Election information on who supports the River Crossing and Mine Road extension.
 
I asked all the State candidates to make a statement on the Inner Connector and River Crossing, but only received a few responses. Those responses are at the bottom

I will start out with what I know on the local Stafford races.

As it stands now the Inner Connector and river crossing is in Jeopardy. The Stafford Board voted 4 to 3 to proceed with the River Crossing studies. If we lose the 4th swing vote all hopes of an Inner Connector will die.

There's a Group that formed against the River Crossing that is helping Crystal Vanuch's opponent to defeat her in order to gain the swing vote needed to kill the Bridge.

The Candidates that support the Inner Connector and River Crossing in the local races for Stafford Supervisor are:

Rock Hill District - Crystal Vanuch

George Washington District - Deuntay Diggs 
 
Griffis-Widewater District - Valarie Harper
 
 One of Supervisor Coen's supporters lives in Celebrate Virginia. I will call her Jan, since it rhymes with her name. Jan has formed a group that is against all the river crossings and has been helping some campaigns to defeat it. Jan also wants the Golf Course rezoned for more residential housing, so it will block the river crossing and give Jan's HOA exclusive access to the Waterfall and the 1,000 acres of public land!

At the September Board of Supervisor Transportation work session Supervisor Yeung stated that she doesn't want Mine Road to be extended South to Route 17 or cross the River. That road corridor improves the transportation grid and was recommended by transportation planners when it was adopted in the Stafford Comprehensive Plan in 1988. The Current Transportation study shows that the new road and river crossing would reduce traffic significantly in Stafford and provide an alternate route for quicker response times for public safety vehicles.

A developer wants to build a Data Center across Route 630 from Publix. The Data Center would block the Mine Road Extension! I believe some supervisors want to block the road extension by approving the Data Center. $2,000 donations were given to some campaigns from the developer that wants the Data Center across from Publix. I haven't seen any donations to either of the two GW District candidates. 
 
The Ferry Farm Trail was approved by Stafford Voters in a 2009 Parks Bond Referendum. A $2 M grant was approved for the trail, but a small group of people didn't want it in front of their neighborhood. Supervisor Coen made a motion to kill the Trail. The County had to reimburse VDOT $130,000 for the Trail design and we lost $2 M in State Trail grants that would have built the trail. It would have probably opened this year. Now Supervisor Coen says he supports the Ferry farm Trail.  
 
State Elections Information

In the 27th Senate I messaged all the candidates numerous times, but only received one Response from Supervisor Monica Gary who signed the petition in 2021. 
 
Here's Gary's Statement:

" I am glad we are exploring the crossing options with the NEPA study. Our region lacks sufficient alternative routes and grid systems within our current transportation structure. I have met multiple times with community stakeholders and will continue to make decisions informed by their concerns for maintaining the character of their own communities as we go forward. I fully support an inner connector. I will have to see the results of the NEPA study, once concluded, to respond to their recommendations about an additional crossing, but generally I am supportive. I have been working with my colleagues and FAMPO staff to prepare legislation on a Regional Transportation Authority that would likely be required to fund a bridge, including exploring options of funding that RTA with existing tax revenues that are currently being used outside our region."

In the 65th House District I only received one response from Joshua Cole who responded saying he Supports the River Crossing with a Trail. Cole is also wants to introduce legislation that could fund it. Cole also signed the Park and River Walk Trail Petition.

In the 64th House District I only received one response from Paul Milde.

It appear Milde wants more of a Bi-pass rather than an Inner Connecting Road, but it's not clear. Spotsylvania Supervisors don't want a River crossing in Spotsylvania, but want it further West connecting to Route 3 in the Lake of the Woods area. I think the costs and impacts would be 6 times higher and don't think many from Spotsylvania or Stafford would use it.

Here's Paul Milde's Statement.
 
 "In my 10 years on FAMPO, as chairman three times, I always supported a bi-pass and River Crossing in Stafford, I still do. It must be designed to take into consideration the unique attributes of the Rappahannock river. It needs to have as minimal an impact as possible. I do not have a favorite path that I would endorse at the moment, but using existing infrastructure does seem to make sense. I do not like the proposal that runs another river crossing at 95. I think that defeats the purpose of alleviating congestion on the interstate. It's very important that we get the Spotsylvania BoS on board because I can't envision this happening without their support."

I hope this helps on the Candidates positions.
Please go out and Vote!

Respectively Submitted,
Joe Brito