Board Approves Funding Agreement for Two Sidewalk Projects

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors recently approved funding agreements with the Virginia Department of Transportation, or VDOT, for a total of $3.25 million to build and administer two sidewalks that will make pedestrians safer in the Town of Occoquan and along Token Forest Drive in the Coles Magisterial District. Both new sidewalks will have ramps and crossings to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Board budgeted and appropriated $1.9 million in federal funding for 140 feet of sidewalk along Ellicott Street from Mill Street to Poplar Alley in Occoquan and another 330 feet of sidewalk from about 300 feet south of the merger of Ellicott and Union Streets. Another $156,890 in matching funds will come from proffered funds from the Prince William Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, or DPRT. An additional $341,978 will come from the general obligation park bonds from DPRT’s planned Occoquan Greenway Capital Improvement Project. The sidewalk project will overlap the greenway project, which connects communities from the McCoart Government Complex to the town of Occoquan.

The Prince William County Department of Transportation will oversee the project in Occoquan, which meets the requirements for the voter-approved 2019 Park Improvements-Outdoor Facilities Bond Referendum.

The Token Forest Drive project will run 420 feet along the south side of the road and will link the Estates of Forest Glen neighborhood to the entrance of the Prince of Peace United Methodist Church. The sidewalk will allow safer access to the church and the Hoadly Marketplace development and connect nearby neighboring paths.

Funding for the project will include $669,569 in federal Transportation Alternatives 80% funding and requires a 20% local match of $179,883 that will come from the Coles District Transportation Road Improvement Program funds. The federal funding can be used for design, rights-of-way acquisition and construction.

The design phases of each project are scheduled to begin next summer, with construction beginning in 2025.