DUMFRIES — Of the five road projects, totaling $355 million, that voters will have a say on this fall, the Van Buren Road extension wasn’t one of them.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors in June axed the $70 million project, which would have extended Van Buren from its intersection with Route 234 near Dumfries, to Cardinal Drive.
The new four-lane road would have served local drivers as a parallel route to Interstate 95 and would have eased traffic congestion on Waterway Drive in Montclair.
Residents in the Four Seasons neighborhood, where the road would have abutted, fought the extension despite promises that only a few trees would be cut down, and of a new sound wall to cut down on traffic noise.
“Van Buren Road is over,” said Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan. “That’s not to say it shouldn’t happen. It’s needed, and the county will get another crack at it.”
Whether that comes later in the form of another proposed road bond, or with funding from the state or Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, who knows.
But while Van Buren road may be “over,” talk about extending it certainly isn’t dead.
Douglas Taggart, the Republican who is seeking to replace Caddigan on the Board of County Supervisors will hold a meeting on the zombie project at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26 at the Montclair Library’s community room.
He’ll be there to listen to residents, some of whom live in Montclair and supported the extension, to get their take on how to best move the project forward. It’s not a campaign event, says Taggart, and no campaign materials will be distributed and no campaign donations accepted.
Taggart said he invited his opponent, Andrea Bailey to attend the meeting, too. However, she as unable to attend.
“Andrea has something personal that was scheduled back in spring for that evening. [On August 20] we had a Meet & Greet at the Montclair Library where Andrea engaged with residents of both Montclair and Four Seasons about the Van Buren extension and their traffic and road concerns. Their concerns were varied, and similar,” Bailey’s campaign manager Daniel Otto told Potomac Local.
The plan for the Van Buren Road extension was to build a nearly three-mile, four-lane road with a bike path and sidewalk, over the course of about six years. It was one of multiple proposed road bond projects that didn’t make the cut.
Voters will have their say on the projects that were selected for potential funding at the polls on November 5.
