WASHINGTON – A new Virginia transportation study supports plans to widen a key north-south commuter route in the western D.C. suburbs to alleviate congestion but the improvements might not save drivers that much time.
A newly released Virginia Department of Transportation study finds that widening state Route 28 by adding northbound lanes from Bull Run to Interstate 66 will do the most to improve travel times between Liberia Avenue in Manassas and New Braddock Road in Centreville. The extra lanes would provide a 33 percent improvement and would shave off about 15 minutes of drive time at current traffic levels.
Today, the 5-mile trip takes commuters on average 45 minutes. But by 2020, even if the project is built, the trip is expected take 40 minutes in the morning because of projected growth in and around Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties. That is just a few minutes quicker than today’s pace. But without the project, VDOT projects traffic flow would become even worse.
“Clearly the biggest benefit will be in the a.m. peak, which is where the biggest part of the problem is,” VDOT Senior Project Development Specialist Robert Iosco says.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation’s Todd Minnix, who leads the agency’s design division, says the county has only just received $5 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to pay for the start of the project. The goal is to at least begin construction by 2020.
“We’re just now getting started on it, so we’ve still got a long ways to go,” he says.
The total cost of widening this stretch of Route 28 is projected to be about $50 million.
Recommendations from the VDOT study include providing a more continuous route for walkers or cyclists, making it easier to take short trips on foot or by bike.
Two other recommended projects would add sidewalks to fill in missing links, and potentially help get cyclists out of the roadway. One new sidewalk or a shared-use path along the east side of Route 28 near Bull Run would cost about $1.1 million, and the other, on the west side between Spruce Street and Leland Road, would cost roughly $2.5 million.
A fourth project would rearrange the intersection of Ordway Road (Route 616) and Compton Road (Route 658) just west of Route 28. The study recommends moving the intersection farther away from Route 28 and adding a roundabout to smooth traffic flow on Ordway and Compton.
That would leave more room for drivers waiting at the light to cross Route 28.
The realignment and roundabout are the most expensive of fixes recommended fixes by a steering committee. Those changes would cost about $6.2 million and can be moved into the design phase right away.
The steering committee, made up of elected leaders from Fairfax County, Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park, narrowed down the projects from a list of 100 possibilities to five projects considered short-term fixes.
The fifth recommended project unveiled at a public information meeting Monday night would extend the left turn lane at Liberia Avenue to reduce backups and rear-end crashes. The $250,000 project would also likely change access for the Manassas Junction shopping center’s driveway and Kincheloe Drive.
A second public information meeting on the safety and operations study will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Manassas Park Community Center.
Iosco says the next step, after incorporating this round of public feedback, will be to look for funding to design the pedestrian improvements, roundabout and left turn lane extension.
Prince William County and Manassas are working on longer-term proposals for the stretch of Route 28, and VDOT continues to work on changing the timing of traffic signals in the area.
There are already plans to widen Route 28 in Loudoun and Fairfax north and south of the Dulles Toll Road, to widen parts of Route 28 in Prince William County along with a realignment of Vint Hill Road, and to widen a part of Route 28 in Manassas.
