Active Prince William

Advancing active mobility in greater Prince William, Virginia

Tag: Active Prince William (Page 2 of 5)

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.

Our Comments at the NoVA Joint Transportation Meeting, December 2, 2024

December 9, 2024 /

 

On December 2, 2024, Active Prince William’s co-chairs, Allen Muchnick and Mark Scheufler, separately delivered public statements at Northern Virginia’s joint annual transportation public meeting, before senior representatives of the six regional and state transportation agencies identified above  

Our statements are posted below.  As indicated in the announcement for this meeting, written comments related to any of the information presented at this meeting may be emailed or mailed through December 31, 2024.

Northern Virginia Joint Transportation Public Meeting

December 2, 2024

Statement of Allen Muchnick, Member

Virginia Bicycling Federation

and Active Prince William Boards of Directors

Good evening.  I’m Allen Muchnick, a City of Manassas resident and a long-time board member of the advocacy groups Active Prince William and the Virginia Bicycling Federation.

For more than seven decades, our region has repeatedly expanded major roadways in a futile quest to fix traffic congestion.  The result is a fiscally and environmentally unsustainable highway network, dysfunctional and ugly suburban sprawl, and inequitable and life-threatening mobility challenges, especially for households without multiple personal vehicles.

It’s time for Virginia’s transportation agencies to embrace the three guiding principles for transportation infrastructure investment articulated by the national advocacy group Transportation for America:

  • Design for safety over speed
  • Fix it first, and
  • Invest in the rest

Designing for safety over speed is essential to reduce Virginia’s unacceptable epidemic of traffic violence.  In 2023, Virginia traffic crashes killed 907 people, including 133 pedestrians, and injured nearly 64,000 people, including nearly 1700 pedestrians.  It’s past time to aggressively retrofit all of Northern Virginia’s multilane commercial arterial roadways to establish more survivable design speeds, as part of a comprehensive Vision Zero strategy.

Fixing our mobility infrastructure requires much better maintenance of Virginia’s pedestrian and bicycle facilities.   VDOT’s 2004 Policy for Integrating Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodations states, in part:

  • VDOT will maintain bicycle and pedestrian accommodations as necessary to keep the accommodations usable and accessible ….. 
  • For sidewalks, shared use paths, and bicycle paths built within department right-of-way, built to department standards, and accepted for maintenance, VDOT will maintain these bicycle and pedestrian accommodations through replacement and repair.

However, VDOT still performs little maintenance and repair of its shared-use paths and sidewalks, except in response to reported complaints.  After construction, the pavement is left to deteriorate for decades and is fixed only after repeated complaints.  VDOT still has no annual budget or established policies and procedures to adequately and proactively assess and maintain its active mobility assets.

Thank you for this opportunity to comment.  We urge VDOT to better support active mobility in the years ahead.

Statement of Mark Scheufler, Active Prince William Co-Chair

Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.  I’m Mark Scheufler, Prince William County resident and 16-year VRE rider.

With the recent purchase of the Manassas Line and the planned completion of the Long Bridge in 2030, I strongly recommend VRE, region and state partner to support adding 2nd Platforms to the Manassas Park, Burke Centre, Rolling Road and Backlick Road stations to the near term Capital Improvement Plan.  This will allow for the Manassas Line to move to an all-day, all-week clock face schedule, with a few commuter train slots during peak-of-peak time frames.  The schedule along with 4-5 Amtrak trains per day will significantly increase ridership and lower capital costs due to the reduced train equipment needs that a high peak-of-peak commuter schedule requires.

More VRE service is vital for the region to take advantage of the VPRA multi-billion investment in the corridor and make better use of the VRE equipment that already carries high fixed costs regardless of the amount of service provided.  I-95 and I-66 are not getting any more capacity for the next 50 years.  VRE has the greatest ability to add significant mobility capacity in the region.

Boston/MBTA is an example of a rail system reworked their schedule to better serve people traveling in the middle of the day, in the evening and on weekends with the goal of transforming service from commuter rail to regional rail.  Their rail ridership is near pre-pandemic levels while VRE is still near 40%.

