Citizens and community leaders are eyeing the future of Woodbridge.
Transportation was a main topic of conversation at Supervisor Frank Principi’s last “New Woodbridge” town hall.
The Woodbridge District representative hosted the meeting at the Ferlazzo Building on December 4.
Participants received an update on the Fast Ferry commuter service and learned about plans to connect local roads, including Horner Road and Marina Way.
Below, is a video of the town hall:
Here is a transcription of the video, which was completed with 80 percent accuracy:
Frank Principi: Good evening. [inaudible] we can do better than that. Good evening. [inaudible] I think I got everybody’s attention. Well, welcome. Thank you all for coming out. Uh, this is, uh, for the record, my last town hall, uh, with all of you, uh, as you know, uh, I lost my primary back in June, which means that we have a new Woodbridge supervisor, Margaret Franklin. Oh, be coming in to serve you, serve the constituents of Woodbridge effective January one. So mass, my last day on the job is December 31 I will tell you upfront of the punchline, I have enjoyed every minute of it over the last 12 years. But what you may not be aware of is I’ve been involved with 20 years. I served as a volunteer as an appointee for eight years leading up to getting elected. And so I had my training, if you will, prior to ever getting elected into office.
Frank Principi: Uh, and for 20 years, uh, I’ve lived here 20 years. I’ve worked for you. Uh, it’s been the greatest, uh, professional experience in my career. Uh, and, uh, I am actively seeking, uh, other roles other than elected. Uh, going forward, uh, for 20, 20 and beyond. Uh, I live here too. Uh, and, uh, I hope to continue in that public service, uh, working with all of you to make some really great things happen here in our community. So thank you all for coming. Thank you for your support over the years. Uh, tonight we have an exciting program. Uh, anytime, uh, I talk about, uh, or I think about change in our community, I get really excited about what we’ve seen occur over the last decade or so. Uh, and you know, uh, we, uh, together in 2008, 2009, I came together to form and to conduct what we call charrettes, right?
Frank Principi: These were a highly professionally facilitated sessions. Uh, some ran three days. In fact, uh, the first one we did 300 participants. We flew a team in from California to facilitate, and we got together as a community, private citizens, business owners, church leaders, uh, nonprofit groups, uh, other electeds, and came together to form what we call affectionately the vision of a new Woodbridge. Uh, and that vision, uh, really, uh, stands on three pillars. Uh, and I know all of you know this cause you’ve been to many town halls and other events. Uh, but let me just repeat the three pillars. One is we to do something differently about building all these homes over here and these strip malls over here and all of our jobs in Tysons corner or DC, right? We needed to stop that sort of confusion and chaos. Uh, and so the first pillar of the vision is to stop the residential development that was worldly everywhere too much as it was and build what we call a projects with a mix of uses, residential, retail, office park, uh, government library, et cetera, all in fully self-contained communities, smaller communities where you can live, work and play in the community itself.
Frank Principi: And I’m really happy to say that after a decade, we now have five of those town centers or mixed use or activity centers as some call it coming up off along the route one corridor. And you know, the most obvious one, Potomac town center, right? You live there, you work there, you play there, see a movie, go out to dinner, have a drink, et cetera. Uh, but maybe you may not be aware that Belmont Bay was actually designed and approved as a mixed use development. Now you’ve got the golf course, which is now closed. The Marina, uh, the, the green, right? They got the residential, they got a little bit office with George Mason university. They’re now a little bit of retail. They’re not done yet, but they’re well on their way. You have to go commons, uh, where the two Hilton hotels are. Right. And the tropical smoothie, my favorite lunch place, uh, uh, at, that’s the third, uh, Belmont Bay, uh, excuse me.
Frank Principi: Uh, Potomac shores, South of us off of route one, uh, with the high school and the golf course and, uh, residential and office coming at. Uh, and so I’m happy to say that we’re getting five tenants centers up out of the ground as a start, as a down payment on the vision of the new Woodbridge. The second pillar. The second pillar of the vision of a new Woodbridge is, uh, really about, um, economic development and jobs. Uh, it’s about strong neighborhoods, right when I took office, I think you all can remember, it was in the worst of a recession in 2008. The national economy was fumbling through. Uh, we had significant, significant number of job losses, uh, here locally. The economy wasn’t doing well. The state, the local government was operating in a deficit. Uh, and, uh, we had a whole communities streets called the sacks that were empty because of the home foreclosure crisis that we went through.
