County moves on toll road
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

Chesterfield has been given the green light to solicit bids from private companies to extend the Powhite Parkway about nine miles from Route 288 west to Route 360 near Grange Hall Elementary School. It's too early to forecast if and when the toll road would be completed and what the tolls might be.

County Administrator Lane Ramsey said he recently met with Secretary of Transportation Pierce R. Homer who asked Chesterfield to oversee its own Public Private Transportation Act (PPTA) proposal.

Ramsey said he is awaiting a response from a private firm about what to expect and how to go about initiating a PPTA bid.

Chesterfield County does have about half of the right-of-way secured through proffers, but the tentative path jogs slightly westward at the Genito Road intersection to avoid eight homes, but still impacts two others. Transportation Director John McCracken estimated last year it would cost $300 million to build the extension.

McCracken has said a PPTA proposal would go through the County Attorney's Office and "mirror the procedures of VDOT." Shirley Contracting Corporation of northern Virginia and Koch Performance Roads of Newark, Delaware, submitted tentative proposals for extending the Powhite in 2003 but later rescinded them.

Transurban, LLC, the Australian company that owns the Pocahontas Parkway, a toll road from I-95 at Chippenham Parkway to I-295, has expressed interest in a toll road proposal. Currently, the company has an advertising campaign to boost traffic on the Pocahontas Parkway, which is experiencing a revenue shortfall.

At the Nov. 20 Transportation Summit held by county leaders, Ramsey and his staff recommended extending the Powhite as a toll road to reduce transportation congestion in the Hull Street Road corridor. It was one of nine options proposed to meet the county's road needs independent of the state. No action on those options has been taken by the board yet.

After receiving approval from the state, Chesterfield County is considering soliciting bids for a nine-mile extension of the Powhite Parkway. The extension would stretch from the parkway's current end at Charter Colony Parkway to Route 360 near Grange Hall Elementary School.