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First of four public hearings on George Washington Toll Road Authority will be held Tuesday Date published: 3/8/2010
By KELLY HANNON The first public hearing will be held this week on a proposal that, if implemented, could let Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County charge drivers a toll to use a new State Route 3 bypass. The public hearings--two in Fredericksburg and two in Spotsylvania--are required by a 2009 law passed by the Virginia General Assembly creating the option for a George Washington Toll Road Authority. The hearings are the public's opportunity to weigh in on the establishment of the authority, which would be the first of its kind in the Fredericksburg area. The first hearing will be held at tomorrow's Fredericksburg City Council meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers. A presentation on the toll-road authority will precede the public hearing. A second public hearing in Fredericksburg has not been yet scheduled. Public hearing dates in Spotsylvania are to be discussed at tomorrow's Board of Supervisors meeting. Two potential dates proposed by county staff are April 13 and May 11. The George Washington Toll Road Authority would be limited to building new highways in the Route 3 corridor. It could enter into public-private partnerships and set toll rates. Toll-road authorities already exist in other parts of Virginia. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority sets toll rates for the Dulles Toll Road, and the Richmond Metropolitan Authority sets tolls for the Powhite Parkway and Downtown Expressway. If the George Washington Toll Road Authority moves ahead, it would have seven members. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania would each be represented by three elected officials--City Council members and county supervisors--plus the Virginia Department of Transportation commissioner or his designee. Board members would serve three-year terms, except for the VDOT commissioner. If the authority wanted to set toll rates above $1, a full vote of the City Council and Board of Supervisors would be required. The authority's first project is likely to be a new Interstate 95 interchange near the Virginia Welcome Center and a Route 3 bypass from I-95 west to Gordon Road. The Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has been working on a $400,000 feasibility study of that project since late 2007, sharing the study cost with VDOT and the Celebrate Virginia Community Development Authority. The group is preparing to submit documents to the Federal Highway Administration for initial approval.
anywhwere in the DC-Richmond corridor. The more we build the more people move here and we are back to square one. Let people stay where they are and whoever doesn't like our traffic..well as soon as home prices improve feel free to leave.
...plus the added benefit of leading the other way, over I-95 south to the I-95 north bound lanes to access commuter traffic (vans, car sharing, buses, etc.) to I-95 northbound traffic and commuter traffic.It's all been designed, except for invironmental impact and traffic congestion numbers. What is it that keeps this debate going around in circles, fueled by speculation, when many of the answers are available and sitting under your nose?
Stand in the middle of WEGMAN's parking lot and look at all the open land that surrounds this particilar property.If there were an exit ramp built from I-95 it would be strategically be positioned in front of Wegmans at a designed intersection that would not only drive Central Park business but provide for commuter parking in all that "open land" just described. Check your maps. It's all down on paper and has been for quite some time. Benefits: one stop shopping for any kind of services you could imagine...
Just wanted to say it's a shame that because of the very poor design locations for the entrances and exits into the shopping center being so close to the route 3 off ramp which creates an awful bottleneck that we now have to pay to travel on a bypass around this hugh mistake. Why can't the stores pitch in for the cost?
so why is everybody surprised? And now there will be
apartments in the "tourist" area of Celebrate VA, right next to
the big plots of empty land reserved for the Slavery Museum
and waterpark. When is someone going to say the emporer is
wearing no clothes?
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