Frank Principi: Woodbridge was one of the 10 worst home foreclosure markets in the country, uh, at the time. And so I think, uh, think today we have active communities, neighborhoods that are growing, they’re strong, uh, and, uh, jobs are coming back. I hear in Eastern Prince William, uh, and it’s really a sight to see, to be able to know that, that a pillar is moving forward and, um, and taking shape. And then of course, uh, the other pillar, it’s what we talked about every day at the water cooler or over at Wegmans when we see each other where, uh, had a board meeting of some sort and that is traffic, traffic congestion, what are we gonna do differently to get us moving again? And I’m happy to say that as one of the three pillars of the vision of a new Woodbridge, we have focus day and night, seven days a week, 365 days a year and getting us moving forward.
Frank Principi: And I hope you’re beginning to see some of the progress of that third pillar. Right. And tonight we’re going to talk about the recently completed and the future or plan transportation mobility projects that are going on here in Eastern Prince William to address your concern. Uh, I’ve always thought that I really had two functions in my job title, my job description. It was get stuff done based on your concerns and mobility and jobs and mixed use and residential development. And then be sure to involve you in that, in those decisions to get your feedback and your concerns and then be able to regurgitate back to you what we’re doing. And so these town halls, which I’ve hosted two a month for 12 years, so somebody can do the math on that. That’s a lot of town halls and town halls for me is really about the private citizens being able to interact with your elected leadership.
Frank Principi: Right. And I consider myself as part of their local elected leadership here in Prince William County. I serve on a board of eight supervisors. Seven of them are elected to a magisterial district, obviously minus Woodbridge. One is elected at large and is the chair Manor chair, woman of the board. Uh, and so I’ve been, uh, elected reelected three times, right. Uh, in the three general elections for your terms. Uh, and again, mine is coming to an end, December 31. Uh, and so, um, many of you have seen some very recent, uh, uh, progress on the fifth and final town center in Eastern principle and men, what they call it, North of Woodbridge. Right. Um, and I have to say, uh, that it was so loud and clear to me from all of you that I have not voted in favor of a single residential development application in the Woodbridge district in my 12 years.
Frank Principi: And Russell’s pointing out that I did. That’s right. There was one, it never happened. It was an age restricted 24 units or something like that up on Horner road at the dead end corner road. The pastor owns a piece of property up there. Uh, and he came to me, he said, Frank, you know, your seniors really need a place to live, affordable, et cetera. We’ll do, you’re right. Uh, in a moment of weakness, I supported it. That property was never developed. It was then acquired by another developer, and that’s the result of Ray’s regard. Raised regard was multiple parcels at the end of Warner road. But again, I voted against that one. So there’s only one that I voted in favor of, and that was for seniors. Um, and so, um, ignores Woodbridge. We have another mixed use, transit oriented, smart growth community, mixed use office, residential, retail, recreation, government uses.
Frank Principi: OK. um, uh, smart growth. Uh, if you go home and Google it, there’s actually a set of smart growth principles published by a lot of organizations, but notably EPA, and don’t ask me why he pays involved in helping build our communities. Uh, but they are. And so, uh, uh, w w we’re talking about a community that, um, has a mix of uses, uh, has a pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Uh, it has, um, uh, the activities and the amenities and the programming that we want in our community. And again, times five, but North Woodbridge, uh, took about two and a half years to plan out. Um, as you know, uh, what we have there now is less than perhaps desirable. I’ve tried to put it nicely. Um, it stretches from the [inaudible] river at the Octopod Marina down to Prince William Parkway along route one, for the most part, both sides of round one.
Frank Principi: So that’s sort of the geographic footprint, but a lot of the focus and effort is going to be focused at the occupy one Marina and at the current station Plaza slash poles for or former Cole’s Ford site. Uh, and, uh, we’re gonna see some high intensity uses because we’ve been able for a decade now to spend, um, about 1.5, one point $6 billion in Woodbridge in that corridor, uh, for infrastructure projects like half a billion was the whitening of route one and some other road improvements we’re gonna hear about tonight. Uh, but it’s really important to know that I, as your elected leader, I worked for you. I feel comfortable at this point moving forward on the town center of North Woodbridge and the mix of uses coming to that particular location, right? Because we’ve done our homework and we put the infrastructure up front, right? And then we bring the people.
