Manassas Council Members React To Prince William County's Route 28 Bypass Cancellation

MANASSAS, VA — On Monday, Several Manassas City Council members reacted with dissapointment after the Prince William Board of County Supervisors decision to cancel the Route 28 Bypass project.

The board voted to end the project with a 5-3 vote. Prince William County's director of transportation Rick Canizales recommended cancellation to the board, citing the rising costs of the project and inability to come to a resolution with Fairfax County. The project would have involved extending Godwin Drive across Sudley Road as a four-lane divided road connecting with Route 28 north of Bull Run Stream in Fairfax County.

Vice Mayor Mark Wolfe noted the bypass was a project that the City of Manassas initially promoted. He said the county board's decision "did not benefit" Manassas city residents.

"You in our citizen surveys have told us loud and clear that one of the top three issues facing the city is congestion," said Wolfe at Monday's City Council meeting. "And we know from the data that congestion is coming from people outside the city. It's not city residents. We haven't grown...but it's more through traffic as the county around us becomes more and more developed, and the bypass is the only solution that's been offered that would address that."

SEE ALSO: After Route 28 Bypass Project Ends, Take Our Manassas Patch Survey

Prince William County's transportation director had said cancelling the bypass project could allow officials to discuss alternatives. One option could be a road widening, which Fairfax County did on a 2.3 mile segment from the Prince William County north to Route 29 in Centreville.

On the future of Route 28, Wolfe added, "Somewhere hopefully in the future we'll get another bite of the apple at this and be able to make this a better community and not just for Manassas but for the people in Fairfax or in Prince William County or wherever else that drive through Manassas and get caught up in the traffic every day."

One topic Prince William County supervisors discussed was inability to get full support for the project from Fairfax County. Councilmember Tom Osina said he had spoken to several county supervisors, asking if the final decision could have been paused for several months. That could have given time for localities affected by the project to meet and talk it through.

"There was a great opportunity, I think, for some regional cooperation," said Osina. "And let's face it, we are in a region when it comes to our roads, our transportation, and we have to be working together."

On the other hand, Osina noted the county board is looking to collaborate more on shared services provided to the city. According to Osina, Prince William County's board acted last Tuesday to set up a committee focused on shared services as well as health and social services, housing, economic development, infrastructure and facilities plans.

Councilmember Sonia Vasquez Luna noted that VDOT is holding a design public hearing on intersection improvements on a portion of Route 28 between Manassas Drive in Manassas Park and Spruce Street in Prince William County. Among the improvements are converting intersections at Maplewood Drive and Browns Lane to restricted crossing u-turns, a median u-turn between Birch Street and Spruce Street, and extension of the left and u-turn lane at Blooms Quarry Lane. The meeting will be held Feb. 26 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Manassas Park City Hall, and it will be livestreamed by the City of Manassas Park. Comments will be accepted at the meeting or by March 10 on the project website, by mail to Ms. Hong Ha, P.E., Virginia Department of Transportation, 4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030 or by email to meetingcomments@VDOT.virginia.gov referencing "Route 28 Innovative Intersections" in the subject line.

On the Route 28 bypass project, Vasquez Luna noted that it had become expensive and believes Prince William County "did everything they could to try to keep it alive."

"I will continue to talk to them to advocate, but I know that I wouldn't want them to try to hold us accountable for something that we can't afford," said Vasquez Luna.