By Stewart Schwartz Sep 17, 2022
If Prince William County officials approve the proposed “Digital Gateway” data center megaplex in the county’s “rural crescent” in western Prince William, the negative effects would be felt countywide. That’s because this isn’t just about adding 2,100 acres of data centers; it would also pave the way for building the long-controversial Bi-County Parkway (also called 234 Bypass Extended) and turning Va. 234 into part of an “outer beltway.”
Knowing the public’s consistently strong opposition to building the Bi-County Parkway—the key piece of developers’ never-ending push for an outer beltway—county officials have avoided using that controversial label in their Digital Gateway data center proposal. Yet residents are smart enough to see the key features of the Bi-County Parkway in the damaging road construction projects the county is proposing to accompany the data center proposal.
Specifically, the county’s proposal calls for: (a) widening Pageland Lane to four lanes, with a huge median for accommodating even more lanes in the future, and (b) consideration of linking the widened Pageland Lane to Interstate 66 and the Va. 234 Bypass.
Our experience of the relentless march of highway expansion tells us to expect officials to make a push for that connection in the future — even if they aren’t doing so now.
Regardless of what you call the resulting highway, the traffic and development it would generate would clearly have major negative effects on the communities, historic resources and environmental features in the area. Pressure to then extend the widened highway further north to U.S. 50 would be intense, and the result would be more development and traffic congestion in an area that cannot handle it.
Residents of western Prince William are not the only people who could be impacted by this highway, either. Every resident along the Va. 234 corridor down to and including Dumfries would be impacted, not only by the increased volumes of truck and car traffic, but by the additional sprawling development that would bring even more congestion.
The county’s traffic analysis estimates up to 27,000 additional car trips per day from the 27 million square feet of new data centers the Prince William Digital Gateway’s approval would allow. But even more trips would be generated by creating a continuous connection between Interstate 95 in the south and Loudoun County in the north.
So, although the public debate has largely been focused on the potential destruction of the rural crescent for data centers, distribution centers, and other development, residents from all four corners of the county need to recognize there’s even more at stake.
The Digital Gateway proposal is also about building key features of the Bi-County Parkway and ultimately routing an outer beltway — and all the new traffic it would bring — through the county. It’s about all the local and regional transportation funds this proposal would siphon away from local projects needed to help existing Prince William residents — including areas near Manassas and throughout traffic-gridlocked parts of Woodbridge, Dale City and Dumfries.
Ultimately, it’s about the future of the entire county, and whether residents will allow their elected officials to sell away their quality of life for the profits of data center companies and sprawl development.
We join the many local residents and nonprofit organizations urging the county board to reject the Prince William Digital Gateway comprehensive plan amendment that would destroy the rural crescent and pave the way for an outer beltway.
Stewart Schwartz is the executive director of the 25-year-old Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading organization in the D.C. region advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way to grow and provide opportunities for all. Schwartz, a retired Navy captain, is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Congress for the New Urbanism and serves on the boards of Smart Growth America, the Virginia Conservation Network and the Richmond Partnership for Smarter Growth. He earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs and a J.D. from the University of Virginia, and a master’s degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. He is a 2012 graduate of the UVA Sorensen Institute’s Political Leadership Program.