Less than a year after a proposed safety improvement project that would have added a pedestrian bridge over a stretch of U.S. 15 near Battlefield High School, where two middle school students were killed stalled, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors is set to move forward with another plan to help people safely cross the highway.
County supervisors are planning a project to connect two popular multi-use trails located on either side of U.S. 15 in Haymarket, Virginia. The approximately $3 million project would install a section of trail that would run beneath a currently existing bridge that carries cars and trucks traveling at high speeds.
The idea for a pedestrian bridge became a county priority after two middle school students were killed crossing the street in 2021 during separate collisions. However, in September 2024, the supervisors determined the estimated $25 million cost was too expensive.
Located approximately a half mile from the intersection where the students were hit by vehicles, the goal of the shared-use trail crossing the Catharpin Creek beneath U.S. 15 would connect the Dominion Valley subdivision, located to the west of the highway, with James Long Park to the east. Another portion of the trail project would connect James Long Park to Battlefield High School.
According to the Board of County Supervisors agenda item staff report, the county would pay for the project by appropriating $2.9 million from money that developers had agreed to contribute when building nearby single-family homes.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the students who were killed were middle school students.
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