Dear Supervisor-
You will vote on the future of Purcell Road and the surrounding local community this Tuesday. As you may know, this issue has been working its way through the county process for well over a year now and has had a lot of public involvement in that time. The opinion of the majority of residents has been clear from the beginning. From MIDCO meetings to town hall meetings to individual discussions, strong public support has been expressed for leaving Purcell Road as-is with minor adjustments to improve safety. Folks don’t want either a four-lane Purcell Road or a connection to the Prince William Parkway. People clearly understand that these changes to Purcell Road would increase cut-through traffic, increase volume of vehicles, and affect local quality of life.
According to the study done by county staff for this project, adding a connection to the Parkway would result in enough additional traffic volume to put two-lane Purcell Road into a failing level of service position in the future. As a matter of fact, no matter which option is taken, the county projects that sections of Purcell Road will be level of service “F” in the future, which makes it hard to justify pouring taxpayer funds into this project. The Planning Commission understood this and after holding a work session and gaining an understanding of the situation, they voted to leave Purcell Road as it is. Leaving Purcell as a two-lane highway but still providing a connection to the Parkway as staff continues to recommend would appear to be the worst possible choice, since it would add the traffic volume of a cut-through without the capacity of multi-lanes.
Government and residents working together have to balance the need to keep traffic moving in the future with the need to protect our neighborhoods and quality of life in the process. I think it’s clear from the county study done for this project that the surrounding roads can handle future traffic without negatively affecting an entire community by forcing additional traffic onto their local roads. The only reasonable and fiscally responsible option is to leave Purcell Road as it is, save taxpayer dollars and protect our local quality of life.
You will vote on the future of Purcell Road and the surrounding local community this Tuesday. As you may know, this issue has been working its way through the county process for well over a year now and has had a lot of public involvement in that time. The opinion of the majority of residents has been clear from the beginning. From MIDCO meetings to town hall meetings to individual discussions, strong public support has been expressed for leaving Purcell Road as-is with minor adjustments to improve safety. Folks don’t want either a four-lane Purcell Road or a connection to the Prince William Parkway. People clearly understand that these changes to Purcell Road would increase cut-through traffic, increase volume of vehicles, and affect local quality of life.
According to the study done by county staff for this project, adding a connection to the Parkway would result in enough additional traffic volume to put two-lane Purcell Road into a failing level of service position in the future. As a matter of fact, no matter which option is taken, the county projects that sections of Purcell Road will be level of service “F” in the future, which makes it hard to justify pouring taxpayer funds into this project. The Planning Commission understood this and after holding a work session and gaining an understanding of the situation, they voted to leave Purcell Road as it is. Leaving Purcell as a two-lane highway but still providing a connection to the Parkway as staff continues to recommend would appear to be the worst possible choice, since it would add the traffic volume of a cut-through without the capacity of multi-lanes.
Government and residents working together have to balance the need to keep traffic moving in the future with the need to protect our neighborhoods and quality of life in the process. I think it’s clear from the county study done for this project that the surrounding roads can handle future traffic without negatively affecting an entire community by forcing additional traffic onto their local roads. The only reasonable and fiscally responsible option is to leave Purcell Road as it is, save taxpayer dollars and protect our local quality of life.