Northern Virginia will receive $500,000 to study whether a rapid bus service should be established on Interstate 66 under a spending bill approved late Tuesday night in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bus system would be similarto rail service because vehicles would travel in specific lanes and passengers would wait for the vehicles on platforms.
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The study would be performed in conjunction with the work Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board is doing to evaluate transit options on the Capital Beltway.
“This is just another piece of the puzzle on I-66,” said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. “We are all wasting too much time sitting in traffic.”
The bill, which still needs to win Senate passage, also contains another $20 million toward extending Metrorail service through Dulles International Airport, $500,000 to expand Virginia Railway Express service to Gainesville and Haymarket, $500,000 to improve the Lee Highway-Route 123 intersection in Fairfax City and $100,000 to build sidewalks in Vienna.
“We face massive transportation challenges in this area,” said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va. “The VRE must be expanded into fast-growing western Prince William County. The intersection of Lee Highway and Route 123 is a bottleneck that must be addressed.”
