Politics & Government

Bi-County Bound: Opposition Doesn't Slow Parkway Plans

Transportation Secretary gets rough reception at Board of Supervisors workshop, but state presses on with plans for Prince William-Loudoun connector.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors played host to Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton for a heated presentation involving the controversial “Bi-County Parkway” on Tuesday.

Connaughton stopped by to help allay public concerns about the project, a 10-mile road that would connect I-66 in Prince William County with Route 50 in Loudoun County.

However, his presence did little to ease any minds. The packed meeting turned hostile quickly, with both the county supervisors and citizens registering their disapproval with the road.

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“I’m sure you can hear the frustration and disappointment in the room,” said Pete Candland, Gainesville district supervisor, while addressing Connaughton. “Our responsibility is not to cure these regional or state level problems, it’s to represent the people who elected us to sit up here.”

Candland was among the board’s most vocal opponents to the parkway, pressing the secretary on the road’s potential to attract unwanted cargo traffic to the area.

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His questioning earned raucous rounds of applause from the crowd, but his insistence for more time prompted chairman-at-large Corey Stewart to threaten to cut his microphone and clear the board chambers.

Connaughton affirmed the Virginia Department of Transportation’s position that the road will ease traffic and provide easier access to Dulles International Airport, but his views weren’t welcomed by the meeting’s attendees. The crowd would frequently interrupt his presentation, prompting the secretary to yell, “Stop!” before continuing to discuss the parkway’s potential benefits.

“We believe it’s essential to dealing with today’s traffic problems, which we all know exist, and will provide better access to Dulles Airport and deal with the increased population,” Connaughton said.

The secretary also believes that the parkway could benefit the Manassas Battlefield by easing traffic for tourists.

“I don’t think the county sees the types of benefits that it could be, and should be, seeing from that battlefield, just because it’s so difficult for people to go up there and visit,” Connaughton said.

But Potomac district supervisor Maureen Caddigan echoed some of Candland’s concerns.

“People are already receiving a lot of noise from the truck traffic, and they know it’s only going to get worse,” Caddigan said. “For people living in the Route 234 corridor, they never thought they’d be living on the Beltway.”

Woodbridge district supervisor Frank Principi was similarly opposed to the project, as he believes it would be best to divert traffic out of the Manassas Battlefield altogether.

“I think the more elegant solution to all this is fully funding the battlefield bypass,” Principi said. “That would help us have a lot more happy residents.”

Despite the intense criticism, Connaughton continued to insist that the project would go forward, although he noted that its completion was still years away.

“Every major traffic project we work on has opposition,” Connaughton said. “We’re going to try to address every concern that you have, but at the end of the day, you have a major problem."


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