From the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization:
During the January 12th, 2023 Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) meeting, the board reviewed and recommended funding for the Round 5 projects of SMART SCALE. SMART SCALE is Virginia’s main competitive grant funding program. Using algorithms, it evaluates and scores potential transportation projects based on their improvement to safety, congestion, accessibility, land use, economic development, and the environment according to statewide need.
Through the Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment (OIPI), it allows state officials to recommend funding based on scores and available funds. The funding recommendations are then presented to the public and the CTB at the same time which signifies the start of the budget season. Virginia districts submitted the largest number of SMART SCALE applications in the current Round 5 of any SMART SCALE round to date. Last week, the CTB learned the amount of money available for transportation programming, which is just under $1.7B statewide. This is the most money ever to support SMART Scale and was above the projected amount.
The submitted projects were competing against each other within the Fredericksburg District for $142 million district-wide funding, as well as other projects in the state with high priority program funding totaling $52 million. Five of the projects that the board recommended to fund belong to the
Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) and the George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC). The following FAMPO and GWRC projects were recommended for funding:
1. Roadway and Pedestrian Improvements — US 1 Layhill Road in Stafford County
2. Turn Lanes — American Legion Rd/Eskimo Hill Rd to US 1 in Stafford County
3. Road Widening to 4 lanes & Multimodal Improvements – Dixon St (US 17 Bus) near Dixon Park
Roadway in Fredericksburg
4. Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities — US 1 from Harrison Rd to Kings Mill Dr in Fredericksburg City
and Spotsylvania County
5. Multimodal Improvements – Virginia Central Railway trail (VCR) Regional Project in Fredericksburg City and Spotsylvania County connecting the path from the i-95 to the new Chatham Bridge.
In addition to this, the City of Fredericksburg and Counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford received funding for a further approximately $100 million of new transportation projects in this round. “I am very pleased with the number of projects and amount of money projected to come to the district,” CTB district representative Laura Sellers said.
Ian Ollis, FAMPO Administrator notes: “This is the largest number of projects from the FAMPO/GWRC region that have been recommended for funding in 5 rounds of the Smart Scale competition. We are excited to see improved future mobility for those driving cars, biking through the region or on foot.”
George Washington Regional Commission Executive Director, Chip Boyles, relayed that “the GWRC is glad to be working so closely with FAMPO. The collaboration has produced such winning results in very needed transportation projects benefitting the entire Planning District 16 region (City of Fredericksburg and Counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford).”
CTB Representative Sellers is already looking to the future. She added, “I would like to see all our localities competitively participating in this program, which is something I will work on before the next round. Over the next few weeks and months, I will be meeting with localities to understand their
needs. What worked? What doesn’t? And how we can make things better.”
For further information, please email FAMPO at [email protected].
