ASK THE CANDIDATES: How Would You Fix Congestion on Routes 28 & 29?

The declared candidates for Brentsville District Supervisor answer your questions about issues that matter to you. If you have a question that you would like to ask, click here.

   

With the counties around us expanding, just as we are, how would you handle the congestion along routes 28 and 29 without a significant impact on those who reside along those routes?

- Myndi Masters of Nokesville

Jeanine Lawson

Both Rt. 28 and 29 improvements are already planned and underway.

The Rt. 29/I66 cloverleaf design, when finished by VDOT, should help with Rt. 29 backups. The County should assist to see that it proceeds quickly, mitigating the impact on residents The Rt. 28 project is different. Although VDOT is responsible for building roads with State tax dollars, neither the State nor the County properly planned for rapid growth. The County Supervisors started building roads using County funds which essentially double taxed citizens. The Rt. 28 widening, involving two phases, is an example of how rapid development without adequate infrastructure has a cost. Phase I is from Linton Hall to Bristow Village Blvd, which greatly benefits County citizens by relieving the bottleneck. Phase II is from Bristow Village Blvd. to Fitzwater, which primarily benefits Fauquier commuters while taking property from PW residents. Because of this, many citizens don’t support Phase II. I agree with their concerns. Creative transportation solutions such as reversible lanes would have greatly mitigated property owners along Rt. 28. I will always consider the impact in planning and I will use our local tax dollars wisely by concentrating on the roads which help our residents.

Scott Jacobs

It is important that we handle congestion in the district as intelligently as possible. For the planned construction of Route 28, we need to ensure that Prince William County completes the alignment of Vint Hill Rd along with the widening of Route 28 to Fitzwater Drive in one Singular Phase in lieu of two. This insures that we don't create a log jam along Nokesville Rd for the next several years during construction. Currently, Phase 1 is the re-alligent of Vint Hill Road. The 2nd Phase is the widening of Route 28 to Fitzwater Drive. By combining these, we should be able to reduce the construction time by over one full year.  For Route 29 we need to hold VDOT accountable for a time table of completion as the project has already taken too long.  I think it is paramount that the money taken in for road building never goes towards other county wide projects.

Don Shaw

The current Prince William County transportation network is not sufficient to handle the number of commuters who use it.  The rapid rate of development in western Prince William and adjacent counties has only exacerbated the problem, as infrastructure modernization has not kept up with residential construction. Anyone who has traveled along the Route 28 and US 29 corridors during commuting hours knows that they cannot adequately handle the current volume of traffic.  We should work to reengineer these two roads to reduce the congestion, and we should do so in close collaboration with the affected residents. In the meantime, there are steps we can take to reduce congestion.  First, we should extend VRE to Gainesville.  Existing rail lines could be used and this would expand the number of options available to those who commute to DC.  Second, we must bring high-quality jobs to Prince William.  Currently, more than 100,000 county residents commute to work somewhere else.  The fastest way to take cars off the road is to provide local employment.  Not only will more jobs in Prince William ease congestion, it will also improve the local tax base, reducing the burden currently borne by homeowners.