Stafford County supervisors decided Tuesday night generally where they’d like a new road and bridge over the Rappahannock River to go. Now, they’ll wait to see if anyone agrees with them.
The consensus of the Board of Supervisors at a work session was to support what’s known as “Option C” in a recent study of the project that was done for the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. The route would stretch from Celebrate Virginia Parkway in Stafford to Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard in Fredericksburg.
Because the supervisors usually don’t take votes at work sessions, they agreed to make their choice final June 3.
FAMPO, a regional transportation planning body, has been studying the proposed construction of a river crossing west of Interstate 95 for more than a year, and its policy committee is scheduled to vote on a preferred route June 16.
A consulting firm hired by FAMPO has focused on five potential river crossing paths over the past few months, and a citizens committee presented a sixth option last month.
Each of the original alternatives would span from a point near Route 17 in Stafford to one in Fredericksburg and was judged on several factors, including its impact on environmental and cultural resources, its effect on the existing transportation network, and public input.
FAMPO Administrator Ian Ollis has said it would be optimal if the Stafford supervisors and Fredericksburg City Council agreed on a route, but city council members are still scrutinizing the matter.
FAMPO staff favors using a modified Option C or pursuing a variation on what’s known as “Option A,” Ollis said. The original Option A is located closer to I-95 and would start at Commerce Parkway in Stafford and end at Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard.
FAMPO’s Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee also has weighed in. Members recommended that the policy committee look at another modification on Option C.
It also would use Celebrate Virginia Parkway but would avoid planned homes in Stafford, require the shortest bridge of all the alternatives and avoid the central part of Fredericksburg’s recently approved Technology Overlay District, an area designated for data center development.
However, Option C isn’t supported by developer the Silver Cos., who says it will run through the middle of land it owns in Stafford.
Even after FAMPO’s policy committee votes, any work on the proposal wouldn’t be done for at least a decade, officials have said.
It’s unclear how much such a project would cost, too, and how it would be funded. The price would probably be more than $200 million.
Ollis also noted that what’s decided by FAMPO won’t be the final word on where a river crossing would go. That wouldn’t come until engineers begin examining the preferred route.
“So it’s just a general corridor that we’re trying to choose,” he told supervisors, “not trying to make the perfect line on the map.”
Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke, a FAMPO policy committee member, pointed out that, just like Stafford and Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County also has members on the policy committee, so their input could be important, too.
A new river crossing is necessary, she said, because projections estimate that if additional roads aren’t built, Fredericksburg-area residents will find themselves in traffic gridlock all over the region by 2050.
“I’m being very serious,” Bohmke said. “It’s a serious matter. That’s how bad the congestion is going to be.”
Board Vice Chairwoman Tinesha Allen and Garrisonville District Supervisor Pamela Yeung both said they’re not opposed to a new river crossing but stressed that other road fixes are also important.
A recent crash on Interstate 95 left Stafford residents stuck when cars tried to use county roads after bailing out from the interstate, the supervisors said.
“So we need to ensure that we have the infrastructure in place,” Yeung said.
Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary said that if previous boards had already approved a river crossing, the current supervisors would be “a lot further along in answering the needs of our community, not just in Stafford, but regionally.”
“This is a vision thing,” she said.
