Bull Run's Rocky Mountain Headache

The back roads of Bull Run Mountain abound in rustic charm. They wind along quiet, leafy hillsides where deer browse for berries and few cars pass. Each break in the forest canopy opens to a stunning view of the valleys and farms of Prince William County.

Living on Bull Run Mountain, resident Geoff Silver says, "is like camping every day of the year."

But when the tar trucks and other heavy equipment arrive this summer to pave over the mountain's gravel roads, there will be no end-of-Eden lament from Silver or his neighbors.

Steep, rutted, and gouged with channels deep enough to swallow a tire, the roads are rough and dusty in the summer and downright dangerous in the winter. To reach their house high on the mountain, Silver and his wife, Christi, climb and descend a series of switchbacks that can resemble a bobsled run when covered with snow and ice. The Silvers put chains on their tires when the worst weather hits.

In recent years, the mountain roads and resident-funded budget to maintain them have been under added stress as more people have moved to the area, about 45 miles west of the District. With real estate values soaring and million-dollar houses planned on the mountain, which is nestled against the Fauquier County line, most agreed that the gravel roads had eroded into obsolescence.

So on June 27, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors unanimously approved a $1.5 million deal to pave nearly all of Bull Run Mountain's roads -- about 7.2 miles' worth -- with a tar-and-chip coating that officials said will slash maintenance costs and greatly improve safety for the residents of the community's 375 houses. While the coarse-textured tar-and-chip surface isn't as durable as asphalt, it's much cheaper to apply and safer for the steepest grades.

"The reality is that everyone will benefit," said James Murray, chairman of the Bull Run Mountain Estates Road Committee. "People here have been dealing with poor road conditions for a long time. This is a big step forward for folks on the mountain."

Because the community's civic association owns the roads, residents pay a special levy of 10 cents per $100 of their property's assessed value to fund road maintenance. That creates an annual budget of $163,000 to cover repairs and snow removal.

But road committee members said the road's deterioration has outpaced the maintenance budget. As a result, they asked the county in May to increase the levy by 2 cents, which, over the next five to six years, will cover the cost of the paving project. The average annual tax increase per homeowner will be $76 per year, said county Supervisor John T. Stirrup Jr. (R-Gainesville), who is contributing $200,000 of his district's transportation funds to the project this year and has promised to match the funds next year, provided the money is available.

"I think it will improve the quality of life up there," said Stirrup, who represents the Bull Run Mountain area. "And once it's done, people will be ecstatic."

Only a handful of residents objected to the paving plan and the tax increase, according to Stirrup and Murray. Most were homeowners living on the lower part of the mountain who paid to have their roads paved in the early 1980s. But because they also shoulder the maintenance costs through the special tax levy, many were convinced that the deal would save money in the long run, Stirrup said.

Murray said there was little discussion among Bull Run Mountain residents about whether the new road would bring more people and increase development.

"We all recognize that it's an issue," Murray said. "But [growth] is already happening, because this is one of the last affordable areas left where you can buy a lot and build."

The first houses on Bull Run Mountain were built in the late 1950s as cabins and vacation homes. It was still a fairly rugged, rural place when Murray moved in more than 15 years ago. He said those days are "gone forever" but added that the road project had "ignited community spirit on the mountain."

"One of the most common things I hear now," Murray said, is "people saying, 'You mean I'll be able to wash my car and not have it covered with dust on the way home?' "