Widening Routes 1 & 28, VRE on Transportation Funding List

MANASSAS, Va. — Taxes are going up in Virginia on July 1 to pay for transportation improvements across the state.

Locally, elected officials on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, and its chairman Prince William County Supervisor Martin Nohe, narrowed a list of 47 proposed transportation projects down to 33 that, if they were to be built, would cost taxpayers an estimated $500 million.

The Northern Virginia region to include Prince William but not Stafford, is set to receive just $190 million from the transportation monies 2014 from the new taxes, so local officials need to be clear when it 

comes to telling state transportation chiefs in Richmond what their traffic and transit priorities are, and so the region can effectively complete for the available funds. 

The most important projects include:

1. Widen U.S. 1 from four to six lanes in Woodbridge from the Mary’s Way to Featherstone Road– $53 million

2. Widen Va. 28 in Bristow form two to four Lanes from Linton Hall Road to Fitzwater Drive, and relocate the intersection of Linton Hall Road and Va. 28 — $56 million.

3. Funding a capacity study to examine potential growth of Virginia Railway Express to Gainesville and Fauquier County.

4. Add a second platform at the Rippon Virginia Railway Express station in Woodbridge.

5. Purchase nine new rail cars for Virginia Railway Express.

In all, Prince William County is expected to receive between $9 and 11 million per year from the increased tax, and Manassas will net $1.3 million.

In total, $295 million is expected to be made available for statewide transportation funds. Nohe said $85 million of it will be dispersed to the localites.

Once it’s here, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority will decide what to do with 70% of the state funds, while the remaining 30% will doled out to localities to use as they see fit.

The funds must be spent on transportation projects or localities could lose the money. Towns in Northern Virginia with 3,500 residents or more, including Dumfries, are responsible for maintaining their own roads, said Nohe.

The funds come as Prince William County residents already spend more in taxes than for transportation than any other jurisdiction in the state, said Nohe. Prince William’s highly successful road bond program approved by voters in 1988 — one of the first in state history — has funded construction of roads like Prince William Parkway and the widening of U.S. 1 in Triangle.

Delegate Bob Marshall, R- Prince William, Manassas Park, said that under the new transportation funding formula, Prince William residents will actually continue to pay more than others because of the road bond projects, because the county must maintain its level of transportation funding or now risk losing dollars to other localities.

“The General Assembly shot Prince William taxpayers in the back when they passed this bill. Road bond projects in Prince William set the bar, now we have to maintain that level of funding,” said Marshall.

Virginia’s General Assembly in February passed sweeping transportation reform that means sales tax in the state will rise from as much to as much as 6% in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, and a new commercial and industrial tax will be enacted ($.125 of every $100 of assessed property value) as part of the transportation reform package.

The state’s 17.5 cent per gallon as tax was eliminated in favor for a tax at the wholesale level. Owners of hybrid vehicles will also pay $100 annual registration fees, a significant increase over prior years.

*This story has been corrected. NTVA recommended widening U.S. 1 from Mary’s Way to Featherstone Road. The effort to widen U.S. 1 between Mary’s Way and the Occoquan River has already been approved by state officials.