Prince William County’s newest high school will won’t be located on the street residents had thought it would be.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted to change the address of the soon-to-be-built high school near Gainesville.
From county documents | The Thirteenth High School’s opening in September 2021, on the extension of Progress Court, will have a University Boulevard address when University Boulevard is extended southeast to Devlin Road.
Anticipating this change, Prince William County Schools has requested to change the name of Progress Court to University Boulevard. The renaming of the road to University Boulevard is practical since Progress Court is across Wellington Road from University Boulevard and the 2010 Comprehensive Plan shows University Boulevard continuous from Route 29 to Godwin Drive.
It is the recommendation of staff that the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) authorize the street name change to rename Progress Court to University Boulevard.
Progress Court intersects with Wellington Road and is an industrial area. As for University Boulevard, it’s been built across the western half of the county in sections. One section crosses Route 234 at the Science and Technolgy Campus of George Mason University near Manassas, while a second section links Devlin Road with Edmonston Drive in a residential neighborhood.
A third section links Wellington Road with Route 29 in Gainesville, and that’s the section on which the new school will open.
County voters approved a measure last fall that would allow county supervisors to borrow up to $355 million for the construction of new roads. County officials are not considering using the money to extend and ultimately link the two sections of street, said county transportation chief Rick Canizales.
Completion of the road is on the county’s comprehensive plan, adds Canizales.
The new high school will be built behind the Jiffy Lube Live concert venue.
Supervisors approved the change at their Jan. 7, 2020 meeting.
