Active Prince William

Advancing active mobility in greater Prince William, Virginia

Category: PW BOCS (Page 1 of 4)

Our Comments on PWC’s Proposed Route 1 Widening

January 21, 2025 /
A bus priority lane on University Boulevard in Montgomery County, MD
On January 16, 2025, Active Prince William sent the following comments to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) in response to a new funding request by County staff to initiate the widening of a new segment of U.S. Route 1 (between Cardinal Dr and Dumfries Rd), to create a high-speed arterial roadway with six through travel lanes for personal motor vehicles.

PWC BOCS,

After reviewing Agenda Item 8A on the 1/21/25 PWC BOCS Agenda, we are disappointed there was no public announcement and input opportunity for these priorities/plans before the agenda’s release.

While we  acknowledge that the Route 123/Old Bridge Rd flyover, Sudley Manor Dr/Route 234 Interchange, and Clover Hill Rd/Route 234 Intersection are active projects, we are disappointed that the Route 1 widening project is part of this agenda item.

This Route 1 corridor segment, which includes the highest ridership Omniride local route (53 | Dumfries Connector), provides an opportunity to scope a major transit project by adding bus lanes or business access and transit (BAT) lanes.

Route 1 should be designed as a walkable and livable mixed-use regional activity center, not as a mini I-95. The county should reject the long-discredited mindset that widening commercial roadways is a viable long-term strategy that improves resident quality of life.

Such widening projects induce an even-higher vehicle mode share, burden families with increased vehicle ownership costs, render active mobility unsafe and miserable, and generate negative environmental externalities, such as noise, air, and water pollution.  This project would depress transit ridership in favor of increased vehicle speeds, reduced safety, and more traffic congestion for future generations. These outcomes are in direct conflict with many proposed strategic plan goal elements.

While PWC transportation staff is proposing widening Route 1 this week, Arlington County and VDOT are recommending removing interchanges from their section of Route 1 and lowering the speed limit to 25 MPH, to reconnect the community as part of major economic development initiative, while Fairfax County and VDOT are advancing a major Bus Rapid Transit initiative along Route 1.

Prince William County is no longer a rural/exurban county with 200,000 people like Stafford County; it’s an increasingly urban county of almost 500,000 people that must significantly diversify its transportation mode share to improve quality of life for its residents.

We need to prioritize affordable housing AND affordable transportation.

We recommend the PWC BOCS:

  • Gather resident input on more sustainable alternatives for this Route 1 segment
  • Initiate a Citizen Transportation Advisory Commission, to vet transportation project priorities in a public forum before they reach the BOCS agenda
  • Prioritize projects that reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled

Thank you for considering this feedback.

Mark Scheufler & Allen Muchnick, Co-Chairs
Active Prince William
Advancing active mobility for a more livable, equitable, & sustainable greater Prince William, Virginia
Twitter: @Active_PW https://twitter.com/Active_PW

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Send Another Email

December 23, 2024 /

 

On December 17, 2024, Active Prince William sent the email below to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to–yet again–protest the Board’s long-standing practice of placing their approval of staff applications for transportation project funding on the BOCS Consent Agenda, in the absence of any prior public involvement process.

Dear Chair Jefferson and County Supervisors:

Active Prince William asks–once again–that the Board of County Supervisors require the Prince William County Department of Transportation to present the Department’s proposed mobility project funding submissions for public input at an advertised public hearing before they are submitted for the Board’s approval on a consent agenda.

Your December 17, 2024 BOCS Consent Agenda includes Item 4-F, listing two mobility projects for grant applications for Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) and Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP) funds in FY 2031.  The public was unaware of which specific projects would be identified until the BOCS agenda was posted.

This consent agenda action—in the absence of any prior public input opportunities—perpetuates the same opaque decision process of previous Boards. The decision will be ratified by the BOCS before Public Comment Time and with no public announcements or public input opportunities in advance regarding which projects were considered for funding.  All decisions were made by county staff behind closed doors, and endorsed by the BOCS before Public Comment Time.

The two projects in Item 4-F may well be the best ones to advance at this time–but maybe not.  Moreover, the public was never given any opportunity to ensure that the proposed scope and budget of each project are adequate to suitably accommodate all travelers.  The BOCS will never know if there were other perspectives, because the current process precludes any opportunity to gather points of view other than from county staff.

Active Prince William has repeatedly suggested an alternative approach; namely, require the County’s Department of Transportation to hold an annual or semi-annual public hearing to present its proposed upcoming mobility project funding requests for public input at least 30 to 60 days before consideration by the BOCS.  We raised this issue in our September 2023 survey of BOCS candidates and again at the May 14, 2024 BOCS meeting.

