Key intersection at Manassas center city may be fit for a roundabout

MANASSAS — In Manassas, officials are looking for more efficient ways to move more people through one of the city’s busiest intersections.

They’ve assigned a team of engineers to fix the intersection at Route 234 and Route 28 at the center of the city. It’s a place where a roundabout would possibly work.

When a car hit a traffic light in the summer of 2016, and a new light had to be put up. That’s when city transportation planners put the wheels in motion for the intersection.

“That was the opportunity to look at it,” said Bryan Foster, deputy city manager.

They hired a consultant and received a conceptual plan in early July, and there are some pros and cons to this remedy for this intersection. The total price tag of a roundabout is $3 million, but using the Virginia Department of Transportation’s revenue sharing funds would cut that in half. Add in an additional $900,000 from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, that would leave $600,000 for the city to fund.

City leaders are currently applying for additional funds from VDOT for the project.

According to Foster, the intersection at Routes 28 and 234 gets a D rating on the A-F scale, similar to the scholastic grading system. That is “rated by how much delay at that intersection,” Foster said.

According to the latest data, a roundabout would move its rating to an A.

“The data shows a roundabout would work at that intersection,” Foster said.

To council member Marc Aveni, the $3 million price tag didn’t sit well. “That’s too much… that’s taxpayers money,” he said.

To Aveni, the intersection at Liberia Avenue and Route 28 is more congested, and the city’s efforts should be dedicated to that interchange first.

“The roundabout may or may not be a bad project, but let’s focus on this first,” he said.

City council member Ian Lovejoy has similar thoughts that he shared on his Facebook page, questioning if it’s the “biggest bang for our buck or the biggest traffic issue facing residents,” he wrote.

A transportation study for the city is about to begin, according to Lovejoy, and the results will be a factor to him.

“I do not support this project unless it can be clearly demonstrated that this particular intersection is a top-tier traffic mitigation concern for the city,” he wrote.

Council member Mark Wolfe realizes the trouble with the intersection at Routes 234 and 28, but it’s part of a more significant problem in the whole corridor. He’s looking for more information on the roundabout and is also questioning the cost value. “That interchange is part of the chain,” he said. “I expect we’ll have something back in September,” he said.

Foster did mention that there were other intersections that needed attention, and officials are embarking on the city’s transportation master plan soon. That would give the other intersections standings on the grading system, and then figure out what would work at each. The intersection at Liberia and Route 28 is not a place where a roundabout would work, Foster said.

The city is minimizing the land acquisition connected with this proposed project, and according to Foster, the roundabout plan would trim “a little bit at each corner,” he said. The folks at Shannon Auto Sales, located close to the intersection, do remember hearing about it a while ago, while at Iron Horse Antiques, the current intersection “is fine the way it is.”

According to VDOT, “roundabouts are one of the safest types of intersection designs,” their website reads, and it will help reduce crashes, traffic delays, fuel consumption, air pollution and construction and maintenance costs.