The story so far: After years of battles, Spotsylvania County joined the Virginia Railway Express in 2010 with an eye toward getting a station so residents could conveniently use the commuter rail service.

The Crossroads Industrial Park off the U.S. 17 bypass was pegged as the site for the station and a 2.6-mile third track that will connect with the main tracks.

Outlook: The $20.3 million project is tentatively scheduled to be finished in the second half of 2013.

The project recently hit a potential issue when the state and CSX wanted to include upgrades to the third track as part of a bigger, high-speed rail project.

It appears any problems have been resolved, though, and the station and third track are "still on target to meet our time deadline," according to VRE spokesman Mark Roeber.

--Scott Shenk

STATE FAIR

The story so far: The State Fair of Virginia declared bankruptcy late last year after being unable to make its payments on an $85 million loan it took out to develop the Meadow Event Park in Caroline into its new home. A deal fell through that would have allowed a Virginia business to buy the site and lease the land back to the State Fair.

Outlook: The bondholders on May 22 will auction the Meadow Event Park and all the State Fair's equipment and intellectual property. However, a buyer could be found before the auction date, and this year's State Fair has not been completely ruled out.

--Bill Freehling

STATE ROUTE 3 WIDENING

The story so far: The $25.1-million project will widen State Route 3 from four to six lanes from Chewning Lane and Rutherford Drive to Gordon Road, which will match it up with the rest of the highway in that area.

Work started in October 2003 and was slated to be completed on July 24 of this year.

But numerous problems have caused delays in the project.

First, in June 2011, the contractor, Henderson Construction Co., cut utilities lines in the work zone, resulting in a stop-work order.

Before work started again, businesses in the area disputed the project design, which resulted in alternatives being floated about.

Outlook: The design dispute has been settled, but work mostly remains set on pause while utilities on the westbound side of Route 3 are moved.