project to add 400 more spaces there via Smart Scale, a statewide initiative that requires localities to submit requests for transportation funding, which are then scored on a rubric that examines project merit and need.

Stafford officials last year failed to get the $14 million it would need to expand the lot, but will keep trying to win funds in future Smart Scale funding rounds.

The new parking lot would be located on a plot of land next to the existing lot, behind a small strip business center this is home to Studio G Salon, among other businesses.

The commuter lot is operating above capacity. All of the lot’s existing 740 spaces are full, with room for about 20 more vehicles parked outside designated spaces. 

However, the Staffordboro Commuter Lot just across Route 610 remains underutilized. About 75% of the 1,863 spaces are being used there. 

A $13 million project to add 1,000 spaces at the lot, as well as improvements to Juggins Road was completed about two years ago.

And it’s the only underutilized commuter lot. Every other commuter lot in Stafford County has open spaces. 

Elected leaders on Stafford’s Transportation and Infrastructure committee are concerned with expanding the Mine Road lot, which sits in the urbanest area in Stafford. 

Garrisonville District Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer said it might be a better idea to focus funds on commuter lots in the southern section of the county that could be utilized by commuters who would use the I-95 Express Lanes which will soon-be-extended to Route 17.

The idea would be to catch more commuters in those lots before they get to North Stafford. 

Others are worried about taking up valuable land and would like to explore the possibility of building parking decks versus sprawling lots. 

“They’re building a parking garage north of here,” said Aquia District Supervisor Cindy Shelton, referring to a $137 million parking garage slated to be built somewhere in Woodbridge, funded with SmartScale monies. 

When it comes to parking at Virginia Railway Express stations in the county, those who use the Leeland Road station are frustrated by the lack of parking there. 

That parking lot is over capacity, and county officials are also looking at a $5 million expansion of that lot that would be built on county-owned land next to the existing Leeland Road lot.