Existing plans do not go far enough to handle service disruptions with a higher frequency schedule especially with Amtrak trains and freight trains mixed in.  As a regular rider, service disruptions are a major hindrance when using the system.

I strongly recommend the 2nd platform project  be submitted for future Northern Virginia Transportation Authority regional funding.

But most importantly transportation agencies need to work with the localities/state to integrate projects such as the 2nd platform project/all day service with land use changes to increase mixed-use/residential density adjacent to stations to draw more ridership.  (This is especially needed in Fairfax County).  This only works if all-day all-week service is planned.  We have a major housing shortage in the region.  Planning housing/services adjacent to high capacity transit service is a solution.

With the completion of the I-66 and I-95 Express Lane projects, competitive bus schedules during peak periods will limit future VRE growth in some segments of the catchment area.  We need to start planning land use density improvements next to stations and 2nd platforms now to support high frequency service on the Manassas Line to begin when the Long Bridge opens.

Thank you for considering this testimony .

 

 

 

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

Our Questionnaire for All 2023 PWC BOCS Candidates

September 25, 2023 /

Active Prince William emailed the following questionnaire to all 2023 nominees for Prince William Board of County Supervisors seats on September 28, 2023.  We will post each candidate’s responses below each question once we receive them. After October 20, we will also identify those candidates who have declined to respond to this questionnaire.

Please note:  As a non-partisan advocacy organization, Active Prince William will NEVER endorse or oppose any candidate for elected office.  The candidates’ responses (and non-responses) are recorded below–in the order received–simply to educate the voting public.

Active Prince William’s Questionnaire for All 2023 Candidates for the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS)

Active Prince William is an all-volunteer education and advocacy organization that seeks better walking, bicycling, and public transportation options in greater Prince William, Virginia, to create more livable, equitable, and sustainable communities.

This survey, intended for all nominated 2023 BOCS candidates, asks several multiple-choice questions concerning our organization’s current issue priorities. Each question, highlighted in bold, is preceded or followed with brief background information. Candidates are invited to elaborate on their answers in the final question.

For a few of the questions, we’ve recently added more background information.  The newly added information is underlined and bracketed by *** at the beginning and end and also shown here in a red font.

Candidate responses will be posted verbatim on Active Prince William’s website, to inform voters about your positions regarding these issues. Thank you in advance for completing our questionnaire!

Please feel free to email us at active.princewilliam@gmail.com if you need more information or clarification regarding any of these questions.

Early and proactive community involvement in the development of significant transportation improvement projects ensures that the community’s needs and preferences are well integrated into the selection and scope of those projects.  Currently, however, the Board of County Supervisors routinely endorses staff recommendations for non-local transportation funding requests with minimal public notice or opportunities for citizen comment.

*** If the BOCS were to require the PWC Department of Transportation to present–at one annual advertised public hearing–all transportation projects being considered in the coming year for various non-local transportation funding programs, both the Department and the BOCS could obtain valuable community input near the very beginning of the project development process. ***

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

        Yes:
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)
 
        Need more information:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)

Except for Prince William County, virtually every local governing body in our region has an adopted master plan for active mobility (walking, rolling, and bicycling) that articulates policies, programs, and strategic actions to effectively and expeditiously develop well-connected pedestrian, bikeway, and trail networks; provide equitable non-motorized access and mobility for the entire community; and ensure the safety of vulnerable road users. 

Question 2:  Do you support directing the County’s Planning Office, Department of Transportation, and Department of Parks & Recreation to jointly develop a robust countywide plan for expanding active mobility (pedestrian, bikeway, and trails) infrastructure and programs, ideally using an extensive community engagement process and hiring an experienced outside consultant team, well versed in suburban active mobility planning, to organize and coordinate this vital community planning initiative?*

        Yes:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)
 
        Need more information:

Prince William County is fortuitously situated along four designated long-distance non-motorized or multi-modal travel routes; namely, the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, the East Coast Greenway, the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, and U.S. Bicycle Route 1.   (The first three routes listed above would meander along the Route 1/I-95 corridor between the Town of Occoquan and Triangle, whereas US Bicycle Route 1 runs generally southwest from the Town of Occoquan to Independent Hill and Aden, exiting the County on Fleetwood Drive).  In addition, both the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) and the MWCOG Board of Directors endorsed a 1,400-mile National Capital Trail Network in the summer of 2020, and, in June 2022, the TPB adopted a transportation-sector climate strategy to complete all currently planned segments of the National Capital Trail Network by 2030.

