Alliance Position:
Expedite construction

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Current Status:
Phase IV construction is underway. Two temporary detour roads-one on Route 29, the other on Linton Hall Road-are under construction and set for completion in mid-2012. Once the detour roads are open to traffic, construction will begin on the new interchanges and widening of Route 29 to six lanes.

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Cost:
$435 million

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Project Description:
The Gainesville Interchange Project consists of four phases. Click on the links below for more information on each phase.

• Phase I - University Boulevard Connector - Completed August 2006

• Phase II - Widening I-66 between Route 234 Business and the Route 234 Bypass - Completed November 2006

• Phase III - Widening I-66 between Route 234 Bypass and Route 29 - Completed July 2010

• Phase IV - Grade separating and widening the I-66/Route 29 Interchange - Construction underway; Completion scheduled for June 2015 

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Background:
Located in one of Prince William County's fastest growing areas and as a major I-66 link from fast growing communities to the north, south and west, the I-66/Route 29 Gainesville Interchange has become one of Northern Virginia's largest transportation bottlenecks.

I-66 carries 87,000 vehicles a day between Route 29 and the Route 234 Bypass. The number of vehicles is exptected to exceed 175,000 by 2028. Route 29 carries roughly 57,000 vehicles a day through Gainesville and is expected to increase to 87,000 by 2035.

The interchange is a long-standing Alliance priority.

This area is the economic engine for western Prince William County. Four new shopping centers are open and/or planned along with up to 10,000 approved homes that would generate tens of thousands of new daily trips.

Route 29 is the only road with four or more lanes going through the area and presently carries 64,000 vehicles per day according to VDOT. Normally a four-lane road can carry 50,000 vehicles per day. Route 29 through the area has at least three new traffic signals planned. The intersection of Route 29 and Route 15 will soon have a fourth approach added for a new residential community which will diminish the available green timr for through traffic on Route 29. Peak hour traffic flow through the area has not increased in years simply because it is restrained by the gateway intersections. There is a plan to widen Route 29 to six-lanes, which will quickly be absorbed by latent traffic demand.

The exurban traffic demand on the Route 29 and I-66 corridors is growing daily with new communities in Culpeper, Fauquier, Frederick, Madison, Orange, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren Counties. Collectively, there are in excess of 50,000 homes in the planning and construction stages of development in that corridor.