Frank Principi: Okay. Uh, and so we’re going to talk a little bit more about what North Woodbridge is going to look like. Uh, but suffice it to say it’s all online. It is several hundred page written report. Many of you participate in the town halls leading up to it. Uh, and so it reflects a lot of your comments and input, uh, there on North Woodbridge. Um, and, uh, uh, with, with this one, uh, that pillar of the vision is, uh, uh, pretty much, uh, in progress. Um, and so with the, uh, five town centers in place, um, the concept is that we can live, work and play right here. We don’t have to just live here and drive to Tysons or Arlington or D C to work. Those jobs will come here. Right now they’re not coming here or trying to play is because we don’t have class a office building.
Frank Principi: Think about Ralph Lauren. Think about Woodbridge. Where do we have classic office building to bring companies like Amazon? We don’t have it. And with the five town centers, we will have class a office building as part of that growth. At least that’s part of the plan. Now we have to rely on the private sector to get their checkbooks out and, and help us make these developments a reality. Okay. Um, okay. So what I’d like to do at this point is go straight to, uh, our guests who are here to talk about transportation and mobility. The number one concern that I’ve heard, uh, forever, uh, as your elected supervisor. Uh, and uh, when they’re done, uh, I’ll talk a little bit more about where we are with fast ferry. Uh, I know, um, uh, you’re all following that very closely. Uh, and uh, and uh, once I’m done with fast ferry, then we’re going to throw up and for questions and answers.
Frank Principi: Okay. And, and, uh, our guests will join me in the question and answer session, uh, so that, uh, we can, uh, better prepare our response, uh, to, to all of you. So with us tonight is a very special guest from the Prince William County department of transportation. Now if you think about it, it was a 15 years ago or so that we actually formed a department of transportation because the board at the time was sick and tired of the state of Virginia telling us that they could not spend any more money, invest more money in our roads. That is the responsibility in Virginia is the state is responsible for building and maintaining our road network. Okay. And to a large extent, our transit services as well. And, and because we were growing so fast, the board of supervisors, a board prior to me joining it form the department of transportation, and we’ve been so successful in building own roads and building our own mobility, our transit options that I can tell you that our budget just for the department of transportation, this is countywide, not even make the deliveries, is now just over a billion dollars.
Frank Principi: And to do that in about 15 years from $0 million to $1 billion, it’s quite, quite impressive. And we all know that we’re growing at a, currently three of 4%. Right. Uh, and um, uh, not just in Prince William but Northern Virginia, the DMV in general. What were the numbers at WT P radio? Uh, said just last week, 1.5, what was it? 1.5 million over the next 25 years coming to this region. And, uh, I think our demographers believes that, you know, that means that we will continue to grow three to 5% here in Prince with just with Amazon coming, uh, we know that they’re creating 25,000 jobs. Okay. These are government incentivized jobs to get started. Uh, we know that Amazon will require for every job they create, they’ll need one job in an allied industry to support them. So we’re looking at about 50,000 jobs coming to Northern Virginia in particular national landing.
Frank Principi: And we know that many of those people who are moving to, uh, Amazon working for Amazon will be living in Eastern Prince William, potentially at North Woodbridge and taking VRE to go to work cause it’s three stops or taking fast ferry if we’re successful in launching fast ferry service just up the river, uh, and, and, and, and taking them to national airport. And if pedestrian skywalk that they’re planning to build, uh, there to get people over to national landing. And so, um, with me tonight, uh, is uh, um, let me just get this right. Uh, uh, Paulo, Paulo Belita, uh, Paulo is going to help us, uh, understand, uh, the current and planned transit and transportation projects, uh, uh, going forward in Woodbridge and Eastern Prince William. That will address your concerns about, uh, being able to get around, uh, particularly, uh, a M and P M rush. Uh, and he’s got a couple of gentlemen from the department that he’s willing to introduce as well. Uh, and so what I’d like to do is give him the floor for a few minutes, thought about the project, pulled off on your questions. As soon as he’s done, we’ll go straight into Q and a. Uh, and um, feel free. The question answer session is broader than transportation. If you have something on your mind, something on your street or something you know, some issue or some concern that you have, we’re here to receive Dalton, not just on transportation. Okay. And so with that, uh, follow floor’s yours take you.
