Fast Lane for Gainesville Work
Last Part of Bottleneck Relief, to Start Years Early, May Be Done by 2014

By Jonathan Mummolo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Construction on the final phase of a revamped Gainesville interchange will begin in 2010, three years ahead of schedule, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday.

The announcement means that one of the region's worst bottlenecks and one of its most delayed projects is likely to be completed by 2014. The improvements are expected to ease trips and improve safety at a critical crossroads in a fast-growing part of Northern Virginia.

State officials said the project can move forward much sooner because of federally approved incentives and a relaxing of state and federal guidelines that will allow the Virginia Department of Transportation to acquire land needed for the $181.4 million project, on Route 29 near Interstate 66, ahead of schedule.

"That's a $180 million project that -- rather than wait until 2013, when construction costs are higher and the congestion has made everybody's lives shorter -- we can start a little bit early," Kaine (D) said at a news conference at the Virginia Railway Express station in Bristow, where he was joined by several local officials.

The acceleration of the project is also likely to allow an 11-mile extension of VRE between Manassas and Haymarket, which will run through the interchange area, to be completed ahead of schedule, VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said. That project received additional funding as part of the transportation package approved by the General Assembly in the spring.

The Gainesville interchange is essentially a miniature version of the Springfield Mixing Bowl, with similar traffic and safety concerns. Its main crossroads is at Route 29 and I-66, which is overrun morning and night by the tens of thousands of commuters who have moved to western Prince William and points south.

The arrival of big-box retailers and strip shopping centers has also contributed to bottlenecks in an area that until recently had little more than fast-food restaurants and gas stations.

Several other heavily used roads, including Linton Hall Road, Route 55 and Wellington Road, converge near the interchange. A set of railroad tracks, where several trains have collided with cars and where one even went through the wall of a gas station, also crosses Route 29 just south of I-66. And the interchange serves as a gateway to the Nissan Pavilion.

"In the evening, and when there's a concert at Nissan Pavilion, this is probably the worst bottleneck in the Washington region," said Pierce R. Homer, Virginia's transportation secretary.

About 46,000 vehicles a day traveled on Route 29 near the interchange in 2005, and that number is expected to grow to 63,000 by 2035, according to VDOT. Traffic on Linton Hall Road jumped from 9,000 vehicles a day in 1998 to 15,500 in 2005, the agency said. By 2035, the number is expected to grow to 42,000 vehicles a day.

Once conceived as a single massive project similar to the Mixing Bowl, the Gainesville project was broken into several pieces because of budget constraints.

"That's how we've approached it: Let's go ahead and get some product on the ground for the public to use," said Helen Cuervo, spokeswoman for VDOT. "And that's been successful -- taking the money we have and fast-tracking what we can."

The third phase of the project, now underway, will add two lanes in each direction on I-66 between the Route 234 Bypass and Route 29.

Route 29, in the final phase, will be raised 30 feet above the railroad tracks. The work will also widen Route 29 from four to six lanes between I-66 and Virginia Oaks Drive and include the construction of overpasses that will carry Gallerher Road over the railroad tracks and Linton Hall Road over Route 29.

One of the biggest impediments for the Gainesville project has been the cost of buying property around the interchange, which has grown increasingly expensive. The project will require the state to acquire 53 parcels, and small businesses and utility lines must be moved.

State officials said they were able to speed that process in part because the Federal Highway Administration recently authorized incentives for businesses and utility companies -- which have fuel and power lines that must moved -- to vacate property needed for construction, Homer said.

VDOT also got approval to begin acquiring land before completing design plans, which is normally required, state officials said.

"It's another example of how the longer you wait, the only thing that happens is the costs of projects increase," said Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, which has long supported the revamping of the interchange. "It's just critically important to improve that interchange. . . . It backs up traffic in the morning; it backs up traffic in the evening."

Prince William County Supervisor John D. Jenkins (D-Neabsco) said he is "very excited."

"We've been working on this project for a long time," he said.

"I'm the senior member of the board, being there some 26 years. I've seen this thing come and go and get where we thought we were going to make some progress and then get set back. Now it's actually a reality."