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Prince William County supervisors will again confront the decades-old problem of congestion on Route 28 Tuesday, this time considering whether to widen the busy commuter road after abandoning a proposed bypass last year.
The project would expand Route 28, also known as Centreville Road, from four lanes to six between Liberia Avenue in Manassas and the Fairfax County line just north of Bull Run. The section under consideration spans about 2.5 miles.
The Board of County Supervisors canceled the Route 28 bypass project last year and agreed to reimburse the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority nearly $7.5 million. The board had initially approved the bypass in 2019.
That plan stalled amid rising costs, disputes over a route that would have affected dozens of homes in Bull Run Mobile Home Park, and disagreement with Fairfax County about where the bypass would reconnect with Route 28.
Widening the existing road presents its own complications. County transportation director Rick Canizales identified limited right of way and impacts on surrounding properties among the major obstacles. The corridor is already fully developed, with hundreds of independent businesses, office parks and shopping centers lining the route.
The work would also require moving major utility lines and negotiating agreements with the Virginia Department of Transportation, Manassas, Manassas Park and Fairfax County.
Fairfax County has already widened its portion of Route 28 to six lanes, which connect with the recently reconfigured Interstate 66 interchanges.
Funding remains unresolved. The most recent estimate, prepared in 2020, placed the project’s cost at $400 million. Prince William voters authorized $200 million through the 2019 Mobility Referendum, which allowed the county to use the money either for the bypass or to widen Route 28.
Supervisors are being asked to decide whether county staff should continue advancing the project, whether bonds should help finance it, which funding source should cover the resulting debt and whether VDOT should proceed with preliminary engineering and design.
Further VDOT study would need to address the existing four-lane bridge over Bull Run and develop plans for widening it.
A separate Route 28 improvement project championed by Virginia Sen. Danica Roem is continuing to advance. That plan includes redesigned intersections, a raised median and a 1.75-mile sidewalk between Manassas and the Yorkshire area of Prince William County.
VDOT expects right-of-way acquisition for that project to begin this fall, with construction scheduled to start in fall 2028.