Question 3:  Do you support a formal commitment by the Board of County Supervisors to complete all planned Prince William County segments of the National Capital Trail Network, the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and the East Coast Greenway by the year 2030? *

        Yes:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)
         Need more information:
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District

Most large NoVA localities, including Fairfax County, Arlington, and Alexandria, have citizen transportation advisory commissions—appointed by and reporting to the governing body–to act as community advocates, assist with public outreach, and give timely advice to the governing body on diverse transportation issues, policies, planning, programming, and project designs and features.   (Loudoun County still only has a Transit Advisory Board that is focused on public transportation).

*** Several years ago, the BOCS directed the PWC Department of Transportation to engage the Planning Commission as a transportation advisory body.  However, that initiative has not produced effective citizen involvement: planning commissioners may lack transportation policy expertise; the transportation project briefings are an added burden; and the meetings have not allowed meaningful public comment on transportation matters. ***

Question 4:  Do you support having the Board of County Supervisors establish a citizen Transportation Advisory Commission that is separate from the Planning Commission?*

        Yes:

  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
        Need more information:
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)

Over the past decade, Fairfax County and other Virginia localities have actively used VDOT’s scheduled roadway resurfacing program to cost-effectively reconfigure scores of roadways to improve safe access for people walking and bicycling.

Question 5:  Do you support directing the PWC Department of Transportation to actively engage with VDOT’s annual roadway repaving program to cost-effectively reallocate existing roadway space to better serve pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists?*

        Yes:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)
        Need more information:
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)

The proposed Route 28 Bypass (Godwin Drive Extension) along the Flat Branch and Bull Run floodplains would remove more than 50 affordable housing units in a designated Equity Emphasis Area, establish a permanent freeway barrier between the West Gate/Sudley and Loch Lomond communities, foster more exurban sprawl and long-distance drive-alone commuting from west and south of Prince William County, and increase traffic congestion and delays along Centreville Road in Fairfax County.  Moreover, due to inflation since 2019, the roughly $300 million already earmarked for this project (including $200 million from the County’s 2019 transportation bond referendum that PWC taxpayers would then repay over perhaps two decades) may not cover all construction costs. 

Meanwhile, both our organization and the Prince William County Trails and Blueways Council have formally commented that the recently proposed shared-use path component of this highway project is substantially inadequate.

Question 6a:  Do you agree than any Route 28 Bypass should include a robust shared-use path component–both along and across the Flat Branch stream valley and with multiple connections to the adjacent neighborhoods—as recommended by both the Trails and Blueways Council and Active Prince William?*

        Yes:
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)
        Need more information:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District

Question 6b, also related to the proposed Route 28 Bypass:  Would you support asking the Upper Occoquan Service Authority (UOSA) to grant immediate public access to UOSA’s existing service road along this corridor as a key component of a shared-path network along and across the Flat Branch stream valley?*

        Yes:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
        Need more information:
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)

Question 6c, also related to the proposed Route 28 Bypass:   When this highway project’s design, costs, and myriad impacts are more fully known in spring 2024, would you support the Board of County Supervisors objectively reevaluating the pros and cons of this controversial project and considering significant modifications or even a partial or full cancellation?*

*** On October 10, 2023, the BOCS authorized pursuing a potential alternative alignment (“Modified Alternative 2A”) that would not cross Bull Run into Fairfax County, because Alternative 2B, which was advanced for preliminary engineering in September 2020, may not be feasible for various reasons (cost, project impacts, and/or right-of-way acquisition issues).  Besides displacing additional affordable dwelling units, Modified Alternative 2A would create a substantial new bottleneck on Centreville Road in Yorkshire, necessitating an additional bridge and road-widening project in both Fairfax and Prince William Counties. ***

