County to Add Mass Transit To Plan for Transportation

Supervisors Addressing Growth, Long-Term Needs

Prince William County will rewrite its transportation comprehensive plan and add a mass transit chapter to keep up with anticipated growth in the county, based on a presentation to the Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday.

This is the first stage of what will be a months-long process to address the county's changing transportation needs. It will be the first time that the county has considered long-term mass transit planning.

Prince William is undergoing a simultaneous land use and housing update.

"There are more people wanting to use transit here than we have experienced in our suburban history," County Executive Craig S. Gerhart said. "This creates a different approach for what Prince William ought to be. There couldn't be a better collision of events for you to tackle the vision and answer the question, 'What should Prince William look like?' "

A mobility committee, which has been meeting since May 2007, made its recommendations based on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' population projections for Northern Virginia in 2030.

"They could not justify additional mass transit with those projections," said Ray Utz, the county's chief of long-range planning.

"In order to incorporate [VRE] Virginia Railway Express and PRTC [Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission] into our long-range planning, they needed to do their own long-range planning," Utz said.

VRE plans to expand service to Gainesville, Haymarket and Nokesville, based on growth patterns.

A transportation consultant group that studied Prince William's needs recommended that the county officially designate transit corridors along interstates 66 and 95 and routes 1, 28 and 29 to support mass transportation.

Because of the county's lack of density and plentiful parking, a majority of Prince William residents still rely on their cars. County residents make more than 10,000 trips a year to Tysons Corner, Pentagon City and Springfield for specialty items, according to the transportation consultant.

Nearly 600 new lane miles of road will be needed in Prince William by 2030, at an estimated cost of $2.3 billion. Add to that $200 million worth of highway costs to get an idea of the county's transportation needs.

If the board initiates comprehensive plan changes next week, the planning commission will hold a public hearing in September, and the plan will come back before the board in October.

Also Tuesday, supervisors approved a resolution calling on the Virginia General Assembly to "adequately and appropriately address transportation funding" during next week's special session on transportation.

Earlier this year, legislators repealed steep abusive-driver fees, estimated to bring in $65 million a year. And the state Supreme Court ruled that regional authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads could not levy taxes and fees because they are not elected bodies.

"If the state would pick up its responsibility, we'd have more money to do more things," said Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large). "I don't have any faith they will come forward with anything. They've shown a lack of leadership for 20 years."