State, Local Officials Celebrate Completion of Gainesville Interchange

Sign up for the Manassas Patch newsletter!

First image: At Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, pictured from left are VDOT District Construction Engineer Bill Cuttler; Prince William County Supervisor Martin Nohe; Commonwealth Transportation Board Member James Dyke; state senators Charles Colgan and Richard Black; Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne; State Del. Robert Marshall; Prince William Supervisors Jeanine Lawson, Michael May, Maureen Caddigan and John Jenkins; VDOT District Administrator Helen Cuervo; and Scott Muir, a representative for Norfolk Southern Railroad (VDOT).

Second image: Traffic on Route 29 before the six-year project began and after it was completed.

About a dozen state and local dignitaries gathered Thursday in Gainesville to celebrate the completion of a new interchange designed to clear a major traffic bottleneck on Route 29.

The officials cut the ribbon on a six-year, $230 million project that involved the construction of two overpasses - one carrying Route 29 over railroad tracks, and another carrying Linton Hall Road/Galleher Road (Route 55) over the tracks and Route 29.

To further improve traffic flow, Route 29 was widened to six lanes, with several driveway entrances and two traffic signals eliminated between Interstate 66 and Virginia Oaks Drive, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). Other improvements include a five-foot sidewalk, 10-foot shared-use path, retaining walls, road lighting and landscaping.

Among the officials at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony were Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne; state senators Charles Colgan and Richard Black; Del. Robert Marshall; and five members of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

“This transformation is an outstanding improvement for both rail and road,” Layne said in a VDOT statement. “Four years ago, this intersection was flat, with drivers halted at every traffic signal during each rush hour and train crossing.

“Untangling Route 29, Linton Hall Road and Norfolk Southern Railroad traffic was a massive undertaking, but safer and more efficient access to Gainesville is now a reality for commuters, residents, shoppers and rail users,” he said.

Beginning in 2009, construction crews spent two years moving major utility lines, then a year building two detour roads that kept drivers moving during heavy construction, VDOT said. They then moved in almost one million cubic yards of material to raise Route 29 and build the project’s four new bridges.

In May, Route 29 traffic was moved to its new overpass, and the final ramps were opened earlier this month. Shirley Contracting Co. will finish the project’s final details this summer, VDOT said.

In 2008, Route 29 carried roughly 57,000 vehicles a day through Gainesville, VDOT said, and this volume is expected to increase to 87,000 by 2035. Linton Hall Road carried 15,500 vehicles per day in 2005, and by 2035, that figure is expected to grow to 42,000.