By KELLY HANNON
Fredericksburg-area elected officials yesterday criticized the timing of a public-private project to build toll lanes on Interstate 95 from Washington to Massaponax.
The original proposal had lanes reaching Massaponax by 2011. But yesterday, a Virginia Department of Transportation presentation showed the work wouldn't be finished in the Fredericksburg area until 2014--if anything is ever built south of Dumfries.
Stafford Supervisor Bob Gibbons said this news will kill the project's public support.
"To go to the public and say they're not going to see relief until 2014? They're not going to accept it," Gibbons said. "You're going to have chaos on your hands."
Stafford officials were also angry that the northern portion of the project stops, for now, at Dumfries.
Stafford has told VDOT it wanted the northern portion to extend south to Courthouse Road or Centreport Parkway.
"That's pretty disingenuous, to ask our opinion if our opinion didn't matter," said Stafford Supervisor Pete Fields.
The debate over the project took place at a work session of the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees transportation planning in the region.
The project's history traces back to 2003, when VDOT accepted private proposals to build additional lanes on I-95.
One team's proposal, Fluor Virginia and Transurban USA, was selected in December 2005. The companies plan to add a third lane to the current two-lane High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) corridor running from 14th Street in Washington to Dumfries. Cars with three or more occupants would still ride for free, but vehicles carrying one or two people could pay a toll.
Then, from Dumfries to Massaponax, it wants to build two combination HOV and High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.
But before any earth is moved, a series of federally required environmental studies must be done. Plus, Fluor/Transurban will conduct traffic and revenue studies. If the studies show the project is workable, VDOT could enter into negotiations with Fluor/Transurban for a comprehensive agreement that would hammer out the specifics of what would be built, where, and when.
This week, VDOT is wrapping up negotiations on an interim agreement with Fluor/Transurban, said Barbara Reese, VDOT's chief financial officer.
This agreement will govern the study portion of the project. Virginia is splitting the cost of the study phase with Fluor/Transurban, spending roughly $26.8 million in public dollars.
Yesterday, FAMPO members gathered to vote on whether $11.3 million in federal money could be devoted to the project, letting the environmental study process move forward.
The motion passed, but without the support of Stafford representatives. The conversation took a tense turn as officials pushed VDOT for an assurance that the southern phase of the project would be built at all.
VDOT demurred. "We can't prejudge the outcome of the environmental work," Reese said.
Fluor/Transurban and VDOT divide the proposal into the "northern project" and "southern project."
The northern project stops at Dumfries, where the current HOV lanes end. That's where the southern project starts, stopping near Massaponax.
VDOT had no control over this division for the study phase, Reese said.
The Federal Highway Administration determined this was the natural dividing line for the project's two halves, she said.
An outcome of the study process could be a change in how the project is constructed, meaning Stafford could move into the northern project, she added.
The division matters because the environmental study of the northern project is scheduled to finish by winter 2007. The southern project, which includes the Fredericksburg area and the Rappahannock River crossing, will take until winter 2008, at least. The northern portion's study will move faster since roadway already exists.
VDOT cannot promise to wait until all environmental studies are finished before it decides whether to begin construction on the northern project, Reese said.
That leaves the impression--rightly or wrongly--that the project's been set up to allow the lanes to be built north of Dumfries if environmental challenges arise in the southern project, and the northern section remains profitable, said Robert Wilson, executive director of the Rappahannock Area Development Commission, which oversees FAMPO.
"That essentially leaves the FAMPO region out of luck," Wilson said.
The change in timing is a credibility and confidence issue for the public, said Spotsylvania Supervisor Henry "Hap" Connors. People need to believe that when the state starts a project, it will try to achieve the goal of building lanes to Massaponax.
Or, as he said to Reese, "You'll be talking to a different set of elected officials next time you're down here."
To reach KELLY HANNON:
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com