Advocates for the county’s newest zombie road, an extension of Van Buren Road, want the $70 million road project approved by next year.
Members of “Van Buren Now,” a citizen group organized on Facebook and represented at Tuesday’s Prince William Board of County Supervisors by Montclair resident Heather Paige, aims to put pressure on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to extend Van Buren Road from Route 234 near Interstate 95 in Dumfries east to Benita Fitzgerald and Cardinal drives in Dale City.
The new road would run parallel to I-95 and would ease traffic on busy Waterway Drive in the nearby Montclair neighborhood. The street was the site of an August 17 fire truck crash that injured the fire crew aboard.
The 2.7-mile project was axed from a $355 million proposed road bond earlier this summer. The project was deemed too expensive, and the retirement community it would be built next to, Four Seasons, fought the project. Similar to plans for a Bi-County Parkway, the road is now a zombie road.
“We will only grow more vocal. No more excuses,” said Paige.
Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan lives in Four Seasons and pushed for the construction of a sound wall to protect the neighborhood. She was a longtime resident of Montclair before moving to Four Seasons.
She told Potomac Local the Van Buren project may resurface in future Board of Supervisors discussions. She’s retiring from the Board of Supervisors on December 31.
The two people running to replace her — Andrea Bailey and Douglass Taggart — have made Van Buren Road campaign issues and have held recent meetings about the issue at the Montclair Neighborhood Library.