Speaker 2: Can you remember, my name’s a power bill Lita about planning and program manager with Prince William County department chair dictation. I mainly deal with project planning and project funding. So my job is to find funding for all our projects. Uh, with me today is Robert [inaudible], one of our engineers. His, he’s the project manager for the Annapolis way project study. Mr Eleanor Adam is a chief of engineering. He deals with our big projects like the commuter garage we’ll, I’ll talk about shortly. And as mr crispy said, we are excited. We have a big construction program, uh, over the next five years. We are about a 1.3 billion into our construction program and we try to do this using other sources of funding. We try to limit County funding, limit the taxes and insurance that we use, uh, grants or speak when it is available to us, um, before it gets started.
Speaker 2: And when I talk about all the projects in our Woodbridge district, uh, I do want to say that even though we’re department of transportation, we focused on mobility. So we work closely with our partners at VRE and PMTC to ensure that we’re not just building roads. You know, we can’t build our way out of traffic, but we’re all also looking at both time a lot of options. So we’re looking at ways to accommodate transit and pure TC service. So, um, I want to go over all mostly active projects, some recent completed, uh, over the tenure of a supervisor, principal. He’s, there’s been many projects has been completed and I wish I had the time to go over all of those projects. But this is a snapshot, some of the sort of projects that we currently have today, and they’re going to range from small summer projects to big commuter garages and widening projects.
Speaker 2: Uh, this is a good example of a small project as a large impact. This is a express drive sidewalk. This is a gumball Bay, uh, using local funds from the supervisor’s office. We constructed a sidewalk segment, which increases the accessibility and access to the Woodbridge station. This is actually completed several months ago, a small project, but like I said, a big impact at the African males road widening. This is our big widening project, Jason, to feed them high school. And in Northern Virginia community college campus who are whining, you have to nose work from two to four lanes between route one, and they are both board. Uh, it’s a fairly funded project, meaning we have to go through certain requirements and stricter guidelines. So we actually began our design phase two years ago, but we’re going to have that completed, uh, early next year and planning to go to our advertisement for construction, uh, early next year, start construction March, 2021 and the project should be completed early 2023 Annapolis way.
Speaker 2: This is a roadway that’s in the North Woodbridge smarter plan. So we’re currently doing a preliminary engineering study, uh, two projects that fully funded. I’ll show you another sketch. So we’re looking to connect the missing roadway segment on an appose way. Uh, we’re also looking to see what we can do and extend Marina way to connect to foreigner road. Uh, like I said, so unfunded project, but we’re going to do up to 60% design. So we’ll come up with concepts and what we’ve done so far is we plan to look at the environmental impact. So we’re going to look at the traffic based on the proposed Mario plan and see what kind of improvements we can do. So, uh, once the study completed next summer, we’re going to look for funding so we can fully fund these projects. So once completed, it’s going to lay down the network for northward versus Mario plan. This segment or this part of the County is one of the most multimodal sections of the County. You have a tiny fire route one, us one 23 and you also have a computer lab right there and VRE. So we’re trying to improve the roadway network in this multi-modal section of the camp.
Speaker 2: Uh, another small project. This is a fairly fun and Foner road sidewalk project currently under design. Uh, this will be completed actually, this was actually recently completed. This is adjacent to Kilby on the mentoree school. So these are the type of projects that scrum as Principia supported over the years. Projects like these cost billions of dollars, but it requires the local support and we will team that through the local supervisor’s office. Uh, this is a small project, improves access to safety for, for residents and children that go to this school. Another fellow funded is the obits Boulevard Starbuck project. Currently under design. We’re going to begin construction early next year. We should have that completed, but sometime in the next year and improves, uh, connectivity of pedestrians and Southern section of opens Boulevard to the larger.
Speaker 2: So this is our big Potomac mills, Potomac Measker mills commuter garage project. It’s a federally funded project, $37 million. Uh, we’re looking to construct a 1400 space garage over there and Stonebridge. Uh, so what we’re doing right now, we’re doing some plumbing engineering, uh, up to 20% design. So this is a unique project. This is a project that’s called a design build project. Your typical project, we do a full design did, we’ve got the bid for construction. So what we’re doing is we’re looking for an entity, a consultant or contractor to do design and construction all at once. But we are doing some, uh, some high level studies. And this is the current concept. We have a, you’re going to have access from river rock way Potomac center Boulevard, a source brick for you drive. And I’d mentioned earlier that we’re really focused on multimodal transportation. So we’re working closely with pure TC to ensure that they have a bus Bay access and access to this project or this garage was completed. And another unique aspect of the project is we actually left property here owned by the board. That’s a potential future development. So that’s something we look forward to in the future.
