Prince William County Government: Contract Awarded For Widening Balls Ford Road Between Ashton Avenue And Doane Drive

Press release from Prince William County Government:

Tuesday, 03 Aug 2021

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors recently awarded a $22-million contract to Branch Civil for the Balls Ford Widening Project between Doane Drive and Ashton Avenue in the Gainesville Magisterial District.

The project includes widening the 1.2-mile section of Balls Ford Road into a four-lane divided roadway with a 16-foot, raised grass median. The project, which will add much needed capacity to the road, includes a 10-foot-wide shared use path along the north side of Balls Ford Road and a five-foot, concrete sidewalk along the south side of the roadway.

The Prince William County Comprehensive plan that was adopted in 2016 included the project. The Board approved a County-State agreement in 2018 which granted the County local administration over the project. The Prince William County Planning Commission approved the project in 2019.

The contract, which was chosen from three submissions as the lowest responsive and responsible bid, allows for a $1.1-million incentive payment if the project is completed and approved by the Prince William Department of Transportation before Dec. 31, 2022. The incentive payment will decrease by $25,000 each day the work remains incomplete with no payment due if the work is not completed by Feb. 14, 2023. There are several active projects along Balls Ford Road. Setting incentive payments for projects encourages contractors to finish their projects on time, which helps avoid delays, cost overruns and travel disruptions while keeping the projects coordinated and on track.

The use of the incentive is also an effort to have the improvements ready for when the Balls Ford Road park-and-ride lot and express lane access open in Dec. 2022 as part of Virginia Department of Transportation’s Transform I-66 Outside the Beltway Project.

The project supports the County’s Transportation and Mobility Strategic Plan goal of providing a comprehensive, accessible multi-modal transportation infrastructure network to improve local and regional mobility.

This press release was produced by Prince William County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.