PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Route 28 is called the most congested road in Northern Virginia.
And now, the effort to fix it could wind up being the most expensive transportation project in Prince William County’s history.
In a major project, Godwin Drive just outside Manassas City would be extended from its intersection with Sudley Road (Route 234), north and over the Bull Run to connect with Route 28, just inside Fairfax County.
Prince William County has requested $145 million from Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) to fund the extension project, but that doesn’t cover the full cost. The county still needs at least $55 to $60 million, and it could come from the state’s Commonwealth Transportation Board.
The $145 million from the NVTA will come from a larger pot of $1.5 billion that the authority will award for local transportation projects. The Godwin Drive extended / Route 28 bypass project competes with projects from other Northern Virginia counties, towns, and cities, all of which have submitted their own projects in hopes the authority will fund them.
Manassas, Manassas Park, and Prince William County officials agree on the need for an improved Route 28.
The NVTA will announce which projects made the cut in June.
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors this month have the final go-ahead to request the funds from the NVTA.
Rick Canizales, Prince William County Transportation Department Director tells us:
“This is the second time the Board has seen this list of projects for the NVTA. They saw it initially in December, before we applied, and then with the finalized list in January.
They have the finalized list. That list now goes to be scored to make sure that these projects are correct. And they’re all competing for funding for projects across Northern Virginia.”
The projects from all jurisdictions are reviewed and analyzed and then come back with what NVTA feels like it could fund after its scoring system analyzes and looks at what projects add traffic capacity, and improve traffic flow.
Canizales says:
“The big priority that the county has is the Route 28 bypass. We’re asking for additional funding monies to be able to complete that environmental document, and then we’re also asking for money to start to design construction right away. Our request for that project is about $145 million, so that is a big ask of the NVTA, and that still does not cover the whole project.”
It is a big ask, potentially the biggest yet. If NVTA approves the finds, it will be.
Here are the most expensive transportation projects managed by the Prince William County Department of Transportation to date:
6. Route 15 in Haymarket $50 million
- Old Carolina Road to I-66
- Dominion Valley Drive to Waterfall Road
- Heathcote Boulevard to Old Carolina Road
5. Prince William Parkway construction $58 million
- Minnieville Road to I-95
- Liberia Avenue extension — Liberia to Dumfries Road (Route 234)
- Extension from York Drive to Route 1
- Old Bridge Road to Minnieville Road
- Minnieville Road intersection improvements
4. Balls Ford Road widening $67 million
- Widen Balls Ford Road from Groveton Road to Sudley Road (Route 234)
3. Route 28 improvements (in construction now west of Manassas)
- Phase 1: Linton Hall Road to Vint Hill Road
- Phase 2: Fitzwater Drive to Vint Hill Road
- Phase 3: Linton Hall Road to Pennsylvania Avenue
- Vint Hill Road extension from Sudley Manor Drive to Glen Gary Drive
2. Balls Ford Road Interchange Diverging Diamond project (soon to begin) $145 million
- New interchange at Prince William Parkway (Route 234) and Balls Ford Road
- Realign and widen Balls Ford Road from Doane Drive to Devlin Road
1. Route 1 improvements $174 million
- Neabsco Mills Road to Featherstone Road
- Featherstone Road to Marys Way
A feasibility study for the bypass has already been completed. “Godwin Drive extended,” at the time the most preferred of the four and four potential routes, dubbed “alternatives” were presented to the public last fall.
A new environmental impact study, or EIS, will examine the Godwin extended route, as well as the other three, to identify what potential impacts these projects could have on the surrounding environment. The route for a new bypass will be selected once the EIS is completed.
“We’re moving all those alternatives over to this study. We’re looking at them, making sure we follow all the federal guidelines for all the federal requirements that need to be done there and be able to complete and come out with a preferred alternative that I think we will be designing.”
“Some [of the four] alternatives are as low as $180 million, some are as high as $250 million. So, right now until we finish, we won’t have a straight handle on this. But this is a six-year plan, so we do have to plan ahead and make sure that we have the funding available to us when we get to that point of the project.”
Though it’s a big project, Canizales says his department can handle it.
“Over $40 million is a big project. It’s a new alignment, a new road. We have tackled new roads before, as you know.
The county built the Prince William County Parkway, and we did that on a new alignment. If you remember, we were going to use Davis Ford Road, but we decided to step away from that and do the alignment that we did to Liberia. There was a whole bridge crossing [over the Occoquan River]. There’s going to be a couple of bridge crossings [with Godwin Drive extended, over Bull Run], so we have had the experience of doing this kind of scale project.”
As you know, I just got awarded the Balls Ford Road widening [project]. So, we are here, ready and able to do mega projects and we are ready to tackle all of them.”