Speaker 2: A big wrap one, one project. This is a widening of route one from Featherstone road to Mary’s way. Uh, it’s four to six lanes. Uh, it’s another federal project about $110 million. Very expensive. And what are the unique aspects of this project is for the utilities. Uh, the board supported and provided funding to undergrad all the utilities as part of the project. So you won’t see any power lines or any major utilities. Uh, the ductbank construction is actually completed and we’re wrapping up and you know, going through, uh, financing of utility improvements, that location. So the next step for us is to begin to widening national construction of the roadway itself. We’re going to advertise early next year and the construction, the winding itself will be completed a summer 2022.
Speaker 2: We have some maps, objects you want to talk about in detail. Another big projects that she project is done by [inaudible]. This is the route one, one 23 interchange, but the phase one is what you see out there. Phase one is the whining, which is what you see out there. Phase two, the project, which is the actual interchange is still unfunded at this time. Phase one, the widening from Annapolis, way to Mary’s way will be completed summer. Uh, this upcoming summer. Actually another big beat out project. This is one day early. This here, this is the [inaudible] third lane project. And what does does is it’s a small improvement. What it does is it connects the two two ramps between Portland Boulevard and [inaudible] Parkway. So right now when you come off port on Boulevard, you come off a ramp, you have to merge very quickly. And what the project does is extends that ramp, creates a new lane, takes it to the next off ramp. So what it does is improves throughput and deals with some of the weaving issues there and hopes of improving some congestion. Uh, at this location, there’s actually a public hearing that’s going on tonight. And what’s that? What’s, what’s that’s occurred? We’ll know more in terms of detail, but this should be completed in the next couple of years.
Speaker 2: I know they’re beat up project. This actually complements our garage, which is located right here. So as part of [inaudible] suppress project, the when to Fredericksburg, they’re constructing a new ramp that goes from the express lanes to Opus Boulevard. So as a result you have Southern prison County residents and residents and other destination points so they can use this ramp once this is completed and get off opioids and go to the garage and either take a pure TC express route, uh, to carpooling or slugging. So it’s a really, it’s a good project that benefits, uh, the local residents. This location.
Speaker 2: Another, we got project, this is a background road, a rip and Boulevard. It’s an intersection improvement project or installing a signal, uh, this, they’re going to begin construction in 2020 and there’s two other projects nearby actually don’t have slides for, but uh, County projects. We constructed a parking lot on Blackburn road and side of the trail access, uh, that broad access to the NAFTA Creek boardwalk that’s adjacent to dislocation. Uh, you always Groupon on station improvements. So you’re looking to construct a new platform at this location. They’re going to some design and the project itself will be completed in, uh, 2022. Uh, so it’s a quick snapshot all our projects to be wanting to go in questions down super as principally. Yes, I did introduce, so if you have any questions about our Annapolis Wade study, Robert Burkhart’s, a person to go to, uh, Eleanor, Adam wives, questions about the garage, uh, any details about design or picture man
Frank Principi: with regard to the interchange. Um, uh, the design engineering and right away as all been paid for. And so all we’re looking for from all we’re looking for are construction funds, which the last estimate was in the neighborhood of 80 million. When you’re looking at one point $5 billion have already invested. 80 million is not a lot of money. Uh, and, um, the other development I don’t think you mentioned is that, you know, we’ve applied for federal funding to help underwrite the cost of this at least three times now and have not scored well enough to get funding. So we’ve asked VDI, Virginia department of transportation to go back to the drawing board and redesign the North Woodbridge interchange as a way to, uh, to drive down the cost and the scope of the, uh, project, the amenity itself. And I was hoping that that would be ready in December. And do we know
Speaker 2: they haven’t started yet, but they did tell me it’s a study, it’s funded, they’re investing a couple of hundred thousand to actually study that location and see how they could improve in lowered funding and maybe phase the interchange or look at alternative designs.
Frank Principi: Gotcha. And that process, that design process called star,
Speaker 2: let’s start. So the [inaudible] has a program called stars, the future quick targeted affordable roadway solutions. You look at ways to look at alternative interesting intersection designs that are lowering costs, but very effective. So that’s one thing that going to look at, at that location.
