Dumfries installs traffic barrier on Graham Park Rd.

New traffic delineator posts on Graham Park Road in Dumfries are in place to help control traffic.

The new posts are standing at one of the busiest intersections in the town at Graham Park Road and Route 1, between Dunkin Donuts and Triangle Shopping Plaza. This section of Graham Park Road is used by drivers from Route 1 north and south, and by drivers coming out of the Prince William Estates, Williamstown, and Graham Park Shores neighborhoods need to access Route 1.

Before the $2,000 delineators ware installed last week, drivers making a left from Graham Park Road into Triangle Shopping Plaza would stop traffic on the two-lane road. This caused backups on Route 1 north, said town manager Daniel Taber.

Drivers who want to turn left into Triangle Shopping Center now must turn left onto Route 1 south at a signal light, and then turn left into the plaza entrance from Route 1.

The traffic delineator is the next in a line of traffic improvements made to the busy intersection, to include retiming the two traffic signals at the intersection. A yet-to-begin improvement project at the intersection will install a new control box for the signal lights, consolidating the number of control boxes from two to one. Additionally, the project will add a new northbound lane alongside the southbound portion of Route 1 from Tebbs Lane to Graham Park Drive, so northbound drivers no longer have to turn right on southbound Route 1, exit the town, turn around, and drive north, said Taber.

A separate road project about two miles north of Graham Park Road, to add two new turn lanes from Route 1 north to Route 234 north is nearly completed. Severe traffic backups along Route 1 caused by drivers turning left onto Route 234 prompted the new lanes, said Taber.

The project was administered by Prince William County and VDOT.