Supervisors OK Centreville Area Road Projects

Thanks to a reallocation of some funds and savings on two big county projects, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has identified about $11 million to complete planned improvements to pedestrian and road projects across the county.

Several of those improvements will be in the Chantilly area:

Walney Road Replacement ($1,068,081): This money will allow the project to move into design-build implementation. This project will replace and widen the 70-foot Walney Road Bridge. This bridge, which crosses Flatlick Branch, will be widened to include five-foot bike lanes on both the north and southbound lanes, as well as a sidewalk on the west side and a shared-use path on the east side.

See: Frey Updates on Multiple Road Projects

Lee Road Culvert ($1,582,000): These funds will fully fund the project to remove a bottleneck on Lee Road. By lengthening the culvert, the existing two-lane section will be widened to four lanes from 500 feet south of the culvert to Penrose Place.

The money for some of the projects became available when two other large transportation projects were unexpectedly completed under budget.

Burke Centre’s Virginia Railway Express parking was finished with $3.9 million to spare in federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funds; another $7 million in federal Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP) money was left over after the widening of Route 29 and Gallows Road to three lanes.

Supervisors also approved the use of $1.65 million in commercial and industrial (C&I) taxes for the projects.

Commercial and Industrial tax revenues will be used for:

• Stringfellow Road Park and Ride ($600,000): This project adds about 300 new spaces to the existing facility, as well as expands the kiss-and-ride area. Originally estimated to cost $5.5 million, the expansion is paid for with bonds approved in 2007 referendum. However, an extra $600,000 is needed for additional construction costs due to poor soil conditions under the parking lot and access road sites, as well as for the increased cost of the proposed transit building.

“The new projects will enhance safety, reduce bottlenecks and improve bike and pedestrian opportunities,” Board Chairman Sharon Bulova said in a statement.

For a full list of projects, click here.