Frank Principi: So it’s a clear sign that our local department of transportation is being very innovative and very creative. To get this done, we might have to redesign it, but the whole idea here is to get it done. And if we can go back, be the, um, Marina way Annapolis waistline. So, um, as I mentioned earlier, the board of supervisors approved what we call a small area plan for North Woodbridge. And as part of my job, my responsibility is to ensure that we line up the investment, public and private investment to get that done. And I’m happy to say that for Annapolis way and Marina way, the design and engineering has been paid for, and we have about $3 million in a, in an account to pay for construction of Merino way. Right? Uh, and so we are well along to dealing with Annapolis way Marina way, which is the internal road network to North Woodbridge if you’ve been there.
Frank Principi: And so it’s really critical that we get these roads taken care of as sort of the government responsibility. And then the private sector comes in and builds the mix of uses that we want. Uh, that’s based on our plan. Um, and uh, I’ll mention to you, um, you know, this is, um, I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do, but this is currently what’s in the plan. And so, uh, help me out. [inaudible] river is over here. The North is okay, right? Well there’s 95 rivers down here right here. The starts here and Annapolis, that way today is not fully connected the circle, right? Uh, and so that’s what the construction is to fully finish this circle here. Uh, but, uh, Marino here. Okay. And what we’re talking about, this is pretty big. I’m talking about is busting a hole right through Gordon Plaza. Everybody knows Martin Plaza on Gordon Boulevard, sort of a tired strip mall, very tired.
Frank Principi: And so, um, I’ll, I’ll rely on the County attorneys, but I understand we have condemnation powers like we’ve used on route one to whiten it. We have condemnation powers that, uh, should the next board approve it. Uh, we would be building a road right through Gordon Plaza, uh, which, you know, I, you know, Virginia is a very, very much a private property state, right. And, uh, to, to break a board and Plaza effectively in half, you know, may be an opportunity, economic opportunity for the current land owners there. Uh, or, or it may be, um, you know, their demise. I just don’t know. Uh, and so through govern condemnation powers, we would connect Marina way all the way up to Horner road where a dead ends there, right? And, and so, uh, creating that internal road network is fundamental to getting the success of the town center, if you think about it.
Frank Principi: But tell me the town center would not be Potomac town center if it didn’t have all those internal roads to get you around, you know, between the Alamo and uncle Helio’s and Wegmans, et cetera. Right. Or a Belmont bag. I’m not Bay drive, but that wasn’t in place. We wouldn’t be able to connect you to all of the different places on Valmont Bay drive or any of the other roads in the town center. Uh, and so I just wanted to point out those two things with regard to, uh, transportation. Uh, and do we have a date yet for construct start of construction for a gap scope mills. Really the whitening for whitening 2021 2021 and the start date for construction and the parking garage, um, 10, 2021, 2021, it’s going to be a good year. And so it’s, I’m really pleased that I’m pumped up. Pardon me. Very pleased.
Frank Principi: Pardon me. Very frustrated of course, that we’ve been able to get these road investments in place, the design engineering, the funding, some construction for some of these roads that will occur well after I leave office. So, um, the gift that keeps getting, uh, and so, uh, we’re gonna need your feedback, uh, when, uh, the County and when the state holds their public hearings on these things. So I would encourage you strongly to go provide your feedback on what you think about what’s moving forward, uh, on our road network. Okay. Um, and so with that, what we’d like to do is turn over the rest of our time together. Uh, well let me, let me mention fast, very, very quickly. So a wet your appetite. If you have any questions, you can bring them up in the Q and a session. It’s seven Oh seven 45. And I guess what I want to tell you about fast ferry is it ain’t going away.
Frank Principi: I refused. This is one of those projects from know hell, you know, uh, and, uh, we’re not giving up. And in fact, after the new year, I may have an announcement, uh, that you all will receive through newspaper, et cetera. And I want to mention to you that, uh, um, the, uh, for the first two sessions, my session and Paulo session, uh, we have been taped, videotaped by what’s up. Prince William is a great, uh, firsthand, uh, new source that is available online if you don’t have a subscription that comes out every day about five o’clock, uh, and a lot of, uh, what’s going on, Woodbridge is picked up by What’s Up Prince William, I think of when they started it was What’s Up Woodbridge and they realized they needed to expand it to Prince William. So, uh, this video for these two sessions will be on posted online the beginning of next week on their website.
Frank Principi: What’s up Prince william.com. Dot. W dot. [inaudible] dot com. But the Q and a session will not be videotaped. Okay. So you can say whatever you like fast, fair. So, uh, there’s been a flurry of activity around fast ferry, uh, here in Eastern Prince William. I think many of you know that we’ve done eight count them eight studies. The most recent study, uh, on this is uh, ULI, their urban lane Institute, a thin study, but very powerful. You ally came to Woodbridge for a couple of days, uh, with a team of experts. Uh, and as a result they published this study called a new river front for North Woodbridge. Uh, and so what charge they were giving you a lie, this professional nonprofit group was to talk, uh, to look at, to examine and then develop some recommendations on how we could integrate fast ferry service into a town center in with Woodbridge.