We call on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to issue a directive to the Prince William County Executive with the following components:

  1. Require the Prince William County Department of Transportation (PWC DOT) to present–for public comment at an advertised public hearing–any proposed first-time request for regional, state, or federal funding for a new transportation or trail capital project or planning activity, in advance of bringing that funding request to the Board of County Supervisors for its endorsement.
  2. Cite all applicable non-local funding programs, including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s (NVTA) 70% and 30% funds; federal RSTP or CMAQ allocations which are endorsed by the NVTA; the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission’s (NVTC) I-66 and I-95/I-395 Commuter Choice programs; National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) technical assistance grants (e.g., Transportation-Land Use Connections, Transit within Reach, Regional Roadway Safety Program); Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside requests submitted to either the TPB or VDOT; VDOT’s SMART SCALE, Revenue Sharing, and HSIP programs; the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Recreational Trails Program; USDOT discretionary grant programs (e.g., RAISE, SS4A); Congressional earmark requests; and the Federal Transit Administration’s Enhanced Mobility Program.
  3. Allow the PWC DOT to conduct these public hearings at any appropriate venue that includes online viewing and public comment submission components, including at scheduled Planning Commission meetings.
  4. Specify that the public hearing must be held at least 30 to 60 days before the endorsement request is scheduled to be placed on the BOCS agenda.
  5. Require the PWC DOT to compile a written summary of–and response to–the public comments received and include that summary with the other BOCS meeting materials when they present their funding request for BOCS approval.

We believe that the process outlined above would provide valuable community input–near the very beginning of the project development process–for both the PWC Department of Transportation and the Board of County Supervisors.

Thank you for considering our proposal,

Mark Scheufler & Allen Muchnick, Co-Chairs Active Prince William
Advancing active mobility for a more livable, equitable, & sustainable greater Prince William, Virginia

Prince William Supervisors: Allow Public Input on New Transportation Projects!

December 16, 2024 /

The consent agenda for the May 14, 2024 meeting of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors included four separate items to either ratify or authorize staff initiatives to seek state or federal funds to advance numerous transportation projects (Items 5B through 5D) or to endorse the final design of a significant and somewhat contentious highway project (Item 5A).  Item 5B alone ratified the pre-applications for seven separate highway projects to seek SMART SCALE funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation. 

Since Active Prince William has repeatedly advocated for greater transparency and public input opportunities in transportation decision-making, including which projects are advanced for new funding requests and how proposed projects are designed, our co-chair, Allen Muchnick, delivered the following statement during Public Comment Time at the 2 pm meeting.

Public Comment at the May 14, 2024 2 PM Meeting of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, Statement of Allen Muchnick, Active Prince William Co-Chair

Good afternoon.  I’m Allen Muchnick, co-chair of Active Prince William and a City of Manassas resident.

Under Items 5B through 5D on today’s consent agenda, you authorized (or ratified) new submissions for transportation project grant applications that had never been the subject of a prior public hearing.  Moreover, this public comment period was only held after the consent agenda was already approved.

Thus, the public was given little or no opportunity to influence the mix of projects submitted for funding or to ascertain that the project scope and amount of funds requested would be adequate to suitably accommodate all travel modes.

Active Prince William has repeatedly asked that the Board of County Supervisors require the Prince William County Department of Transportation to hold advertised public hearings to present its proposed new transportation funding submissions for public input before they are submitted for the Board’s approval.

Such annual or semi-annual public hearings could be held at a standalone venue or at a Planning Commission meeting.

Thank you for considering this input.

Promote Public Input on New Transportation Funding Requests BEFORE the Local Governing Body’s Endorsement

February 19, 2024 /

Active Prince William believes that early and proactive community involvement in the development of significant transportation improvement and planning projects would better integrate the community’s needs and preferences into the selection and scope of those projects.

Presently, however, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (and the local governing bodies for greater Prince William’s cities and towns) routinely endorse staff recommendations for non-local transportation funding requests with minimal public notice or opportunities for citizen comment.

Typically, the public first learns of such funding requests for new transportation projects by discovering them on a Consent Agenda for an upcoming governing body meeting, held before any public comment period.  This lack of transparent decision-making, limited public notice, and precluded public comment effectively deprives the public of any opportunity to meaningfully influence the nature and scope of the transportation projects that are advanced for funding.

In the Fall of 2023, we included the following question in our survey for all Prince William Board of County Supervisor candidates:

Question 1: Do you support requiring the PWC [Prince William County] Department of Transportation to hold advertised public hearings before the Board of County Supervisors [BOCS] is scheduled to endorse any future applications for regional (e.g., NVTA, NVTC Commuter Choice), state, or federal transportation improvement funds?

Four of the current BOCS members (Andrea Bailey, Deshundra Jefferson, Bob Weir, and Margaret Franklin) responded “Yes”, three others (Victor Angry, Tom Gordy, and Kenny Boddye) selected “Need more information”, and nobody selected “No”.

To not burden the already-crowded BOCS meeting agendas, this public comment on the County’s proposed new transportation funding requests could be solicited at standalone public meetings or at a scheduled meeting of an appropriate advisory body, such as the Prince William County Planning Commission.  Ideally, however, 1) public input would also be solicited online, 2) any staff presentation and advertised public hearing would include a virtual meeting component, and 3) the PWC Department of Transportation would be required to provide both a written summary of the public comments received and a written response to those public comments.

