There are five options under consideration for a new bridge connecting Stafford and Fredericksburg, and the concept is also being revived in Spotsylvania.
Anyone who has traveled State Route 3 during morning or evening rush hours can tell you it’s congested with motorists heading to work or on errands in Central Park or Spotsylvania Towne Center.
More than a decade ago, there were preliminary plans to ease congestion by taking local motorists across the Rappahannock River to the west on a new bridge and allowing them to avoid Interstate 95 or crowded U.S. 1 altogether.
The plan never got very far because at the time, Spotsylvania County’s Board of Supervisors, after a heated election focused on the issue, rejected the idea of a west-side bridge leading into the county.
Now, after a request made by Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg two years ago, a new bridge across the river is connecting the two communities is once again being studied.
There are five proposed routes. None of them would touch Spotsylvania County roadways. But they are all designed to ease both west and east bound traffic on Plank Road at key intersections around Bragg Road and Carl D. Silver Parkway by diverting local traffic headed across the river away from the malls and I-95.
The Fredericksburg Metropolitan Area Planning Organization (FAMPO) has already done a preliminary study on the five possible routes and has hired a consultant to do a detailed study.
Ian Ollis, FAMPO Administrator, says four of the five options would connect to Gordon Shelton Boulevard on the Fredericksburg side at several possible spots. Ollis describes the boulevard currently as “a road to nowhere which was originally designed to connect to a new interchange on I-95 which never happened.”
If you drive that four-lane road today, the last nine-tenths of a mile runs through undeveloped fields of overgrown vegetation and ends at a deeply wooded landscape.
The fifth option would connect to Carl D. Silver Parkway between the Sheetz gas station and Wegmans supermarket.
On the Stafford, side all of the options feed into Commerce Parkway, which crosses U.S. 17 and heads towards the Stafford Airport. Two of the options would connect though Celebrate Virginia Parkway, another by Greenbank Road, and the fourth by a totally new road. (See the map.)
Ollis says “the whole point of the bridge is to allow for regional mobility without using I-95. It’s a local bridge for local people.”
The environmental impact of a new bridge was part of FAMPO’s preliminary study and is being reviewed again by the consultant. It looked at possible disruption to existing housing and commercial structures. Only one of the options could possibly impact residential property, but Ollis says there should be enough room in the proposed footprint to avoid that.
The impact on river water, historic sites, and local farmland is also being considered in the study.
The consultant’s report is expected to be ready in time for a public hearing set for November 20 at the conference room at Virginia Credit Union stadium, home of the Fredericksburg Nationals. Included in the report will be updated traffic projections through 2050.
The bridge project could cost between $200 to $300 million and take eight to ten years to design, finance, and complete. The money could come from several possible sources including federal, state, and local funding—or it could be financed by a regional transportation authority, similar to those in northern Virgnia and the Richmond area.
However, the Virginia General Assembly has rejected the establishment of a tax-raising authority for this region three times in the past.
The full first study of the bridge project is available at FAMPO’s website.
While Spotsylvania County bowed out of a western river crossing back in the 1990s, county planners have now suggested a new concept for a bridge on the eastern side of I-95 that would take traffic from the growing housing developments in the New Post area across the Rappahannock, connecting Tidewater Trail (U.S. 17) to King’s Highway (Route 3 South) in Stafford County.
The preliminary concept will be presented to FAMPO’s policy committee on Monday, September 16.
Meanwhile, for the short term, VDOT is dedicating $4.7 million to improvements to move traffic better through the congested area of Plank Road.
Starting early next year, the westbound right turn lanes between Bragg Road and Chamber Drive will be turned into through lanes, making the roadway four full lanes. And heading east, a right turn lane near Mall Drive will be changed so that it too can be a travel lane.
Dual right lanes from Mall Drive onto Route 3 will also be built with additional traffic signals.
By Hank Silverberg
CORRESPONDENT
Email Hank
