Our locally-elected county supervisors have an opportunity to solve existing traffic congestion problems.
Two years ago, the Virginia Department of Transportation pushed hard to build the Bi-County Parkway. All drivers in Prince William have been stuck in traffic, and we often grasp at any straw, but that "road to the wrong side of Dulles" would divert funds away from fixing Route 28 and other higher priorities.
The supervisor from the district that would be most affected by the road, Pete Candland, will initiate the process on Tuesday to remove the road from the county's Comprehensive Plan.
That's a good proposal. We need to focus transportation planning and funding on solutions that will fix the serious traffic congestion problems in Prince William, not subsidize speculative land development projects in Loudoun County.
Deleting the Bi-County Parkway from the Prince William County map, so transportation funding can be directed towards other areas, is only half of the solution.
The land along the Bi-County Parkway route is zoned for agricultural use and is in the County's protected rural area, dubbed the Rural Crescent. It offers a great opportunity for Prince William to implement a Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program, comparable to the program in Fauquier County.
Purchase of development rights would place the land into permanent easement. That would facilitate productive agricultural operations in the Rural Area - and help guarantee that the "vampire road" will never rise from the dead.
Share your views with Prince William Supervisors:
Corey Stewart, Chairman at-Large
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Pete Candland, Gainesville District
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Jeanette Lawson, Brentsville District
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Marty Nohe, Coles District
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Mike May, Occoquan District
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Maureen Caddigan, Potomac District
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Frank Principi, Woodbridge District
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John Jenkins, Neabsco District
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