Since non-local transportation funding programs typically have an annual or biennial schedule for new project submissions that is announced many months in advance, the Prince William County Department of Transportation should be able to present all their proposals for new transportation projects being considered in the coming months at one or two consolidated advertised public hearings each year.

We call on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to issue a directive to the Prince William County Executive with the following components:

  1.  Require the Prince William County Department of Transportation (PWC DOT) to present–for public comment at an advertised public hearing–any proposed first-time request for regional, state, or federal funding for a new transportation or trail capital project or planning activity, in advance of bringing that funding request to the Board of County Supervisors for its endorsement.
  2. Cite all applicable non-local funding programs, including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s (NVTA) 70% and 30% funds; federal RSTP or CMAQ allocations which are endorsed by the NVTA; the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission’s (NVTC) I-66 and I-95/I-395 Commuter Choice programs; National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) technical assistance grants (e.g., Transportation-Land Use Connections, Transit within Reach, Regional Roadway Safety Program); Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside requests submitted to either the TPB or VDOT; VDOT’s SMART SCALE, Revenue Sharing, and HSIP programs; the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Recreational Trails Program; USDOT discretionary grant programs (e.g., RAISE, SS4A); Congressional earmark requests; and the Federal Transit Administration’s Enhanced Mobility Program.
  3. Allow the PWC DOT to conduct these public hearings at any appropriate venue that includes online viewing and public comment submission components, including at scheduled Planning Commission meetings.
  4. Specify that the public hearing must be held at least 30 to 60 days before the endorsement request is scheduled to be placed on the BOCS agenda.
  5. Require the PWC DOT to compile a written summary of–and response to–the public comments received and include that summary with the other BOCS meeting materials when they present their funding request for BOCS approval.

We believe that the process outlined above would provide valuable community input–near the very beginning of the project development process–for both the PWC Department of Transportation and the Board of County Supervisors.

Fund a Strategic Countywide Active Mobility Plan Plus $10 Million in Pedestrian, Bicycle, & Trail Improvements in the FY 2025 County Budget

January 20, 2024 /

On January 9, 2024, Active Prince William sent the following message to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (PW BOCS) to request funding for two items in the FY 2025 County Budget: $3 million to develop a strategic active mobility plan for Prince William County and $10 million to implement active mobility and trail improvements.

Please consider funding the following items in the Prince William County FY 2025 Budget to support elements approved in the Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan (CESMP).  Strong support was received from BOCS members for two of our recent BOCS candidates’ survey questions about 1) funding an Active Mobility Plan and 2) completing PWC’s planned National Capital Trail Network (NCTN) segments by 2030.

1. Active Mobility Plan  | $3 Million, one-time FY2025 funding line item

Justification: The Active Mobility Plan must be developed to provide a strategic/prioritized effort to enable bike/pedestrian projects identified in the 2040 Mobility Chapter to become projects in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget.

The Active Mobility Plan–for transportation and recreation–must assess the existing pedestrian and bicycle networks within Prince William County and identify gaps to fill that will produce the greatest improvements in overall connectivity. This should include elements such as Complete Streets; Safe Route to Schools, Parks, and other community destinations; and Vision Zero policies and programs; regionally significant trails (NCTN, PHNST, ECG, US Bike Route 1, and the I-66 Parallel Trail); crossings of I-95, I-66, the Bull Run and Occoquan Rivers, and other barriers (highways and railroads); an active roadway reconfiguration program; plus various types of purely recreational trail projects and park sites and identifying the staff capacity to plan, construct, promote, operate, maintain, and rehabilitate all the elements not managed by VDOT.  The plan must also ensure that the County’s future active transportation networks mesh with neighboring networks planned for the City of Manassas, City of Manassas Park, Stafford County, and Fairfax County, in order to create the highest overall level of connectivity region-wide.

We recommend that the county hire an experienced outside consultant team to coordinate the development of this plan and to incorporate a robust public involvement component (e.g., a set of at least two public input opportunities, the involvement of agency staff and citizen work groups [including the existing Trails and Blueways Council], and targeted outreach to low-income, ethnic minority, and immigrant communities.  This would be analogous to how the County developed the CESMP and is planning to implement the SS4A Action Plan grant.

2. Mobility and Recreation Trails (General Fund) | $10 Million (Recommended to be an ongoing budget line item) 

Justification: Sustained General Fund money for trail infrastructure is needed to advance projects through the planning, engineering, right of way, and construction stages.  With over 200 miles of identified missing sidewalks and planned shared-use paths, this sustained funding level is needed to implement the Active Mobility Plan and leverage non-general fund dollars (e.g., TRIP and other developer contributions, VDOT revenue sharing, TAP, HSIP, CMAQ/RSTP, NVTA, USDOT grants, and concurrent highway construction, etc.)

Thank you for considering these requests.

Mark Scheufler & Allen Muchnick, Co-Chairs
Active Prince William
Advancing active mobility for a more livable, equitable, & sustainable greater Prince William, Virginia
Twitter: @Active_PW https://twitter.com/Active_PW
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