Prince William County’s transportation planners hope that a shuttle service will eventually bring housing and other buildings to the innovation park near Manassas.
With a grant from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the county will conduct a feasibility study for a service connecting the area around George Mason University’s science and technology campus – known as the “Activity Center” – and the Broad Run Virginia Railway Express station .
The study will run from July to June 2022 and ultimately produce estimates of the number of drivers, a cost analysis and an implementation strategy. After that, according to the Department of Transportation’s planner, Meagan Landis, the county can continue funding and implementation.
“Sights in the city center are identified. So it looks at which companies are coming and what is already there, like the George Mason University campus and where the drivers would be coming from, and then determining the types of origin and destination points, ”Landis said. “The idea is that the shuttle service runs on a continuous frequency between these special destinations. You could take the AER … and then get on the shuttle to go somewhere in the Innovation Town Center. “
In December, the Board of County Supervisors passed the Innovation Park Small Area Plan in the hope of eventually turning the area next to the GMU campus into a mixed-use, science and technology-driven employment center. The district is also planning a pedestrian-oriented city center with student dormitories and office space.
The transit service would encourage more development, Landis said.
“Right now you have people who are either from the inner jurisdictions and looking forward to a long journey [Interstate] 66 or vice versa, ”she added. “There’s not much … this kind of dense housing because there’s no transit solution.”
The Ministry of Transport also hopes to use the study to analyze the feasibility of autonomous shuttle services.
The county hopes that at some point the area will become a dense economic and residential hub that can support a transit option. According to estimates by the planning department, the district could eventually accommodate between 19,000 and 39,000 jobs and 2,400 to 4,000 residential units. Most recently, 696 people currently live in the area west of the city limits of Manassas.
The county project description states that nearly 70% of Prince William’s residents commute to work outside of the county, mostly by car. “Current data and projected growth show that strategic, deliberate development in centers of activity is required to minimize the impact on local and regional transport networks and to meet the region’s climate goals.”
Jared Foretek covers the Manassas area and regional news in Northern Virginia. Reach him at jforetek@insidenova.com