Stafford leaders question VDOT on everything from sinkholes to side streets

STAFFORD– On October 2, Kyle Bates from the Virginia Department of Transportation updated the Stafford County Board of Supervisors on the highlights of current VDOT construction projects in the county.

Questions and concerns from the Board of Supervisors

Mark Dudenhefer, Garrisonville District, expressed his concern for the lack of funding to improve county roads that are greatly impacted by when crews must portion of Interstate 95 for traffic crashes and construction projects.

“Somewhere along the line I hope we can get the state to actually recognize that it’s not just I-95 that’s causing the problems, that it’s being generated and it creates a problem throughout the entire county,” said Dudenhefer. “ It hurts our economic development, it hurts the quality of life of the people in Stafford and personally I don’t think it’s being given enough weight.”

“We’ll be working with them (county staff) to come up with funding mechanisms to try and fund some of these secondary improvements,” Bates replied.

Wendy Mauer, Rock Hill District, asked for an update on sinkholes that formed over the summer.

Bates told the board VDOT has completed work on most of the sinkholes and emergency failures. Bells Hill should be open again this week. He said VDOT spent about 2.5 million they had not planned on spending on emergency failures in the county recently and he estimated they had 10 or 11 emergency pipe failures.

Thomas Coen, George Washington District, asked about traffic impacts of the Chatham Bridge replacement. VDOT said it would follow up with the board with that information.

I-95/630 interchange and roadway widening

Work is underway to build a diverging diamond interchange at Courthouse Road and Interstate 95. It will replace an outdated diamond interchange that dates back to the highway’s opening in the 1960s.

“The signal at the [Colonial Forge High School] school entrance is fully operational and the bridge beams over 95 are now set so the fixed completion date for that project is still on the slate to be July of 2020,” Bates said.

I-95 southbound Rappahannock River crossing

“Construction started with median clearing between Cowan Boulevard and Route 3 [in Fredericksburg], that area, and that’s scheduled completion is 2022.”

Flashing Yellow Arrow upgrades at various intersections

All of the following upgrades are complete, according to the VDOT Report:

• Rte. 1 at American Legion Rd. and Eskimo Hill Rd.
• Rte. 1 at Port Aquia Dr., entrance to St. William of York Church
• Rte. 1 at Acadia St.
• Rte. 3 at Cool Springs Rd. and Jett Dr.
• Rte. 17 and Hartwood Rd.
• Garrisonville Rd. and Patton Dr. , entrance to Mt. Ararat Church
• Garrisonville Rd. at Furnace Rd. and Tech Pkwy.
• Staffordboro Blvd. and commuter lot, entrance to Stafford Marketplace
  Shopping Center
• Mine Rd. and commuter lot
• Mine Rd. and Northampton Blvd.
• Plantation Dr. at Lyons Blvd. and Gladstone Rd.
• Centreport Pkwy. and I-95 southbound on- and off-ramps at exit 136
• Centreport Pkwy. and I-95 northbound on- and off-ramps at exit 136

There is another list of flashing yellow areas going through the pipeline that will require a structural analysis first, according to Bates.

Preliminary engineering projects

• I-95 Fred Ex – Hot Lanes Extension – The estimated completion is 2022. This will extend the I-95 E-ZPass Express Lanes from Garrisonville Road to Truslow Road in south Stafford.
• Temporary Signal at Route 1 and Telegraph Road – This signal is fully up and running to restrict vehicles from making that left hand turn in the morning.
• Raven Road hard surfacing – They’re looking to begin this in spring of 2019.

Vista Woods

VDOT is working on replacing the cross pipes in Vista Woods as part of infrastructure repairs. They are looking to have that resurfaced pending funding in 2020.