Virginia's Bi-County Parkway Put on Hold

Build a new road to handle growing congestion or preserve history? That question is one reason the Bi-County Parkway has been put on hold.

The proposed 10-mile roadway would connect Prince William and Loudoun counties, but Wednesday lawmakers said the project should be scrapped.

Traffic is increasing in the area around the Manassas Battlefield, where Stonewall Jackson was given his name.

The parkway, a straight shot from Interstate 66 to Dulles International Airport, is part of the proposed solution to congestion.

But as part of a deal with the parks service, some roads, like the intersection of Lee Highway and Sudley Road, would have to close.

Pastor Bass Mitchell, the senior minister at Sudley United Methodist Church, which dates to the 1700s, said if small roads shut down to allow the parkway to go through, his church won't make it.

"It's like cutting your oxygen off,” he said. “I mean, what would happen to a business if it depended on the traffic going by and suddenly the traffic is not going by there?"

Others claim the Bi-County Parkway won't help congestion. Rather it will hurt it, because the road will just bring more development.

It is still too early to say what will happen with the project, VDOT said, but it has to go through a lengthy study process.

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