Vote for your favorite local businesses in our Readers’ Choice Awards, Pages 12-13
June 19, 2019 | Vol. 18, No. 25 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Road work ahead
‘Cut the hills’ project to close U.S. 29 north for 3 weeks By Anita Sherman Times Staff Writer
If your daily commute relies on northbound U.S. 29 just south of the Prince William County line, get ready to make some alternate travel plans. Work began Monday, June 3, on a $4.6 million project to level two hills along a 0.9 mile stretch of northbound U.S. 29 from Riley Road, or Va. 676, to just south of the intersection at Vint Hill Road. Starting Monday, July 8, the northbound lanes along that section of the roadway will be closed to all traffic until Saturday, Aug. 3.
The project is the result of years of concern about the hills along the northbound lanes of U.S. 29 that obstruct drivers’ view of traffic stopped at the light at Vint Hill Road. The approach to that intersection is the No. 1 safety issue in Virginia Department of Transportation’s nine-county Culpeper District. There were 113 crashes on that section of U.S. 29 between 2013 and 2017, according to state records. The project will regrade the northbound lanes to remove the hills and improve the stopping-sight distance on the approach to the intersection.
See U.S. 29, Page 4
Trash Trouble
COURTESY PHOTO A wildlife camera planted in a Prince William County resident’s front yard captured the image of two American Disposal Services employees dumping source-separated recyclables and household trash into the same garbage truck, a violation of county code that carries a $500 fine. INSIDE Classified............................................17 Lifestyle..............................................10 Opinion.................................................5 Obituaries...........................................16
Puzzles.................................................6 Readers Choice...................................12 Real Estate..........................................15 Sports...................................................7
U.S. 29 closure: What you need to know When: Monday, July 8 through Friday, Aug. 2 What: The northbound lanes of U.S. 29 will be closed from Riley Road to Vint Hill Road. Detour: Will be in place from U.S. 17 north to Interstate 66 for northbound traffic coming from Warrenton. Vint Hill Road will remain open. Traffic will be able to turn south or north on U.S. 29 from Vint Hill Road during construction.
Top hauler fined for trashing recyclables By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
For the past several months, American Disposal Services, Prince William County’s top trash hauler, has struggled with a truck driver shortage that has resulted in missed or delayed pickups and dozens of complaints. Now the company is on the hook for another problem: trashing source-separated recyclables with regular household garbage. According to Prince William County records, American Disposal Services has been cited at least four times between April 17 and May 11 for mixing the contents of residents’ recycling containers with the regular trash. That’s a violation of county code that carries a $500 fine for each infraction, meaning the company has been charged a total of $2,000 in fines since April.
See TRASH, Page 4
86 WARRENTON, VA