The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to reimburse the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority nearly $7.5 million in funds related to the Route 28 bypass project.
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The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to reimburse the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority nearly $7.5 million in funds related to the Route 28 bypass project.
The board voted to cancel the project during its Feb. 4 meeting.
Under three prior executed agreements with the authority, the board had initially been reimbursed over $7.47 million for project expenses – hence the need for a further reimbursement to the authority of the unused funds.
To achieve this, the board on Tuesday reappropriated the same amount back to the authority in recordation tax designated for transportation.
Board Chair Deshundra Jefferson said the county has not lost track of the need to address traffic concerns along this corridor.
“Prince William County officials recognize the need to address congestion on Route 28 to improve both safety and commute times for our residents and the region as a whole,” Jefferson said in a statement. “While we canceled this specific project, Prince William County officials remain determined to find a solution to the traffic issues in the Route 28 corridor, and we are doing that by exploring other options.”
The Route 28 bypass project was initially greenlit through a 2019 mobility bond referendum and was subsequently included in the county’s Comprehensive Plan and its fiscal 2025-2030 capital improvement program.
The project, under design since its approval by the board in September 2020 and expected to cost between $300 million and $400 million, reached a standstill due to cost issues and the implications of its planned path through dozens of homes located in the Bull Run Mobile Home Park.
Discussions with Fairfax County also reached a stalemate, with several Prince William supervisors emphasizing the need for increased commitment from the Fairfax side.
According to designs outlined on the county’s Route 28 bypass project website, the new road would have begun as an extension of Godwin Drive at its meeting with Sudley Road, before intersecting with Lomond Drive and continuing up to the border between Fairfax and Prince William counties. The bypass would then have briefly connected with Ordway Drive and tied into the existing portion of Route 28 south of Compton Road.
An alternative path, which was also deemed unviable, would have turned east from Godwin Road to rejoin Route 28 south of the Bull Run stream.
According to the board’s Tuesday agenda packet, “The challenges included difficulty in acquiring or conceivably condemning right-of-way inside/outside of the County’s jurisdiction required for the project, significant environmental, utility, and historic impacts, as well as challenging and costly bridge and wall designs, making this alternative not viable.”
