Northern Virginia Transportation Authority highlights $34.9M in Manassas projects and outlines bus rapid transit corridors

Monica Bachman, chief executive officer of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), briefed the Manassas City Council on regional transportation investments and a draft bus rapid transit (BRT) action plan during the council’s meeting.

Bachman told the council that, since the NVTA began receiving dedicated regional revenue in 2013 following state legislation, the authority has funded 21 projects in the City of Manassas totaling about $34.9 million. The NVTA also funds county projects that affect city commutes; the presentation identified roughly 13 projects in Prince William County totaling about $368 million that NVTA counts as regionally significant investments impacting Manassas residents (examples cited included Route 28 widening and the Route 234/Sudley Manor interchange).

The authority’s priorities and funding sources Bachman said the NVTA is “truly, truly, truly multimodal,” funding intersections, interchanges, roadway work, bike and pedestrian projects, transportation‑technology investments and other quality‑of‑life transportation projects. She traced the authority’s funding history to HB2313 (adopted by the Virginia General Assembly in 2013), which delivered regional revenues to the NVTA. She described current funding streams as a mix of sales tax revenue, a portion of recordation (grantor/recordation) taxes, a program labelled by the authority as an interstate enhancement/operations stream and a state allocation (cited in the presentation as $20 million) that together have been used to offset earlier diversions to WMATA.

Bus rapid transit draft action plan and next steps Bachman highlighted a draft BRT action plan NVTA has released for public comment and described a proposed set of corridors the authority is studying to create a more seamless BRT network across Northern Virginia. One corridor shown in the presentation (identified as corridor 22 in the draft map) would run from Manassas north along Route 28 toward Dulles Airport. Bachman emphasized NVTA funds capital improvements only and does not provide operating subsidies; determining who would operate and fund ongoing service will require coordination with regional transit operators. She said the authority’s public comment period for the BRT draft was open through May 18 and that NVTA staff are conducting outreach at community locations including farmers markets.

Council questions Council members asked clarifying questions. