One westbound lane on Hospital Center Boulevard will close near Route 1 in Stafford County for 24 hours a day next week for pavement repairs as part of the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project.
Crews are working near the Route 1 and Hospital Center Boulevard intersection to install new utility lines and build the sign foundations for the future access point to the express lanes at exit 140 (Courthouse Road).
In encouraging traffic news, the Stafford County Infrastructure Committee received news from the Virginia Department of Transportation that two major road projects are on track for completion -- one set to be done on time and another ahead of schedule.
One project, the Interstate 95 Southbound Rappahannock River Crossing project is expected to be completed ahead of schedule, according to Virginia Department of Transportation Mega Projects Engineer Robert Ridgell. The project involved constructing three new lanes from Exit 133, at Route 17 to milepost 130, at Route 3, separating local and long-distance traffic.
The project which began in August 2018 was originally scheduled to be completed in May 2022 but is now on track for an early completion for December 2021. VDOT plans to make traffic switches to the new lanes in September with the new Route 17 bridges, plans are also being outlined for major traffic shifting upon the projected completion of the bridge in December.
Ridgell also says the committee that an I-95 Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing Project, on the opposite side of the highway from the southbound portion of the project, is on schedule to meet its May 2024 completion deadline. Construction on the project began in October 2020 which involved constructing three new lanes from Fall Hill Avenue, just south of the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg to Exit 133 at Route 17 in Stafford County, which will also separate local and long-distance traffic.
A new fourth lane will also be constructed from Route 17 to Centreport Parkway, near the Stafford Regional Airport. A pedestrian crossing being constructed under I-95 at Route 17.
The "Fred-Express" ramp, part of the extension of the I-95 E-ZPass toll lanes, is on track for its scheduled completion in October, said Ridgell.
A 35-year-old man is behind bars in connection with car theft and the subsequent car fire that took place in December.
Aggravated Malicious Wounding | Grand Larceny Auto | Arson Investigation *ARREST – On June 8, the suspect wanted in connection to the vehicle theft that was reported to have occurred in the 14100 block of Minnieville Rd. in Woodbridge (22193) on December 11, was arrested. The suspect, Martinez Juan ROBERTSON, was located and taken into custody by members of the Fairfax County Police Department.
Two new career and technical programs are set to debut in Stafford County’s sixth high school, opening in 2025.
On Tuesday, the county’s School Board heard a recommendation to place aviation maintenance and advanced manufacturing programs at the new school, which will be located in Hartwood, in the southwestern portion of the county.
Starting next week, you’re going to once again be able to cozy up to your neighbor while riding an OmniRide bus.
The transit agency says:
Parking spaces inside the Georgetown South neighborhood in Manassas are at a premium.
The city has distributed nearly 2,800 parking permits to neighborhood residents that have requested them. The problem: There are just 1,750 parking spaces in the neighborhood, located near the city’s downtown.
Stafford County has run into another stumbling block when it comes to its redistricting efforts this year.
The county’s Board of Supervisors was to vote on a resolution that would replace a series of committee meetings with a pre-redistricting public information session. The move was designed to make the mandatory political redistricting process more inclusive.
County residents face a major redistricting effort as officials look to redraw the seven political districts used to set voting precincts and to guarantee equal representation on the Board of Supervisors and School Board. In February, the county had planned to host a series of committee meetings with a select group of county residents to assist in the redistricting process.
However, the county has experienced unprecedented delays in receiving the data from the 2020 Census, which is used to not changes in population and demographics.
Multiple residents spoke on the matter and balked at the thought of opening up the process to the community in a town hall meeting format. Many asked the Board to reconsider, saying the change believing it to be a "backward step in transparency and inclusion."
Ironically, it's the exact opposite of what was intended by the resolution.
State law requires redistricting to occur every 10 years, where political districts are redrawn, taking into account changes in population. They were last redrawn in 2010, and the pandemic forced officials to delay the redistricting process to 2021.
In response, the board decided to defer the decision at the suggestion of Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings. The Board decided to defer until the next meeting to make a further look into the resolution.
While the board members were open to the deferral, some took issue with implications made by residents during the public comment time.
Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke took exception to the idea that replacing the series of committee meetings with a town hall meeting is an attempt to close off transparency in the redistricting effort and keep it behind closed doors. Boehmke mentioned that the only meetings held behind closed doors were subjects that required the Board to have closed meetings.
In recent months, closed meeting topics have included the county’s recent legal, including the legal issues raised with a federal lawsuit involving the issues with the All-Muslim Association of America and a cemetery site in North Stafford. Personelle matters and bargaining positions are also regularly discussed behind closed doors, allowed by state law.
The delayed 2020 U.S. Census has hampered the redistricting effort in Stafford County. Data from the decennial census, also delayed by the pandemic, has yet to be passed down to the county, making any decisions based on hard data difficult, officials said.
The Board will question whether to keep the stakeholders or go with the public information session at their next meeting on June 15.
Publisher's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a statement about the county's legal issues with the All-Muslim Association of America to Supervisor Meg Bohmke.
Commercial Burglary – On June 8 at 8:42 a.m., officers responded to the Glass City Tobacco Store located at 7600 Gardner Park Dr. in Gainesville (20155) to investigate a burglary. When the owner of a nearby business arrived in the area that morning, he observed the front glass door of the store was damaged and immediately contacted the police. The video surveillance footage revealed that two unknown individuals used an object to shatter the glass front door before entering the store. Vaporizers were reported missing.
Police did not release the video footage.