Frank Principi: This is available online@newwoodbridge.org or simply Googling you, ally and North of Woodbridge. Or you’ll be able to find it on your desktop. And so, um, the study, um, is done, uh, very recently here. Uh, the, we also finished the study on, uh, infrastructure gap analysis and uh, at this point, and we started with over 200 origin and destination points on the optical, on Potomac and Anacostia rivers. And we keep funneling it down, narrowing it down to what is technically and financially viable. And we’re down to about eight locations. I could point Marina is one, uh, J bad joint base, Anacostia, Bolling, and uh, immediately next door to department of Homeland security, the new Saint Elizabeth campus. Those three are the top of about eight. And so for the eight, we brought in a consultant to say, if we were going to land a ferry and if passengers were going to have to wait in a terminal or have people were gonna have to park here in North Woodbridge, what would all that look like?
Frank Principi: And what is the price tag? That study has now been done. We know we’re going to need somewhere between 75 and $100 million for infrastructure to launch very service out of Woodbridge. But I’ll have to tell you, Alexandra has figured this out and they are already doing commuter ferry service from Alexandra and to national Harbor and to the Wharf. And they started when, uh, Metro announced a shutdown between Memorial day and labor day. Uh, and so a lot of their Alexandria residents took the ferry to work instead of Metro. Uh, and Alexandra actually underwrote, uh, subsidize the cost of ferry tickets. So ticket a round trip ticket for anyone using the ferry out of, uh, old town Alexandria was $10 round trip that was subsidized. I’m, what I’m proposing is not subsidized. So ticket price could be higher. Uh, and they moved 5,000 people a week now from Alexandria to the warfare national Harbor without, when Metro reopened, they continued the service.
Frank Principi: They’re not subsidizing it. A ticket prices have gone up to about $15, $16 round trip. Uh, and, uh, they’re now moving between 20 503,000 people. So, even though Metro is reopened, a lot of people have enjoyed the ride and the view and they’re reclining leather seats and the Starbucks and the free wifi, uh, and not sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, money of the interstates. And so what I’d like to do is expand that very service down to Woodbridge and be able to address your number one concern about getting, moving again, your mobility and taking with three boats, passenger count of 350 passengers per boat with turnarounds, a M and P M rush hour. We could be taking almost 1.5 million people off of interstate 95, three 95 going to Jay, Bab and Homeland security with three boats. And I’m thinking small to start small, a proof of concept and see if we can sustain it without a government subsidy.
Frank Principi: Uh, and so, um, NBRC Northern Virginia regional commission and P RTC now Omni ride, our regional transit services, working with our regional planner for Northern Virginia and now working together. Uh, there is an RFI on the street, every request for information to, uh, the fairy owner, operator industry. Uh, and, uh, we’re expecting, um, proposals back December 15th to PRDC and then, uh, we’ll have a couple of weeks to sort of figure out what the industry is saying given our age studies, given our economic and technical viability of this project as part of the recent flurry, um, uh, the stakeholder group, which is comprised of 42 different organizations, including the military, local, state, federal government, uh, military, um, private sector, fairy owner operators. We all meet three or four or five times a year at NBRC. Members of that stakeholder group went to New York and to Seattle to meet with the stakeholders in those cities and to understand how did they launch their service and how are they sustaining it and how are things going, what are the lessons learned?
Frank Principi: And so we brought those lessons back to the stakeholder group. We have now turned the corner. We’re not doing, don’t go beyond this. We’re not doing any more studies. We’ve got enough. We know it’s viable. Okay. Uh, but we are now turning our attention to governance. How do we operate it? It’s going to serve Maryland, Virginia, and DC residents. So it can’t just be underwritten by Virginia. It can’t just be Virginia’s in charge. Right? Is it a port authority? Is it some other organization? Is a private sector driven. But we got to figure out the governance strategy and we’re also now talking with some subject matter experts on how to finance. Uh, and I am, I’ve been assured that um, uh, we have taken this project, uh, all the way through what’s called a public private partnership. Uh, and there’s private sector investment companies and transportation companies, uh, who would be extremely interested in funding that 75 goal, a hundred million dollar capital cost of getting started just between AHCA Klein, Jay Babin, Homeland security, Jay Babin, Homeland security are immediately next door to each other on the river.
