In the little town of Quantico, time stopped somewhere in the early 1960s.
Surrounded by Quantico Marine Corps Base on three sides and the Potomac River on the fourth, downtown Quantico is as clean as a Marine's belt buckle, but without the polish. The buildings are worn, and the signs on the storefronts are a mishmash of printed awnings and wooden placards. Main Street is dotted with aging red-white-and-blue barber poles.
However, town officials have ambitions, and they say things are about to change. A combination of circumstances, including the Pentagon's base realignment and closure plan to funnel 3,000 additional employees to the base, just might revitalize Quantico.
And with the help of federal, state and local money, "Q-town," whose barbershops, restaurants and uniform stores have catered to thousands of Marines since 1917, has embarked on a 10-year transformation plan that its supporters say could make it a destination riverfront town, attractive to tourists, office workers and Marines alike.
"We want to make it more appealing. Everybody else is doing it. We've got to show some improvements, too," said Mayor Mitchel P. Raftelis, referring to such towns as Fredericksburg and Manassas that have revitalized shopping and dining areas. At the very least, Quantico could offer a little more variety, he said.
The base closings report issued last month proposes the transfer of employees from Fort Belvoir and Andrews Air Force Base to Quantico, which straddles Prince William and Stafford counties, 35 miles south of Washington. Just north of the base, the National Museum of the Marine Corps will draw at least 300,000 visitors annually, boosters said. The museum will open its first phase -- a $50 million wing -- in November 2006. Virginia Railway Express and CSX Corp. recently refurbished and reopened the town's train station, which was closed 34 years ago for poor ridership, and VRE expects the current 500 riders a day to increase with the museum's opening.
The $1 million renovation of the train station was paid for mostly by federal funds -- money that the town and Prince William County are continuing to tap, along with state funds, to pay for Victorian lampposts and matching benches along Potomac Avenue, new awnings for storefronts, new sidewalks and a bicycle path.
Raftelis, 82, who has one year left in office, said he is hoping to get more dollars to build an amphitheater and a wharf on the Potomac.
But the big-ticket item is Route 1.
The road to Quantico runs three miles inside the Marine Corps base, and tight security requires people who are trying to get to the town to show identification at a checkpoint just off Route 1 before they drive there. During rush hour, cars and trucks can sit on Route 1 for an hour waiting to pass the checkpoint, causing backups not only along Route 1 but to nearby Interstate 95, as well.
Prince William Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan (R-Dumfries), whose district includes the town, is leading a delegation of county officials to meet tomorrow with Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) to ask him to push for $50 million in additional federal funds to improve traffic flow in the area -- which will be vital if thousands of additional workers descend on the base.
The money would go toward an elevated traffic circle to allow vehicles to enter the base without causing backups onto Route 1.
