With DOT, County Acts to Fill Void

Va. Can't Meet All Pr. William's Road Needs, Officials Concede

Virginia transportation officials Pierce R. Homer, left, and Dennis Morrison were supportive of Prince William's plan. (By Larry Morris -- The Washington Post)

Two top Virginia transportation officials said yesterday that Prince William County's proposal to create a separate transportation agency was a recognition that the state could no longer keep up with its responsibility to build and maintain roads in fast-growing areas of Northern Virginia.

"The growth of Prince William has outstripped the ability of the commonwealth to provide transportation infrastructure," said Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer, a former deputy county executive in Prince William.

Prince William's dilemma, and its desire to take road improvements into its own hands, is a regional issue, said Dennis Morrison, Northern Virginia administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation. "There just haven't been enough transportation dollars to deal with transportation in this region," he said.

On Tuesday, County Executive Craig S. Gerhart proposed the separate agency, which would be one of a handful in the state charged with planning, funding and building roads. Gerhart said the department is necessary to address dissatisfaction with worsening traffic in the once-rural county.

Homer was part of county government when Prince William began playing a bigger role in road construction in the late 1980s. Frustrated with the state's slow response to growth, county officials decided in 1989 to build the 24-mile Prince William Parkway, linking Interstate 66 on its western end to Interstate 95 to the east. That took the county knee-deep into road building.

It is only fitting that nearly two decades later, Prince William plans to create its own department of transportation, county officials said yesterday. The initial staff would include 60 people, of which 44 are already employees of the transportation division of the Department of Public Works.

In November, the county will ask voters to approve $236 million in road bonds for projects that include adding lanes to Routes 1 and 28. The bonds are part of the county's plan to spend $1.6 billion on transportation projects over the next 15 years.

"We're moving on the largest bond referendum in the county's history," said Sean T. Connaughton (R), chairman of the Board of County Supervisors. "The county has been in the road-building business for almost 18 years, and this was a natural progression as the size of the program increased as well as the cost of road building. We believe we'll be spending between $60 million and $100 million a year on road projects in the foreseeable future. When you are spending that kind of money, you need to have focus and accountability."

Connaughton added: "We knew this day was going to come. The question was when."

Recently, the county has considered tapping developers to generate more transportation dollars instead of waiting for state money. Brookfield Homes has offered to provide improvements to the interchange at Route 29 and I-66 and an overpass in exchange for approval to build 6,800 homes.

VDOT's Morrison said that although Prince William appears to be taking the reins, the jurisdiction has always worked closely with VDOT. Forming a department is just an extension of the county's aggressiveness on the issue, he said. "I think it's good, and I also think that they are a partner and they want to help solve problems."

Prince William appears to be taking a path similar to the one taken by Fairfax County, which grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s. Fairfax's roads are largely built now, so its transportation agency concentrates on such things as operating the county's Connector bus service.

"Prince William is in for the long haul," said Kathy Ichter, the newly named Fairfax transportation director. "They have more roads to build."