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By KELLY HANNON
Digging through the mail at the end of the day, Fredericksburg area residents might flip through a few bills, a magazine and a catalog or two.
Recently, residents living in the 22406 ZIP code near U.S. 17 in Stafford found something new in the pile.
It was from the Silver Cos., advertising not a store or a sale, but South Gateway Drive.
"Avoid Rt. 17 Traffic!" the red, green and yellow card announced. "There's a direct route to I-95!"
The holiday-themed card included a map of South Gateway Drive, a nearly $1 million road designed and built by the Silver Cos.
South Gateway Drive starts at the entrance to Carter's Crossing, the Silver-developed shopping center anchored with a Target near Interstate 95.
South Gateway travels around Carter's Crossing, past the Fredericksburg Auto Auction, and reconnects with Plantation Drive at the former intersection with Tomorrow Street.
When the company started planning for Carter's Crossing, it recognized it couldn't widen or alter U.S. 17, said Chris Hornung, Silver vice president of planning and engineering.
"What we could do was move forward with a parallel road to 17," Hornung said.
Hornung acknowledges the road serves a dual purpose. It's a quick shortcut to avoid U.S. 17 traffic for people who live in the area, and it's an easy way in and out of the shopping center.
"I use it almost daily," said George Schwartz, Stafford Board of Supervisors chairman, and supervisor for the Falmouth district. "Most of it is three lanes, with a middle turning lane, and I think the Silver Companies did an excellent job, and I congratulate them."
The Silver Cos. took the unusual step of advertising the road because few drivers knew it existed, Hornung said. The advertisement came with a $2 coupon for Foster's Grille, a restaurant in Carter's Crossing.
The road, with a speed limit of 25 mph, can carry about 5,000 vehicles a day, Hornung said.
Schwartz said traffic will pick up as more drivers discover it.
Residents of England Run and Falls Run have anticipated the opening for some time, Schwartz said.
"It provides them a way to come down Plantation and avoid going down to U.S. 17 and then down to 95now they just cut down the connector road," he said.
The Silver Cos. have spent millions building roads in the Fredericksburg area.
The company widened State Route 3 from Gordon Road to Spotswood Furnace Road, near the company's Harrison Crossing shopping center in Spotsylvania.
It widened U.S. 17 through Cosner's Corner in the Massaponax area, and installed a new traffic signal at U.S. 17 and U.S. 1.
A continuous right-turn lane off the I-95 exit ramp at Spotsylvania was financed by Silver, keeping rush-hour traffic from stacking up along I-95's shoulder.
Stafford supervisors may have to turn to a public-private partnership to widen U.S. 17 from McLane Drive to Stafford Lakes Parkway, Schwartz said.
Stafford supervisors have lobbied for years to get state and federal money to widen U.S. 17. The federal highway is a main traffic artery in Stafford, but it carries substantial freight traffic that is passing through.
The $47 million widening project is in Virginia's six-year transportation budget.
But a draft, updated version of the six-year budget presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board two weeks ago would cut a whopping $28 million from the project, postponing construction past 2015.
Schwartz thinks the public is open to different methods of financing roads, as evidenced by the excitement over South Gateway Drive.
"I don't care who builds the road, as long as it gets built," Schwartz said.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com
