Route 28 Overpass to Move Ahead in Manassas

An overpass state and local officials say is needed to ease traffic congestion near railroad tracks in Manassas will become a reality, Virginia officials announced Friday.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said he will designate $24.9 million in federal economic stimulus funds to complete the Route 28 overpass, which will extend above the railroad tracks and Wellington Road, just west of Old Town Manassas. The "shovel ready" project is something local and state officials have advocated for 10 years.

"This project is a real transportation asset not just for Manassas but for everyone who travels Route 28," Manassas City Manager Lawrence D. Hughes said. "It's been in our capital improvement plan for years and in the state's six-year plan several times but got backed up as funding for transportation dried up."

Manassas Director of Utilities Michael C. Moon said the project, which will cost roughly $46 million, will go to bid this fall and be handled by the Virginia Department of Transportation. The other half of the funding has been in place "for several years" and will come from other transportation funding pots, most of which come from the state, he said.

"VDOT will administer this, but we have a say in the design and how it gets done," Moon said. "With these projects, they tend to coordinate with us pretty well."

VDOT spokesman Mike Salmon said the groundbreaking for the project will be late winter or early spring next year. The project will take about two years as crews build a 400-foot-long bridge and approach ramps. Lane and road closures during the process are not likely, Salmon said.

The City of Manassas, Norfolk Southern -- which owns the rail line through Manassas -- and VDOT have worked together for the past 10 years, trying to determine how to mitigate road congestion due to freight traffic. More than 25,000 vehicles compete with 12 to 14 freight trains a day, according to officials from the office of Del. Jackson H. Miller (R-Manassas).

"This important transportation improvement has long been needed," said state Sen. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William), who has worked with Miller to secure the funding. "It will improve public safety by reducing fire and rescue response times to the west side of the city and will also benefit air quality by decreasing the dwell times of thousands of motor vehicles every day."

Moon said the change is not the first to happen around the crowded crossing. About seven years ago, the facility where train crews change shifts was moved farther from the intersection.

The project also removes an obstacle to Virginia Railway Express's planned Gainesville-Haymarket extension. The commuter-rail service wants to add a second track to Norfolk Southern's B line and create a new branch of service that would expand 11 miles out from the Manassas station. That project, which could cost as much as $244 million, would not be completed for seven to 10 years.

Hughes said the city has been adamant that the Route 28 overpass be completed before any trains were added.