December 18, 2009 -  Plans move forward to widen US 1 in anticipation of the nearly 3,000 jobs that will relocate to the Quantico Marine Corps Base in 2011. Silver Companies' Quantico Corporate Center is located 600 yards from the south gate of the base.

Expansion of US 1 to add two lanes
By:  Lance Cpl. Lucas G. Lowe  

MCB QUANTICO, Va. (Dec. 17) -- It’s taken more than a decade, but the widening of U.S. Route 1 is closer now to becoming a reality than it ever has been.

The project will expand the section of highway between Fuller and Joplin roads to six lanes. The plan is to accommodate the influx of traffic due to almost 3,000 jobs that will be relocated to the base as a result of the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC).

Demolition is underway and construction is slated to begin March 10. The project should be finished by spring of 2011, said Tom Blazer, the director of transportation for Prince William County.

Businesses that used to line the road immediately adjacent to the base have been closed, and the buildings demolished.

It took 12 years, meeting monthly with the Virginia Department of Transportation, toarrive at this point, said Maureen Caddigan, the Dumfries Magisterial District supervisor.

Caddigan has worked with eight base commanders so far to ensure the needs of the base are met in conjunction with the highway widening project. She asked Ken Oliver, the public works real estate planner with Facilities Division, to represent the needs of the base as a non-voting member of the Route 1 Corridor Steering Committee.

"Our concerns were noise and the loss of a buffer between the highway and family housing areas," said Oliver.

The Prince William County Park Authority, in cooperation with VDOT, agreed to allocate a portion of Locust Shade Park to accommodate the additional lanes. This way the noise barrier between military housing and the highway will remain intact.

"The original plan would have encroached on housing here," Oliver said.

The Iwo Jima statue at the frontentrance to the base will eventually have to be relocated as well, although no definite plan for moving the monument exists as yet, said Oliver.

"Any movement of the statue will have to include a pull-off area for cars so that people can stop and take pictures, so it gets the same respect it does now,” he said. "We will not allow it to degrade."

The county does not miss the clutter of restaurants and gas stations that used to stand on either side of Jefferson Davis Highway. Caddigan cited the location of the National Museum of the Marine Corps as a reason to clean up the mess down the road.

"Outside the base it was very untidy," Caddigan said. ‘‘We knew that Marines from all over the world were coming to see the museum, and that motivated the county to move on with the project."

Plans to improve the quality of life also include an eventual Village of Triangle off Fuller Heights Road on Triangle Street.

"Our vision includes storefronts, some businesses, little shops, office spaces and apartments,” Caddigan said.

But before that vision can be realized, the widening of Route 1 must first be completed.

"We as a board and a county are really very proud of how quickly the project will be finished,” she said. ‘‘We’re confident it will be a lovely, clean, prestigious area when the county gets through with it."