Fairfax County Parkway

The Fairfax County Parkway is a primary state highway in Fairfax County.

The Parkway follows a generally north to south course from its intersection with Leesburg Pike in Herndon to Richmond Highway in Fort Belvoir.

What was originally called the Springfield Bypass first appeared in the county's priority planning in April, 1977.[1] At the time, the route was projected to extend from Route 123 in Fairfax Station down to Lockheed Boulevard in Alexandria.[1]

A $135 million bond issue approved by county voters on November 5, 1985, included $90 million to construct the segments of the Springfield Bypass connecting the Dulles Access Road with Route 50 in the western part of the county and Rolling Road with Beulah Street in the southern part.[2]

$31.2 million of the $150 million bond issue passed in a special referendum on April 12, 1988 was allotted for the construction of two more segments of the Springfield Bypass.[3]

On June 20, 1988, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to change the name of the Springfield Bypass to the Fairfax County Parkway.[4]

Financing for completion of the parkway was made possible by a scheme where the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority would issue $330 million of revenue bonds on behalf of the Northern Virginia Transportation District Commission.

Since the Fairfax County Parkway was not a tolled road and was not actually going to collect any revenue, the county developed a scheme where the bond debt would be serviced by a special trust fund that would be replenished every year from the county's tax receipts. This kept the funding for the Fairfax County Parkway off the county's books, and allowed them to avoid having to allow the county's voters to approve a referendum authorizing a bond issue to finance its construction.

The Board of Supervisors approved this scheme on November 20, 1989.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Grubisich, Thomas. "Bypass in Fairfax Still Long Way Off." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Feb 06 1978. ProQuest. Web. 17 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Road Bonds Approved." The Washington Post (1974-Current file): 1. Nov 06 1985. ProQuest. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.
  3. ↑ Anderson, John Ward. "Fairfax Road Bonds Pass in Landslide;$150 Million Slated to Improve Highways." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): d01. Apr 13 1988. ProQuest. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.
  4. ↑ "GOVERNMENT ACTIONS: Fairfax County." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): 0. Jun 23 1988. ProQuest. Web. 26 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Anderson, John Ward. "Fairfax to use Bonds to Pay for Parkway;Cross-County Road to be Finished in '94." The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext): 0. Nov 21 1989. ProQuest. Web. 24 May 2014.

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