Last week, Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson announced Prince William County secured $9 million to build a roundabout at Rollins Ford Road and Estate Manor Drive and another at Yellowhammer and Song Sparrow roads on Rollins Ford in Gainesville.
Wednesday, Delegate Danica Roem announced significant funding to fix Route 28 and Rollins Ford Road. The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the allocation of funds from the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Plan (VHSIP) for Roem’s priority transportation safety projects.
That funding includes $8,918,793 for two roundabouts along Rollins Ford Road. The Rollins Ford Road funding implements recommendations from the 2019 Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) “Rollins Ford Road Corridor Study.”
“Since my first town hall on Rollins Ford Road in 2018, to my budget amendment in 2020, to making the case for these funds in front of the House of Delegates in 2022, we are now seeing our work come to fruition in the form of these necessary safety improvements," said Roem. "We are working for quicker, safer, greener commutes along Route 28, and, to the commuters on Rollins Ford Road, help is on the way for improved safety.”
Additionally, Prince William County has received federal funding for the road project. Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton successfully secured $580,000 for the roundabout at Rollins Ford Road and Estate Manor Drive as part of a Congressional omnibus package allocating $10 million to Prince William County. That funding is earmarked for six projects around the county one of which is the Rollins Ford Roundabouts.
"The funding for this project will go towards engineering efforts addressing identified safety needs by reducing pedestrian crossing distances and improving refuge areas, improving the safety of turning movements to and from Estate Manor Drive and controlling and reducing speeds along Rollins Ford Road," said a Prince William County press release.
Rollins Ford Road connects Vint Hill Road to Linton Hall Road and is the gateway for several residential communities.
Estate Manor Drive is the most problematic intersection on the road. A small shopping center and the western portion of Glenkirk Estates sit on the west side of the intersection. Across the road is an entrance/egress to the eastern portion of Glenkirk Estates and other residential communities.
Residents and elected leaders have advocated for improved safety measures on Rollins Ford Road for years. The Prince William Board of Supervisors requested the Virginia Department of Transportation [VDOT] conduct a traffic signal analysis in July of 2018.
Later that same month a 17-year-old boy died as a result of a two-vehicle collision at the intersection. Following the tragedy, Roem and Lawson held a community meeting to discuss the safety issues residents have experienced or witnessed at the intersection.
Shortly thereafter, VDOT approved a study of the road and intersection. that study was completed in 2019 but placed on hold during COVID.
However, some safety recommendations have already been implemented. A radar detector clocks and displays motorists' speeds as they approach Estate Manor Drive. A pedestrian crossing is clearly marked on the pavement.
The roundabout should serve to slow traffic on Rollins Ford and prevent people from making difficult left turns out of Estate Manor. And unlike a traffic signal, it keeps traffic flowing.
The other roundabout at Yellowhammer and Song Sparrow roads on Rollins Ford will slow down motorists coming off Vint Hill Road. It will also manage new traffic from visits to Rollins Ford Park, which is slated to open in the fall of 2023.
Safety measures will prove essential if the Vint Hill corridor grows as expected over the next decades. Mixed-use residential neighborhoods along Vint Hill Road have been added to the Prince William County 2040 Comprehensive Plan. That could make Rollins Ford Road a major traffic corridor.
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