Frank Principi: We would be using one of the adopts there and then we would have shuttle service going into Homeland security base or going into J Bab space. Our study has indicated that we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 Woodbridge area residents within a 30 minute drive of the occupied Marina that live here and work at J Bab Homeland security, 6,000. Within a 30 minute drive at the Marina. If we just get 5% of those people to change their driving patterns, their behavior, 10%, we would fill up three boats really quick. Just going from here to Jay, that and elementary Curie immediately across the river is national in the future home of Amazon. So we believe that there’s a market there for, uh, for Amazon employees who live in Woodbridge or in Southern Fairfax would have a reverse commute, right? You get on a boat and take it to work and then bring it back.
Frank Principi: We also are working with the private sector in North Woodbridge to accommodate, uh, parking. Uh, we are operating what we’re calling a transit triangle and North bridge. And if you think about the three points of the triangle, think about the map. One point is the Woodbridge VRE station, which 22,000 people leave on the train every day to go North during a am, uh, rush hour. Um, the second point of the triangle would be the future ferry dock at the optical Marina. And the third point of the triangle is the completely underutilized, uh, unimpressive commuter lot at 95 and one 23. I’m not sure if you’ve got that on that right up there. And so, I don’t know. Last time I checked, it’s probably only about 60% utilized today. Uh, there’s a real problem getting on and off the hot lanes from this lot. Uh, but I’m envisioning it, uh, as a, as a transit, uh, hub, uh, where we have more buses, carpool van pool, uh, slug lines, et cetera, there in the future.
Frank Principi: And then we would operate a shuttle between those three points to be able, you wake up one morning and you’re within a 30 minute drive, you can take a shuttle. Oh, today’s Monday I got to get to a meeting, I’m taking VRA, but on Tuesday I’m going to enjoy the ferry ride because, you know, uh, it’s walking distance to my office, uh, at, uh, at national landing or atJ bed. Uh, and so what we want to do is build in the redundancy of transit service and the resiliency of transit service. So if one goes down and sometimes the river will, I shop in ferry service will not be available, but you’ll figure that out because you’ll have a phone app, uh, for realtime information. Uh, and the other good news is the shuttle’s already been funded. So now we’re just waiting on the ferry.
Frank Principi: So we have funding for the ferry as a proffer from Rivergate, uh, uh, for five years, uh, shallow service. So I’m hoping that P RTC, this is what they do. They do shuttles, they do transit, they do BOSH. I’m hoping a pure TC will assume the role of operating that shell service and being able to move people. Can you imagine if you, if you, you worked at George Mason university in Belmont Bay and be able to take the shuttle or you’d be able to take the train and the VRE train station and not have to try to cross route one on your own. Uh, right. Uh, the North Woodbridge small area plan calls for a pedestrian overpass that connects the VRE station over route one that will connect a future town center of pulls forward in station Plaza. Uh, and so that would have to be a government expense.
Frank Principi: I can think of private sector expense. So, uh, fast ferry is alive and well. Uh, it’s already being used here in this region. Uh, but we needed to come further South. It’s a longer haul. And what we know today, our best estimate today on ticket pricing, which is fundamental to the success is $30 round trip from here to Jay Babin Homeland security 15 each way. But government employees and even some private sector employees have a transit card, right? I know some of you may have a transit card that’s good for $6 each way, $12 round trip. So you’d be able to apply your transit subsidy to the ferry and take that $30 price ticket round trip down to 18. And if you were to buy an annual pass, which would allow you to use the ferry service any day of the year, that price would come down even lower. That’s our best thinking today.
Frank Principi: Uh, and, uh, it bears out with the private sector, uh, folks who are on the stakeholder group and who will be responding to this request for information here, um, later this month. If we like what we hear from the RFI that there is industry interest to moving forward, moving into this market and then making it happen. I would think that, uh, the County or PITC and BRC would be issuing an RFP request for proposal, get down to, you know, a lot more detail, including a budget, uh, later in 2020. So it’s alive and well. And the property owners in North Woodbridge are extremely excited about it. It’s a real differentiator to be able to, uh, have a, another transit service available, uh, to all of you. Um, uh, and it takes a year to build a boat. So the earliest this is going to happen would be 20, 22, at this point is the best thinking at this point.
