Widening the traffic nightmare that is Linton Hall Road to a four-lane divided highway between Sudley Manor Road and Route 28 in Prince William County may be blocked by federal rules.
The Federal Highway Administration has notified the county that the $37 million project must follow federal guidelines, adding a significant yet undetermined amount of time and money to the effort.
“The federal and state governments do transportation studies every single day in practically every region of the state. Are they saying now every project, even one that they have money for, that construction is now federalized? The ramifications are simply mind-boggling,” said Sean Connaughton, Prince William Board of County Supervisors chair.
A National Environmental Protection Act study for the road between Routes 28 and 29 was conducted because the Virginia Department of Transportation was originally going to widen Linton Hall Road using federal and state money, said Helen Cuervo, VDOT’s assistant district engineer in Prince William.
Lacking funding, VDOT has been constructing the northern portion of the road, but removed the southern portion from the six-year plan. Prince William County took over, securing the first of the funding with a 1998 transportation bond referendum.
“We only have around $40 million. Every day we are forced to delay a decision on this, the costs are forced higher,” said Connaughton, who added that if the price goes too high, the county will need federal or state money, delaying the project up to six years.
The private contractor that has been extending Sudley Manor Road to the Route 234 bypass, CH2M HILL Constructors Inc., is slated to widen Linton Hall between Devlin and Sudley Manor roads by August.
CH2M HILL was going to finish widening Linton Hall to Route 28 by Dec. 31, 2007, said Tom Blaser, a county transportation planner, but if it must follow federal guidelines, the project could extend well into 2008 if the county can fund it.
Linton Hall Road
» Up to 21,000 vehicles a day use the road.
» VDOT is widening it to six lanes from Route 29 to Glenkirk Road.
» VDOT is widening it to four lanes from Glenkirk to Devlin Road.
» The VDOT project cost is about $27 million.
» Prince William wants to widen to four lanes from Devlin Road to Route 28, including the bridge over Broad Run, for $37 million.
