Spotsylvania Parkway

Location
Spotsylvania County, Virginia
From Route 3 West to Route 17 Bypass

Status
In response to requests from the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors and the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO), the Commonwealth Transportation Board included in the Six-Year Program for FY 2000, an allocation to initiate the Preliminary Engineering of the Spotsylvania Parkway. Through adoption of the Comprehensive Plans and resolutions dating back to 1981, the Board of Supervisors has expressed its desire to establish a corridor that would provide a connection between Route 3 and the Route 17 Bypass, intersecting with Interstate 95. In 1996, the County Board of Supervisors directed its Planning Staff to initiate a feasibility study of the Parkway, a new transportation facility that was identified in the County's 1994 Comprehensive Plan. This Preliminary Study will build on the feasibility report for the Parkway completed by Spotsylvania County in March 1998. 

Additionally Spotsylvania Parkway is contained in the FAMPO 2025 regional transportation plan, adopted in November, 2000. This plan indicates that the Parkway could ultimately become the southwest quadrant of a circumferential roadway around the City of Fredericksburg. According to the FAMPO Plan, the Parkway, with an interchange at I-95, would relieve congestion on the existing major radial roads emanating from the City of Fredericksburg and at the existing I-95 interchanges at Route 1 and Route 3.

The Spotsylvania Parkway Study being conducted by VDOT will build on the County's feasibility study. The VDOT Study will identify existing and projected transportation deficiencies in the study area, determine the appropriate transportation mode to address these deficiencies, and will evaluate several alternative corridor locations for a roadway to link Route 3 with I-95 and the Route 17 Bypass. VDOT will also evaluate the consequences of taking no action, referred to as the "no-build" alternative. For each alternative carried into detailed evaluation, the Study will address traffic, environmental and community impacts. 

A Draft Environmental Document is being developed for the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) approval, after which a Location Public Hearing will be held. At that time the Draft Environmental Document will be open for public and resource/regulatory agency comments. These comments and concerns will be presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) for their action. This information will be included in the Final Environmental Document submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for their approval. 

Currently the study is funded through CTB action. Should a Build Corridor be selected, and when funds are made available, the design stage of the project's development will begin.

Project Description
The Spotsylvania Parkway Study involves evaluating a corridor for traveling south of Route 3, which will link with Route 208 and Route 17 Bypass (see map) .  The Parkway is the fourth and final leg to be studied for a circumferential roadway around the City of Fredericksburg.  It is intended to address regional mobility in an area that has become the fastest growing in the state.

The Spotsylvania Parkway is proposed as a four-lane, median divided roadway.

Study Completion
The study should be complete in summer 2004.