Supervisors from two counties meet, join forces on transportation issues

By RUTH FINCH

Date published: 10/28/2004

Prince William, Stafford agree

Stafford and Prince William counties have informally agreed to join forces in support of a proposal designed to lessen congestion in the Interstate 95 corridor.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors invited the Stafford board to get together in Woodbridge last night for their first-ever joint transportation strategy session. The two boards agreed to present a united front in supporting HOT lanes, and to invite their neighbors to the north and south to join the coalition, too.

HOT lanes, or High Occupancy Toll lanes, are proposed to let commuters who don't carpool pay a fee and use I-95's HOV lanes.

Two separate consortiums have submitted plans to build a HOT-lane system in Northern Virginia and the Fredericksburg area. The Virginia Department of Transportation, which is reviewing the proposals, will soon ask the affected counties for their evaluations and comments.

"How do we coordinate some kind of unified response of all the jurisdictions up and down the corridor?" Sean Connaughton, chairman of the Prince William board, asked last night.

"I'd hate to see your board and our board move together and not have Spotsylvania and Fairfax. We can reach out to Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax if you could reach out to Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Caroline to figure out where we are. I want to make sure all localities are all talking on the same page."

Supervisors in both Stafford and Prince William support the HOT-lane concept, but are leery of aspects of proposals by both Fluor Virginia Inc. and competitor Shirley-Clark Construction.

For example, supervisors from both counties said they cannot tolerate any plan that would reduce the number of HOT lanes from three to two near Triangle, Dumfries and Quantico, where the highway's existing HOV lanes now end.

"We're saying you at least have to go to [Stafford Regional Airport] or [U.S.] 17, because otherwise you're going to have a disaster at Triangle," Stafford Supervisor Bob Gibbons warned.

Stafford officials also said they don't like Shirley-Clark's plan to terminate the HOT lanes at U.S. 17 in southern Stafford.

Both boards criticized Shirley-Clark's plan for omitting a subsidy for bus service in the I-95 corridor.

But in general, Gibbons said, the HOT-lane idea has promise.

Date published: 10/28/2004