Business Interests Launch Partnership to Support Parkway

Leaders from the Prince William County and Loudoun County Chambers of Commerce and others are showing their support for a roadway purposed to relieve travel headaches and promote quality of life. But opponents to the road say it could adversely impact historical areas.

The two county chambers and nine other entities form the Bi-County Partnership. The group backs a plan for the Bi-County Parkway—also known as the Tri-County Parkway— a north-south roadway that would connect Interstate 95 to Dulles International Airport.

View the corridor master plan here.

The roadway would only go through Loudoun and Prince William Counties, but is called the Tri-County Parkway by state transportation officials because it once included Fairfax County.

The parkway is designed to connect major employment and population centers in Loudoun and Prince William counties and to reduce traffic congestion in the region that is home to Virginia's fastest-growing, most economically-vibrant communities, Bi-County Partnership members said.

Representatives of the group held a press conference on Thursday in Manassas to discuss its objectives concerning the Bi-County Parkway and other regional transportation projects.

"This road is about improving the quality of life in our communities by untangling our region's transportation mess; getting traffic off our neighborhood roads, making it easier for people to get to work, school, church or the grocery store and about creating jobs," said Rob Clapper, president and CEO of the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce. 

Improving out transportation infrastructure is crucial to supporting our area's growth and economic prosperity, he said. "This is an investment in our future."

In the next three decades, the two counties are set to have a combined population of 1.2 million and add 300,000 new jobs, Bi-County Partnership officials said.

The current 200,000 north-to-south trips will double to 400,000 in that time frame, they add.

The Bi-County Parkway is about business, said Tony Howard, president and CEO of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commence. But he added that it is equally about families and quality of life, which are currently being diminished by crushing traffic congestion.

The proposed roadway could open for business within the next five to 10 years, said Bob Chase of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.

When asked if the roadway would be open access, only for High Occupancy Vehicles or a toll road, Clapper said that’s a conversation for another day, as the parkway is still deep in the planning phase.

But not everyone is excited about the idea of a North-South Corridor.

Long-time Prince William County resident Page Snyder said the roadway would interfere with historic lands in the Manassas area.

It takes 5 acres from the historic Manassas Battlefield and cuts a path through 30 acres of her farm, which is designated as a Virginia historic site, she said.

Her family’s 200-acre farm on Pageland Lane includes documented slave burial grounds, she added.

Snyder said we shouldn't plan for the future at the expense of present issues, such as the congestion on Route 28 and Interstate 66. The problem is the west-east movement of traffic, not the north-south movement that the planned parkway addresses, she added.

She and others have met with Clapper and told him of their concerns.

“The dialogue was productive,” Clapper said on Thursday. “We tried to kind of provide where our position stands and we are trying to find a middle ground. Ultimately, it is about benefiting all the residents of Prince William and Loudoun counties. ”

Clapper said more discussion of the project will be held Monday, June 3, at a VDOT information meeting held at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.