Davis Ford Road School Would Mean More Traffic
A number of citizens residing in the Davis Ford Road corridor are slowly becoming aware of plans by the Prince William County School Board to build a middle school on Davis Ford Road.
Unlike the citizen notification process for projects typically submitted to the Board of County Supervisors for approval, the School Board may apparently develop site selection and preliminary project plans to a high degree, prior to seeking the final approval to begin construction from the county Planning Commission. The proposed school would have a capacity of approximately 1,500 students and is scheduled to open in 2008. The Planning Commission will vote on the construction in late December.
While no one disputes the need for school expansion in the county, the site selection of the proposed Davis Ford middle school raises questions about the School Board's awareness of how vital the Davis Ford corridor is to area commuters. A significant number of daily commuters rely upon Yates Ford Road to access Fairfax County.
A school of any kind in this area will introduce a significant number of buses and other school associated traffic to Yates Ford and Davis Ford roads during peak commuting hours.
Those who use this mid-county route are keenly aware of the daily congestion and additional delays that occur when school buses make their rounds for the students that live in these areas.
Adding the traffic of an entire school to the current situation will effectively shut down the Yates Ford route into Fairfax County during commuting hours and force the use of alternate routes.
Commuters and residents affected by the proposed Davis Ford middle school site should notify their School Board, Planning Commission and Board of County Supervisors representatives of the need to develop an alternate location that does impact this vital corridor to our employment.
P.J. Saxton
Manassas
