The Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization last night pinpointed six "top priority" area road projects to emphasize on the state's next Six-Year Improvement Program.

Three of the projects are in Spotsylvania County and two in Stafford County.

The sixth item on the list includes both counties. The Interstate 95 HOT lanes project initially will cover Stafford, but the long-range plan includes adding the lanes to Spotsylvania.

FAMPO administrator Lloyd Robinson said the list is a way to tell the Commonwealth Transportation Board what FAMPO sees as the most important projects that are ready for action but still need funding.

The CTB is in the process of planning the 2013-18 blueprint. In June, the board approved the $10.6 billion plan covering 2012-17.

HOT lanes are, by far, the biggest of the projects. The 9-mile stretch in Stafford is just a portion of the overall $1 billion project.

The HOT lanes will be built in the median along I-95. The new lanes are aimed at increasing available high-occupancy vehicle lanes while also allowing single-occupant vehicles to use them by paying a toll.

Construction on the Stafford portion, which will stretch into Fairfax, could begin by 2012 and be completed by 2015. The plan calls for the lanes to eventually be extended into Spotsylvania.

The most expensive of the remaining area projects is a plan to replace the I-95 interchange on Courthouse Road in North Stafford.

Construction, which could start in 2014, will cost an estimated $129 million.

The other Stafford project on the list is the proposed widening of U.S. 1 from Telegraph Road to Prince William County. This would be part of other road projects in the works to handle impacts caused by BRAC, the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

The project is in the early stages and has no cost or time estimate.

In Spotsylvania, the biggest and most controversial project is the possible construction of an interchange toll road from the Interstate 95 rest area/welcome center to Gordon Road. The project is only in the planning and study phase, but FAMPO wants to make sure the $26.2 million budgeted for the "right-of-way phase" is available.