The Stafford County Board of Supervisors has expressed interest in researching a Rappahannock Crossing Parkway to alleviate traffic Interstate 95 corridor.
The Board approved a letter to the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization requesting that it research options for a new bridge over the Rappahannock River, west of I-95. The Board also asked FAMPO to consider fiscal impacts, potential funding opportunities, route options, and effects on existing road networks.
The Board asked FAMPO to keep it and other localities informed of any developments in its research. Fredericksburg bypass studies were done in 2013 and 2019. Officials balked when a proposed road came too close to existing neighborhoods.
The Board chose “research” instead of “study,” which had been used in a previous draft. Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke said “study” tends to have additional strings, such as federal and state funding. According to Bohmke, using the word “research” would give the FAMPO more flexibility.
FAMPO Director Ian Hollis was at the meeting to answer questions. Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen asked what the difference would be between research options now and previous studies.
Hollis said that previous studies had studied a bridge rather than the viability of many potential solutions. As of late, FAMPO’s focus has been on rail and transit solutions, getting people out of cars and onto public transportation. Hollis said new methods of data collection could aid in the research, such as streetlight data which can map the origin and destinations of commuters; this method was not available for the previous studies.
Hollis also mentioned that there had been renewed calls for an outer-connector road network that could potentially alleviate traffic issues in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area corridor.
FAMPO’s Citizen Citizen Transportation Advisory group’s August meeting discussed the viability of an outer connector, which would include an eastern connector road from Stafford to Spotsylvania and a western connector through Culpeper and Orange counties.
Following that discussion, a push by Stafford Supervisors led Henry Scharbenberg, the group’s chairman, to be booted from the panel. Scharpenburg pushed the idea of an outer connector without support from Supervisors, knowing an outer-connector road is not in the county’s long-range transportation plan, Supervisors told Potomac Local News.
Culpeper and Orange are not FAMPO members and would need to join for the project to be viable, said Hollis.
During the meeting, Bohmke said that she was not in favor of an outer connector for fear of the possibility of urban sprawl.
Another concern from Allen and George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen was a lack of communication between the organization and the county regarding matters on the connector.
Coen expressed concern that officials in nearby Fredericksburg seemed to know more about the issue than the county did and stressed that they should be kept in the loop if they were to be involved in such a project.
The Board approved the letter with a vote of 4-2-1. Allen abstained from the vote.
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