WOODBRIDGE– Prince William County is trying to become a safer, more accessible place for all its residents by adding sidewalks and bicycle trails.
On Tuesday, “The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted to authorize the submission of the grant applications for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Program,” Paolo Belita, regional transportation planner for Prince William County, states in an email.
The county will apply for funds from the Virginia Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Program. They anticipate the results of the funding requests will be available in Spring 2019, according to Belita.
The county is requesting funds for two projects.
One is for $2.6 million to make improvements on the Prince William Parkway sidewalk from the Horner Road Commuter Lot to Summerland Drive in Woodbridge.
The county is also applying for $200,000 to make “pedestrian improvements on priority crash clusters identified by VDOT along the Lomond Drive, Old Bridge Road, and Sudley Road corridors.”
“These improvements are important to county residents because these types of projects support the goal of providing the community with an accessible, comprehensive, multi-modal network of transportation infrastructure that supports mobility, which is one of the strategic goals under the Prince William County Strategic Plan,” Belita said.
Residents could see all of these improvements start sometime after 2020 when full funding becomes available.
The county anticipates the Prince William Parkway project will take several years to complete, but the pedestrian safety upgrades along Lomond Drive, Old Bridge Road, and Sudley Road could be completed in as little as one year, according to Belita.
The grants the county is applying for come from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety program, part of the VDOT Highway Safety Improvement Program. The program uses federal funds to implement safety projects that address bicycle and pedestrian crashes.
“Projects target reduction in the number and severity of, or the risk of and exposure to crashes at or near locations, sections, and elements on any public road, pathway, or trails. In Virginia, a portion of this funding is allocated anywhere in the state for selection by VDOT on an annual basis,” Belita said.
