NVTA: Roads need help as area grows

Prince William was number 96, Loudoun, number 5, and Stafford, 77.

Six counties in Virginia made the U.S. Census Bureau's annual list of 100 fastest growing communities with populations that exceed 10,000. And according to transportation officials, this just proves a shift in road planning and funding is needed.

"Despite the fact that most of the additional one million people projected to live in Northern Virginia in the next 25 years are projected to live outside the Capital Beltway," a press release for the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance reads, "the commonwealth of Virginia and Northern Virginia Transportation Authority continue to ignore the need for … bridges and other investments that studies have long confirmed do the most to improve mobility, reduce congestion and provide a structure around which to use land more intelligently."

More attention to local road projects is needed, the NVTA suggests, because it's the outlying areas of major cities that are facing the highest growth waves.

In addition to Prince William, Loudoun and Stafford counties, the Census Bureau also listed King George at number 49; Culpeper, 61; and Spotsylvania, 71. Several localities in other states -- from Georgia, Texas and Florida to Nevada, Utah and Colorado -- made the list, also.

The five counties that experienced the greatest growth in the past year were, in order, Kendell in Illinois; Flagler in Florida; Rockwall in Texas; Pinal in Arizona; and Loudoun in Virginia.

In terms of actual numbers, the Census Bureau reports that between 2000 and 2007, Loudoun County added 109,198 residents, bringing the estimated total for July 2007 to 278,797. That's a gain of more than 64 percent, the Census Bureau figured.

During the same time period, Prince William saw a 28 percent growth, with 79,598 moving into the county, bringing the population level to 360,411, the Census Bureau reports.

"From July 1, 2006 to July 1, 2007, Loudoun and Prince William counties added almost twice as many people as all other Northern Virginia jurisdictions [of] Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park combined," according to the NVTA.

According to Census Bureau statistics, too: Between 2000 and 2007, Stafford County grew by 28,277, or nearly 31 percent, to a total population of 120,723. During these same years, Spotsylvania experienced nearly the same increase in head count -- by 28,804. This 32 percent increase brought Spotsylvania's residential level to 119,194.

In Culpeper, meanwhile, 11,460 new residents joined the county, bringing the population count to 45,723. That's an estimated 33 percent growth, the Census Bureau reports. And in King George, where 5,827 relocated during this seven-year time frame, population rose by almost 35 percent to 22,630.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.