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NOVEMBER 27, 2015
VOLUME 27, NUMBER 37
VIEWPOINTS, PAGE 4 | PUZZLES, PAGE 14 | CLASSIFIEDS, PAGE 15
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Can Express Lanes extension cure the clog? JILL PALERMO
For the Stafford County Sun
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ews that the Interstate 95 Express Lanes would be extended two miles in an effort to ease traffic congestion in the Garrisonville Road area received mixed reviews from Stafford County officials this week. Del. William Howell, R-28th, called the announcement “good news for Stafford County and the thousands of Stafford area residents who commute north every day.” But newly elected Del. Mark Dudenhefer, R-2nd, and Stafford Supervisor Paul Milde III, R-Aquia, say they’re less than impressed. While both say the extension is better than nothing, they say it’s likely too limited to bring real relief to the traffic congestion that has resulted from the year-old Express Lanes project. “A measly two-mile extension is barely going to change anything,” Milde said
Tuesday. “It’s just not much. It’s not enough.” Dudenhefer, a former Stafford County supervisor who was just elected to the district that includes parts of Stafford and Prince William counties near I-95, said the traffic challenges won’t be solved until the lanes are extended to Massaponax, as initially promised. “I think it is a Band-Aid fix,” Dudenhefer said. “It’s a good start … but until the Express Lanes go all the way into Spotsylvania County, it’s not going to be completely fixed.” Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced on WTOP’s “Ask the Governor” show Tuesday that work would begin next year to extend the southern end of the Express Lanes about two miles past the current flyover to exit 143 at Garrisonville Road. The plan calls for Express lanes drivers who don’t get off at Garrisonville Road to travel farther south and then merge into the left lane of I-95, to “balance local and express lanes traffic entering I-95
southbound,” according to a Virginia Department of Transportation fact sheet detailing the plan. Southbound I-95 drivers exiting onto Garrisonville Road will have to merge with Express Lanes drivers heading for Garrisonville Road after the flyover. Changes to the northbound lanes will allow vehicles to enter the Express Lanes sooner. The new northbound entrance will be located about 1,000 feet before the I-95 northbound off-ramp to U.S. 1 at Aquia. Northbound traffic will also merge into the Express Lanes from the left lane. Construction is expected to take two years to complete. Work will primarily take place within the existing north-south I-95 lanes, so no private property will be affected, VDOT says. The project is the result of an agreement between state transportation officials and Transurban, the private, Australian-based company that built and operates the I-95 and I-495 Express Lanes. Mike McGurk, a Transurban spokesman, said the company would not yet release
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a cost estimate for the project but that it would be built under the existing contract with the commonwealth. McGurk also said it’s too early to tell how much more travelers will pay in tolls to drive on the extended lanes, but he said the rate would likely range between 50 cents and $1 per mile. Transurban collects an average of $370,000 in tolls daily on the existing 29-mile Express Lanes corridor, according to the Transurban website. Stafford County officials and residents have been complaining for months that extending the lanes’ terminus to Garrisonville Road has exacerbated already heavy rush-hour traffic in the busy North Stafford area. Mi l d e, w h o t w i c e EXTENSION PAGE 11 served as chairman of the
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