Northern Virginia commuter lot work extended

If the sign didn't say commuter parking lot, one might think the sprawling number of cars parked in the grassy areas and on hillsides could be there for an outdoor concert.

At 2 p.m. Wednesday the commuter parking lot at Va. 234 and U.S. 1 near Dumfries was overflowing.

And with no spaces left to park on the pavement, at least 30 drivers made their own parking spaces on a nearby hill and a dirt road near the lot.

Some cars were parked on grass, with less than a foot between them.

The popular lot is heavily serviced by OmniRide commuter buses, which take Prince William commuters to Wash-ington.

It's also used widely by sluggers, who park their cars in the lot and ride three to a vehicle to meet Interstate 95's High Occupancy Vehicle lane requirements.

"I'm usually here around 4:30 a.m., before the lot is full," said Jerry Gabriel of Occo-quan.

Gabriel slugs with co-workers to points north of Prince William.

He said he drives to the Dumfries area lot in the morning to meet is ride-sharing partners, and in the afternoon, enjoys the convenience of using the HOV lanes to get back to the lot -- avoiding most traffic in the regular travel lanes.

Patrick Cizek leaves his home in Spotsylvania County each morning at 3:45, also bound for the lot.

The sprinkler system technician also rides to his Maryland job with coworkers he meets at the lot.

"There are always a lot of cars here," said Cizek, who also makes it a point to arrive early to grab a parking space.

The county has known that space at the crowded lot has been an issue since 2006, when the board of supervisors voted to use bond money to improve the lot.

The plan calls for adding two lots to the north of the existing lot, adding an additional 480 parking spaces.

The plan also calls for building a portion of nearby Interstate Drive to connect the new lots to the intersection of Wayside Drive and U.S. 1.

But the project hit a snag when tough economic times struck home developer KSI, said Tom Blaser of the Prince William County Department of Transportation.

Blaser's agency, not the state, is responsible for the construction of the new lot, and KSI was in line to con-struct homes in the nearby Cherry Hill Peninsula area.

Proffers from the home builder were supposed to go to improve the commuter lot, but KSI went under, said Blaser.

When a new builder took over the project, they decided to put construction on hold until the economy im-proved.

With that, Blaser said, the county has encountered problems with gaining the right of way to make improvements to the lot.

New construction plans had to be submitted and approved, though the plans weren't much different than the original ones.

The new plans call for adding at least 10 more parking spaces than the previous plan, according to county docu-ments.

All of this has pushed back the original project completion date from May 2009 to December, said Blaser.

The budget for the project remains the same at nearly $6.1 million.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.