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County finishes US 15 upgrades
Prince William officials got to cross another road bond project off their list on Tuesday.
Shortly before noon, politicians and transportation workers gathered at James Long Park in Haymarket to cut the ribbon for U.S. 15.
While the road has been open for several hundred years, it hasn't always been in good shape. Tuesday's ribbon-cutting celebrated the completion of a number of improvements to the major thoroughfare.
The project involved building two new bridges across Catharpin Creek, adding two new signals at Waterfall Road and Long Park and upgrading the signal at Dominion Valley Drive.
“Anything we, as a county, can do to improve travel helps our residents get home more quickly and more safely,” said Gainesville Supervisor John Stirrup (R).
According to Stirrup, what is now U.S. 15 was once an Indian hunting path and later became known as the Carolina Road because it was a trade route between Frederick, Md. and Georgia.
Travelers along the road were often attacked by gangs of thieves, which gave name to the road's nickname -- Rogue's Road.
“Today, Route 15 is how Prince William County residents travel to and from work and school,” Stirrup said. It gets people home to their loved ones. It gets them to where they earn a living for those loved ones.”
While Prince William leaders are working to widen U.S. 15 to four lanes within the county's borders, Loudoun supervisors are hoping to keep their stretch of the road a rural two-lane byway.
From 1997 to 2007, the number of vehicles using U.S. 15 at U.S. 29 increased 29 percent, from 9,300 to 12,000. Planners expect 23,400 vehicles per day in 2030.
Long-term planning shows U.S. 15 as a four-lane road from U.S. 29 (Lee Highway) to the Loudoun County line, according to Prince William Director of Capital Projects Khattab Shammout.
The first priority, once money is available, is the three miles from Lee Highway to Interstate 66. Once that is done, more money will be needed to widen the highway the remaining 5.6 miles from Sudley Road to the Loudoun County line at Bull Run.
The number of vehicles on U.S. 15 at I-66 more than tripled from 1997 to 2007, from 8,000 to 28,000 vehicles per day. Nearly 50,000 vehicles per day are expected in 2030.
Three-and-a-half miles north, just short of Route 234 (Sudley Road), planners expect 38,100 vehicles per day in 2030. Just north of that intersection, the count is expected to peak at 31,000 vehicles per day as commuters take advantage of the planned Route 234 Bypass.
Vehicles per day at the U.S. 50 intersection increased 125 percent from 1997 to 2007, to 18,000 per day – the volume the road is designed to carry.
Virginia Department of Transportation planners predict that when it reaches 25,000 vehicles per day, commuters can expect stop-and-go progress for four hours each morning and evening.
The Loudoun planning commissioners toyed with the idea of recommending that part of U.S. 15 be four lanes. However, the probability of massive local resistance has taken that idea off the planning map, and the recommendation from the commissioners is to keep U.S. 15 at its current two lanes from the county line to the new roundabouts at U.S. 50.
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