PW Board rejects US 29 widening through Buckland
By Tara Donaldson
Applause broke out late on Tuesday night as the Prince William Board of County Supervisors unanimously rejected the idea of expanding U.S. 29 to six lanes through Buckland. Instead, supervisors opted to change the county's long range traffic plans to help ensure that the highway remains a four-lane road through the historic district.
Planning Director Steve Griffin told supervisors on Tuesday night that his planning staff recommends the county stick with its long-term plan of eventually widening U.S. 29 to six lanes. Because of the historic nature of the area, Griffin said the road widening should be done in a way to ensure that the scenic, aesthetic, historic, community and environmental resources of the area are preserved.
But the Bucklanders took issue with that idea.
“This is about a lot more than 116 feet of right-of-way,” said David Blake, president of the Buckland Preservation Society. “This is offensive, actually.”
Buckland boasts an unusually high concentration of historical artifacts and has remained relatively undisturbed since the 18th century. In 2004, the village was named the fourth most endangered cultural landscape in the nation by the Cultural Landscape Foundation.
Even though Buckland never lost its town charter (which was granted by the General Assembly in 1798), it has not been operating as a town for more than 100 years. Instead, it is thought of as a historic area, which is simply a part of Prince William County.
The original town is estimated to have been more than 1,000 acres; 19 of which are currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
By the end of the 18th century, Buckland was a thriving stagecoach town with a tailor, cooper, two taverns, an apothecary and a church. A number of famous figures passed through it, including Thomas Jefferson, J.E.B. Stuart and Robert E. Lee.
Due to its mills and nearness to the Warrenton Turnpike (which is now U.S. 29), the town was a major target during the Civil War, though it emerged from the war surprisingly intact. Currently, it is the best preserved example of an early Piedmont model town in Virginia.
When U.S. 29 was widened about 50 years ago, Buckland residents were proud to say that only four of its 48 plots were lost.
But Bucklanders maintain that the proposal to expand U.S. 29 would do much more damage; the extra two lanes would take out a significant part of the remaining historic district.
The problems is traffic. According to the county's staff report, if U.S. 29 is held to four lanes through Buckland (from U.S. 15 to the Fauquier County line), traffic through the area will be essentially gridlocked by 2030.
One potential solution is the Buckland Bypass, a theoretical beltway around the historic area. That idea has also been met with controversy, however, and even when the economy was good, there were no available funds for its construction.
So with few good options available, locals turned out en masse on Tuesday night to urge supervisors to reject the widening.
And that's just what they did. Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington (R) asked his colleagues to change the Comprehensive Plan to state that U.S. 29 will be a four-lane highway through Buckland. The other supervisors unanimously agreed.
The message will be passed on to Fauquier County, Covington said, adding “It's really their new growth that's coming in that's affecting this.”
That last comment drew sharp criticism from Fauquier County Supervisor Holder Trumbo (Scott District).
“Oh, it's nothing to do with the growth in his district?” Trumbo asked sarcastically. “Do they think we're stupid? It's insulting. We're criticized for not having a great, open relationship with Prince William County. This is why.”
Trumbo questioned the notion that the Prince William supervisors are truly concerned with protecting Buckland's history, implying that the board's decision was motivated largely by politics.
Trumbo said that adding two lanes to U.S. 29 is one of several options in Fauquier's comprehensive plan, noting that he believes there are many ways to address traffic congestion on that corridor.
“When you look at what's wrong with 29, it's not so much that there are too few lanes, it's that there are too many stop lights,” Trumbo said, noting that he hopes a transportation study currently being conducted by Fauquier and Prince William counties and the Virginia Department of Transportation will provide some viable options for dealing with congestion.
Trumbo said that both counties should wait for those results before making decisions on how to proceed with U.S. 29.
Reporter Laura Ruby contributed to this story.