VDOT seeking public comment on Falmouth intersection reconstruction

Date published: 7/30/2008

By KELLY HANNON

Twenty years ago, Kenneth Day could cross Butler Road in Stafford after a quick glance for oncoming traffic.

"Now I have to wait. Sometimes it can take 20 minutes to cross the street," said Day, who lives on Forbes Street and walks to his parents' house on Butler Road, mere yards from the Falmouth intersection.

Between 50,000 and 60,000 cars a day travel through the intersection where U.S. 1, Butler and Warrenton roads meet, north of the Falmouth Bridge and Rappahannock River.

The intersection has earned a reputation as one of the worst traffic jams in the Fredericksburg area. During rush hour, motorists often must wait through several green lights before they have a turn to pass through it.

Yesterday, Day stopped in a Virginia Department of Transportation open house in Stafford, trying to get a sense of how reconstructing the intersection will affect people's lives and homes.

VDOT is seeking comment on the intersection redesign project through Aug. 8.

Earlier this year, $21 million in state and federal funding was budgeted between 2009 and 2014 to build a new traffic pattern at the Falmouth intersection.

The Stafford Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in Aug. 2007 endorsing a single-point urban interchange design.

That design would allow free-flowing traffic between Warrenton and Butler Road to be carried on an overpass above U.S. 1. Traffic on U.S. 1 will be controlled with signals, and can access the overpass by ramps.

Several design concepts have been considered over time, and those plans were also on display last night.

A roundabout design was evaluated but eliminated after traffic engineers concluded the high volume of traffic, especially truck traffic, was too great at the intersection. Other options were a cloverleaf interchange and a bypass north of the intersection.

After public comment has been collected, VDOT will begin an environmental review of the single-point urban interchange. The review process involves around 20 state and federal agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration.

A public hearing on the completed environmental statement will be held next year, said VDOT spokeswoman Tina Bundy.

At that point, detailed design drawings for the proposed project will be available, and businesses and homeowners will see how their property would be impacted, if at all.

That is what Day was hoping to see yesterday.

Date published: 7/30/2008