By DAN TELVOCK
Spotsylvania County residents can expect a Virginia Railway Express station by February 2012, according to the agreement governing the county's membership with the commuter rail service.
Benjamin Pitts and Gary Skinner, two pro-VRE candidates, won re-election to the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night, essentially sealing the deal for the county to join VRE.
Spotsylvania officials have eluded VRE membership for almost 20 years, before the historic 4-3 vote in August that also stipulated the agreement would not be official until Feb. 15.
"We've always wanted the county to join and have a station in Spotsylvania," said VRE CEO Dale Zehner. "I am really happy these two supervisors won re-election."
The agreement that the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission is expected to ratify tonight requires VRE to extend a third rail into Spotsylvania so that service can begin at the same time a station is built. For years, VRE plans have included the possibility of a Spotsylvania station to be located in Crossroads Industrial Park off the U.S. 17 bypass near VRE's $7.2 million train maintenance facility, which opened in the past year.
VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said preliminary design and environmental testing is under way for a third rail that will run from Fredericksburg to Spotsylvania near the VRE rail yard.
The agreement also states that the third rail extension must coincide with the county's building a new VRE station and parking lot. The agreement says the parking lot must have at least 500 parking spaces and the capacity to expand to 1,000 spaces. About 1,000 riders from Spotsylvania now board the trains daily from Fredericksburg and Stafford stations.
The county does not have a formal agreement with any developer, landowner or company to build a VRE station. But there is a lot of support for the service among the business community in Spotsylvania.
The comprehensive plan, which is a guide for growth, targets an area by the VRE Crossroads yard of U.S. 17 and State Route 2 as a prime location.
This is also an area where Tricord Companies proposed, and later postponed, Summit Crossing, a 5,900-unit development with stores, night life and job centers.
Roeber said the county-VRE agreement, which allows Spotsylvania to collect a 2.1 percent wholesale gasoline tax to pay for commuter rail and other local transportation projects, becomes formal when county officials sign it in February.
"It then starts the clock rolling and a two-year window for them to secure funding and build the station and parking," Roeber said.
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com