•   News  
• Business
• Entertainment
• Pics
• Blogs
• Sports
• Obits
• Redskins
• Real Estate
• Classifieds
• Jobs
• Search Local
• Shop
• Bride & Groom

COULD THERE be a morning express train for commuters in the Fredericksburg area by next summer?

In an online chat with riders this week at vre .org, Virginia Railway Express CEO Dale Zehner said he's included funding for a morning express train on the Fredericksburg Line in VRE's fiscal 2011 budget. If approved, the train would start in July.

That doesn't mean the train is a sure thing. At its last meeting, the commuter train system's operations board learned that state money for operations could be cut by $500,000.

But there is strong public support for such a train, which would likely collect passengers at stops at the southern end of the line for an express run to work destinations farther north. For as long as I've had this beat, people have been asking about it.

Zehner tackles rider questions each month at vre.org. This month he dealt with questions about parking in lots reserved for residents of member jurisdictions, such as some of the lots near the Fredericksburg train station (Spotsylvanians will be eligible to park in those lots starting Monday, Feb. 15) and about the Leeland Road parking lot, among other things.

Check out the full archive of chats at vre.org.

Dear Kelly:

I was wondering if the road from Heritage Park Apartments [off Fall Hill Avenue] in Fredericksburg to the new subdivision off Cowan Boulevard is a legal road. I live in the apartments and have noticed people using the road. It's a cut-off road. Just trying to find out if it's a legitimate road that the public can use.

--Justin Lewis, Fredericksburg

The road, where Preserve Lane and the apartment complex's entrance road meet, is not for public use. It can be used by emergency vehicles only, said Dave King, assistant director of the Fredericksburg Public Works Department. "It's purely an emergency access for emergency vehicles," King said.