Tri-county parkway revisited
By Dan Roem
Earlier this month, Manassas Del. Jackson Miller (R) attempted to revive the idea of creating the tri-county parkway as an alternative route for motorists to go to and from Dulles International Airport.Meanwhile, plans are still in the works for the Prince William Parkway (Route 234) to be extended from its northern intersection at Interstate 66 to Dulles as a sort of bi-county parkway. That 234 extension is the Virginia Department of Transportation's preferred route for the tri-county parkway, even though it cuts through only Prince William and Loudoun counties.
Miller says the tri-county parkway would serve an immediate need with his constituents in Manassas who are stuck in traffic along Route 28 each day during rush hour.
“There is no other project that would take more relief off the 28 corridor,” Miller said.
Both the tri-county parkway and the Route 234 extension face funding and environmental challenges.
When the General Assembly failed to approve a new transportation funding package this year, any revenue that would be set aside for new road construction died out, too. Miller is now suggesting that the state seek to develop the parkway as a public-private partnership, possibly as a toll road.
The road would start at the intersection of Sudley Road and Godwin Drive in Manassas, snake across Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, cut northwest near the eastern corner of the Manassas Battlefield, head up northwest of Fairfax Park and connect to Route 50 at South Riding in Loudoun County.
Three years ago, environmental concerns effectively ended discussions about the three-county road, as it would have cut across wetlands and could potentially harm or destroy land and the popular bluebell plants in Bull Run Regional Park. Equestrian groups also protested, citing the loss of facilities in Centreville.
The Virginia Department of Transportation subsequently deemed an environmentally safe passage of the road to be too expensive, according to Rick Canizales, transportation planning manager for Prince William County.
Canizales has been working on planning related to both potential parkways since 2002. He said the tri-county parkway served a different need than the extension of Route 234, which would essentially be a limited-access road linking Manassas directly to Dulles' western end.
“The 28 bypass was more for getting to the front of the airport along with Reston, Herndon and some of the other activity centers in Fairfax,” he said.
So while the path for that parkway is already in place and is listed in the comprehensive plans for all three counties, state transportation officials have pulled it from their own plans.
That's where Miller's public-private partnership and toll idea comes into play. However, it is uncertain whether anyone would want to invest in such a controversial proposal with no state money to back it up.
“If you've got a project that is controversial, it is difficult to get it funded,” said Leo Schefer, president of the Washington Airport Task Force. Schefer's group promotes the growth of aviation services at Dulles, and he supports the tri-county parkway in the east and a bi-county parkway in the west.
“The first thing I believe you have to do is not take the bulldozer approach,” Schefer said as he explained that road developers need to be sensitive to the opinions of residents.
Schefer said elected officials, citizen groups, environmental groups, landowners and public facilities should sit down and meet in a style other than the town hall format that took place in 2005. Then, he suggests, representatives from each affected group could try to work out compromises in small settings while keeping the public informed of what happens.
“Now, is it easy? No,” said Schefer as he discussed the possibility of the tri-county parkway being resurrected. “Can it be done? Yes. What does it take? It takes consensus.”
Even if environmental groups consented to the development of the tri-county parkway, there would still have to be a way to fund it. Constructing it or the Route 234 extension will cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. At a time when the commonwealth is strapped for transportation cash, as are its localities, the fight then comes down to which road should be built first.