Balls Ford Road Widening Project Now Complete

The project to widen Balls Ford Road between Doane Drive and Ashton Avenue to a four-lane, divided roadway is now officially complete. The county’s Department of Transportation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the parking lot of the General Shale Brick Company last week with county staff, as well as local, regional and state officials, contractors and visitors in attendance. 

The 1.2-mile improvement, located in the Gainesville Magisterial District, includes not only the widening of the roadway, but also a 16-foot-wide grass median, a 10-foot-wide shared-use path and a 5-foot-wide concrete sidewalk along the south and north side of the road respectively.  

Prince William County Gainesville District Supervisor Bob Weir thanked the staff and all involved in building and completing the $64-million project.  

“Glad you brought it in on time and under budget … congratulations,” Weir said.  

Prince William County Department of Transportation Director Rick Canizales spoke of the work being done throughout the area to help move the county toward its strategic goal of easing congestion and improving mobility. 

“I’m very excited about this project, about another ribbon cutting here in Prince William County, another ribbon cutting here out on the west end. We just had one a few months back on the other side of this bridge… that great interchange out there. Well, this is the adjacent site,” said Canizales. 

Completing the stretch of road that runs parallel to Interstate 66 will also improve commerce in the industrial area the road serves. 

The I-66 Express Mobility Partners contributed roughly $48 million in concessionaire funding toward the project. 

“The Authority did recommend $48 million in concessionaire funds that was a part of the Transform I-66 Outside the Beltway Project,” said Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) Chief Executive Officer Monica Backmon. “We were extremely pleased to be in a position to do so. It kind of rounds out the improvements that we put on University Boulevard extension, Prince William Parkway at University and the OmniRide Western Maintenance Facility. We reduce congestion. We move people, and that has an economic impact component to it, but it also means that people are spending less time commuting so that they can do other things.”  

Canizales spoke of the cooperation between NVTA and the county. 

“Our partnerships that we have together …  make these great, regional, local and statewide improvements that we need, not only to move people within the county, but to move commerce, to move bike and ped[estrian] for better safety along the corridor,” Canizales said. 

Virginia Department of Transportation Area Construction Engineer Velji Desai also spoke of the cooperation with the county. 

“In Northern Virginia, we have a great partnership with all the counties, including Prince William. We really enjoy working with the county,” Desai said.  

Currently, the county’s transportation capital improvement program exceeds $1.3 billion and consists of various multimodal projects, from sidewalk and traffic safety projects to major interchanges and road widening projects.  

For more information about transportation and mobility projects in the county, visit pwcva.gov/transportation.