Interstate 95 travelers can expect overnight delays over the next two weeks in the Fredericksburg area for bridge work as part of the 95 E-ZPass Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension project.
Next week, crews will begin to lift and install bridge beams for a replacement American Legion Road overpass. This overpass is at mile marker 138 in Stafford County, which is between exit 140 (Courthouse Road) and exit 136 (Centreport Parkway).
Prince William County will spend $53 million on a new parking tower in Woodbridge.
On Tuesday, September 20, county leaders approved the final design for the seven-story, 1,400-space parking garage to sit between Wegmans grocery store and Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.
Ribbon cutting ceremony at Stafford Regional Airport [Photo: Rick Horner][/caption]
After 15 years of planning and negotiation, Stafford Regional Airport has completed its goal of extending its runway by 1,000 feet.
The airport held a ceremony in honor of the extension, which included the flight of a blue Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane, the first plane that flew from and touched down on the newly extended runway.
The ceremony included former and current members of its authority and various members of the Stafford County government and its board of supervisors.
"It's a monumental day. There are so many people that were involved in getting this project going. We had great leadership, and it was a big collaboration between the municipalities and the FAA on the state and national levels. It's a great combination of everyone coming together to see this happen." said John Eaves, the current chairman of the Airport Authority.
The goal of the extension, according to both Eaves and other members of the authority, was to allow for bigger planes to use the airport. The 1,000-foot extension will also lead to more fuel sales and a greater probability of economic development in the area due to the newly extended, now 6,000-foot runway.
The funding for the extension came from the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave $5.5 million to the airport in July 2021. That funding came from a larger pot of $14 million of transportation funding dedicated to Virginia airports. Construction on the extension would begin in June 2022 and finish in early September.
"We're very excited that the runway extension is complete and that the FAA was phenomenal in this since they paid for the entire expansion. This did not cost our taxpayers in Stafford County any money," said Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke.
Potomac Local News also spoke to Hank Schapenberg, who was also present at the ceremony and performed the ribbon-cutting duties. Scharfenberg has been a part of the Airport Authority since 2007 and was a vocal proponent of the runway extension when people thought, as Scharpenberg himself puts it "touching the third rail" on the matter.
"The airport can now function as a true economic driver, it can get businessmen in here from either the West Coast or Europe, take off again, and we know that's going to bring economic development," said Scharpenberg.
The next move for the airport, according to Schapenberg adding more T-hangers to house more planes. The airport also wants to pursue more corporate clients willing to park their aircraft at the airport.
The Stafford Regional Airport sits at 90 Aviation Way in Stafford, just off Centreport Parkway.
Construction is starting on Route 1 improvements at the entrance to the future U.S. Veterans Health Administration outpatient clinic under construction in Spotsylvania County.
The clinic is being built on a four-story, 450,000-square- foot facility built on a 48-acre site with extensive frontage along Route 1 at Hood Drive in Four Mile Fork.
The Prince William County Department of Transportation aims to build a seven-story, $53 million parking garage near Wegmans grocery store in Woodbridge.
The plan for the new structure dates back more than 10 years. Initially, planners said commuters would park at the garage during the day, while baseball fans would flock to it on nights at weekends to watch Minor League Baseball games at a newly-constructed stadium.
The public is invited to learn more about a project to modify the intersection of Route 3 and Orange Plank Road in Spotsylvania County to enhance safety and to provide comments on the proposed design.
The project seeks to improve guidance for motorists turning left from Route 3 westbound and to increase motorist sight distance. The project costs around $228,000 and would be funded through the federal High-Risk Rural Roads program.
Virginians who want to skip the check-in line at their next visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) are invited to schedule an appointment.
Earlier this year, DMV enhanced its operations to provide simultaneous walk-in and appointment services. Although customers are welcome to walk in at their convenience, scheduling an appointment for service saves time.
The City of Fredericksburg announced a major change to the traffic pattern on the one-way streets near James Monroe High School is nearing completion. Weather permitting, the construction project is anticipated to start in late September and is expected to be completed this fall.
Once the project is completed, the one-way streets on Fall Hill Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Maury Street in the Canal Quarter Neighborhood will be converted to two-way traffic. This work is part of the city’s Pavement Rehabilitation Program project for the Fiscal Year 2023.
The state’s only commuter railroad warns of canceled trains on both lines, from Fredericksburg and Manassas to Washington, D.C. The lines are owned by freight railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern, respectively, and without train dispatchers monitoring the traffic on those lines, VRE trains cannot operate.
“Any labor strike would result in the immediate suspension of all Virginia Railway Express train service until a resolution is reached,” VRE penned notice to riders.
The nine-mile western segment, which spans Route 29 in Gainesville to Route 28 in Centreville, opened ahead of schedule on Saturday, Sept. 10. This westernmost portion is the first section of the 66 Express Lanes to open, and will provide early benefits to I-66 travelers including added capacity, smoother pavement, better travel reliability and new connections. The remaining 13 miles of new express lanes along I-66 between Route 28 and I-495 (the Capital Beltway) are scheduled to open in December 2022.
“Today’s early opening of the first section of the 66 Express Lanes allows the Commonwealth and its partners to begin providing long awaited relief to drivers who have dealt with daily congestion, unreliability, and most recently, five years of heavy roadway construction,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller. “By the end of this year, we expect to open the remainder of the more than $3-billion 66 Express Lanes megaproject, benefitting I-66 travelers, and becoming a critical part of the Commonwealth’s planned 90+ mile express lanes network in Northern Virginia.”