[As examples, substantial project changes might include 1) use automated tolling to both finance construction (in lieu of County bonds) and manage transportation demand and/or 2) construct the project segment across and north of Bull Run with the existing NVTA funds and separately expand Old Centreville Rd (possibly as part of an extended multi-locality, multi-modal transit-oriented-development corridor)–in lieu of extending Godwin Dr–to reduce net residential displacements and preserve the Flat Branch stream valley as valuable and much-needed regional parkland.]

        Yes:
  • Tom Gordy, Brentsville District
  • Verndell Robinson, Potomac District
  • Bob Weir, Gainesville District (incumbent)
        Need more information:
  • Victor Angry, Neabsco District (incumbent)
  • Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent)
  • Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent)
  • Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large
  • Margaret Franklin, Woodbridge District (incumbent)
Question 7 (Optional): What else would you like to share about your responses above and/or your views of active mobility and/or public transportation in Prince William County? You are welcome to elaborate here on any or all of your responses above and to provide any additional information that you wish to share with Prince William County voters.   See below for all responses received.

Tom Gordy, Brentsville District:

I am an outdoorsman. I love fishing, kayaking, hiking, boating, and fishing. I also travel extensively due to being a Navy Reservist and have been tremendously impressed by the trail networks in German cities like Stuttgart, where you see families spending their weekends on bike trails visiting local recreational sites and historical sites along with the occasional beer garden. I have a vision to be able to get from the Potomac to the Manassas Battlefield by trail, visiting local, state and national parks, and agribusinesses and agritourism sites along the way. I also support providing more and better access for blue trails in the county that allow residents to experience all of the beauty our county has to offer. Providing more bikeable and walkable communities must be a priority, but that means having a more disciplined and intentional planning and development program. Thank you for what you are doing to support these initiatives. You will always have an open door with and advocate in me if I am honored to be elected.

Kenny Boddye, Occoquan District (incumbent):

I’m committed to more transparency as it pertains to mobility in Prince William County. I gave a directive several years ago to have large scale transportation projects and grant applications heard at the Planning Commission level, which hadn’t been done before. I also still support creation of a Mobility subcommittee of the Planning Commission.

I’ve also been a vocal supporter of more robust multi-modal transportation planning. I supported and gained additional suuport for the DRPT Springfield to Quantico Enhanced Public Transportation Feasibility Study. I endorsed the Mobility chapter updates and Future Transportation Alternatives of the new Comprehensive Plan; I also directed staff to improve upon them by adding the aspirational trails map drafted by the Trails and Blueways Council. Finally, I had BOCS support for exploring bi-directional HOV lanes on I-95 added to the Comprehensive Plan Update.

I’ve also been an advocate for ped/bike/motorist safety improvements. Last year I called for a BOCS Work Session on Traffic Safety, which led to the creation of pilot programs for red light cameras and speed cameras, as well as the county getting a grant to develop its first Comprehensive Traffic Safety Plan.

Andrea Bailey, Potomac District (incumbent):

This application/questionnaire intrigued me because I am a strong advocate of improvements in transportation and mobility. I serve on the NVRC and PRTC Boards. Both boards have made major impacts on data driven solutions to improve mobility and community engaged changes for citizens to enjoy and travel in Northern Virginia. I believe that citizen participation is necessary to create transparency of needs in our region.

I need more information on item 6c in order to give a definite answer.

Verndell Robinson, Potomac District:

#3 Does this include the Potomac Tech Park that is planned next to Forest Park?

#5 What are the requirements for applying for the VDOT scheduled roadway resurfacing program?

#6a & b: this needs to be studied to determine an answer.

Deshundra Jefferson, Chairman At Large:

I am committed to using a multimodal approach to make it easier to get around the county, and I look forward to working with you to make that happen.

###

« Older posts Newer posts »

Archives

© 2026 Active Prince William

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