Get Your Transportation Fix

By Joseph Swetnam
For PotomacLocal.com

Woodbridge, Va. — Transportation challenges in the Potomac Communities are getting recognition from state officials.

At 11:30 a.m. Aug. 17, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton will visit business leaders at Old Hickory Golf Club in Woodbridge to talk about his plans to improve transportation infrastructure in Northern Virginia.

Connaughton, a former Prince William County official himself, will discuss the issues that not only concern residents and businesses in Prince William, but also in Manassas and Manassas Park, especially the long commutes many of us face driving to and from work.

One project Connaughton is pushing forward is High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstate 95, an which are expected to improve traffic flow between North Stafford and the Capital Beltway by providing single drivers the option to pay a toll while allowing carpoolers and bus riders to continue to ride free.

The project is expected to alleviate a bottleneck at Dumfries where the reversible HOV lanes merge onto I-95’s travel lanes. As part of the project, a nine-mile extension of the reversible lanes will be built to Va. 610 in North Stafford.

The project is still in the planning stages and the Virginia Department of Transportation plans to hold public hearings for the proposed HOT lanes later this fall.

“Transportation infrastructure plays a key role in every citizen’s daily life, whether they commute to and from D.C., move goods throughout Northern Virginia or just want to go out to eat. It’s important that we stay abreast of any efforts being made to retrieve time being lost on the road,” said Prince William Chamber of Commerce President Rob Clapper.

The chamber, which bills itself as the largest chamber in the Washington area with more than 2,000 members, is holding the event.