Proposal for New Parallel Road to I-95 with Trail

The FIVE EXISTING ROADS highlighted in yellow and orange on the map can easily be connected together to form a new 4 lane road that would connect Garrisonville Road in Stafford to Harrison Road in Spotsylvania. (Please ignore the red highlighted roads.)

The Mine Road extension from Garrisonville Road to Route 17 has been in the Stafford Comprehensive Plan for over 30 years. I'm proposing a modified version to extend it along I-95 across the river to Harrison Road in Spotsylvania near I-95.

I'm looking for public support to build a new regional 4 lane North to South Parallel road on the west side of I-95. This road could include a section of the East Coast Greenway Trail System.

Our region has only two North to South roads that consist of 10 regular lanes, but there are 10 roads that go East to West with 34 combined lanes. That demonstrates that there is a North to South lane deficiency in our Transportation grid.

The best and least impact alternative to build 4 more North to South lanes is to connect and expand some of the existing roads. Some of these roads are underutilized, but connected together can form a new 4 lane parallel road on the West side of I-95.

The new parallel road can be built by connecting 5 roads, Mine road on Route 610, to Centreport Parkway, reconstructing Berea Church, to Celebrate Virginia Parkway, crossing the River, to Carl Silver Parkway and connecting to Harrison Road.

Every one of those connections has been around in many different plans over the last 30 years, but no one put those connections together in a regional plan. 

The 1997 Outer Connector Study showed that less people would use it the further west it was. The traffic counts indicated that if the road was built closer to the population centers more people will use it and benefit, as a result it would relieve more traffic and cut back on air pollution.

The best way to massively cut back on the carbon footprint in our region is to create a Transportation and trail grid system that will reduce peoples driving time and reduce traffic congestion. If this transportation grid reduced just 2 miles of driving time for 25,000 cars it would be equivalent to reducing 50,000 miles per day of driving. At the same time it would reduce traffic congestion for tens of thousands of cars drastically reducing air pollution.

The Outer Connector study extensively evaluated at least 5 different road segments that crossed the Rappahannock river. Corridor 3 of that study is the closest to I-95 and very similar to what I'm proposing, except that I'm using existing roads. Some of which were built after the Study was done.

I'm basing my analysis on Corridor 3 of that study, because it crossed the Rappahannock River and US-17 in the general location of this parallel road proposal.

Corridor 3 of the Outer Connector starts at the Centreport
I-95 Interchange crossed US-17 and the river near the proposed location, but then went west towards the Motts Run Reservoir connecting to Gordon Road on Route 3 in Spotsylvania.

I do not support the western section that goes to Gordon Road. I support a parallel road to I-95 going South to Harrison Road instead

Based on the traffic count data for corridor 3 in the Outer Connector study the parallel road proposal would:

1. Relieve traffic congestion for 16 miles all along Route 1 between the Garrisonville Route 610 intersection to the Harrison Road intersection in Spotsylvania. This is the only proposal that relieves traffic at Mary Washington Hospital, the Falmouth Intersection, Stafford Hospital, and the Stafford Courthouse intersection.

2. Relieve traffic congestion on US-17 between Route 1 in Stafford and GEICO.

3. Relieve traffic congestion on the busiest section of Route 3 between I-95 and Bragg Road. There will also be some relief on Route 3 from traffic using Harrison Road instead of using Route 3 and Salem Church Road.

4. Relieve traffic congestion on Sanford Dr, Plantation Dr, Cardinal Forest Dr, Enon, Popular, Kellogg Mill, Ramoth Church, Salem Church and many other local Roads.

5. It would create a local road that can be used when Route 1 or I-95 is blocked from accidents or road work.

6. Provide more economic opportunities in Stafford and Fredericksburg.

7. Would not impact any of the four local water supplies Able, Mooney, Motts Run or Huntington Run Reservoirs or the three different water intakes on the Rappahannock River.

8. Would have less of an environmental footprint than building 4 new North South Lanes on I-95 or Route 1.

9. Would cost less to build than widening I-95 or Route 1.

10. Would have limited impact on traffic during construction, saving money on traffic control measures that have been know to increase construction time and costs by as much as 35%.

11. Would have limited impact on business relocation.

12. Would have limited impact on businesses during construction.

13. Would help keep local traffic off I-95.

14. Could be built in stages keeping initial costs down and eliminating the need for tolls.

15. Provide a time saving factor to many people in the region, getting cars off the road faster cutting down on air pollution.

16. Would be a regional project that would highly qualify for Transportation Enhancement Grants, Smart scale and other pots of Federal and State money.

17. Would provide a sidewalk or Trail that would enhance walking and Bike riding for a better quality of life for thousands of Citizens. The trail could include a section of the East Coast Greenway Trail System, which would enhance tourism in our region. Two trails are already built on Mine Road and Celebrate Virginia Pkwy.

18. The East Coast Greenway Trail System could connect to the Fredericksburg Rappahannock Heritage trail system.

19. The new road would provide quicker access to Mary Washington Hospital for the people that live on Route 17, especially for the Seniors that live in the Dell Web community on Celebrate Virginia Parkway. Ambulances and cars could avoid Route 1 and the Falmouth intersection to get to Mary Washington Hospital .

20. The new road would provide quicker access for the soccer and swim moms to drive to Embry Mill Park without taking the back roads, or using Route 1, Route 17, Route 630 or I-95.

21. GEICO employees that live in North Stafford, Spotsylvania or Fredericksburg could use it to avoid I-95, Route 1, Route 3, Route 17 and Sanford Drive.

22. The Ambulances and Seniors that live off Truslow Rd. and in the Falls Run communities would have better access to Stafford Hospital. Route 17, I-95 and Route 1 could be avoided.

23. Transportation money would be saved. The state would avoid having to compensate the toll company for lost toll revenue. There is a clause in the I-95 toll lane company contract that requires the State to compensate the toll company for lost revenue for any road improvements that would reduce their revenue. That would include widening of I-95 and Route 1.

This proposal would be exempt from compensation since the road would have to stop on Route 610.

24. The landscaping, street lights and trail that are already in place at Celebrate Virginia Parkway would be a beautiful Gateway into Stafford or Fredericksburg. Making it more attractive for office buildings that the land is currently zoned for.

25. Sometime in the future the Falmouth bridge might have to be shut down for repairs like the Chattum bridge. The new road would help mitigate the closure.

26. There is substantial cost savings compared to road widening. There is very limited utility, driveway pipe, mailbox, sidewalk, and business relocation's.

27. No new traffic lights are needed on Route 3, Route 17 or Courthouse Rd in Stafford.

28. The trail has the potential to run under Route 17 at the Celebrate Virginia loop. That way it would avoid conflicts between pedestrians and cars.

In summary this proposed road uses 5 existing roads to keep costs and land acquisition down, is more environmentally friendly compared to any other alternative, can be build quicker, Improves the Transportation grid system by offering hundreds of different driving alternatives to save driving times and can be used to avoid the most congested roads, improves ambulance times, provides a trail from Harrison Road to Garrisonville Road and in general will improve the quality of life for everyone in our region.

Please join me in supporting a study for this project, together we can make it happen.

Sincerely,
Joe Brito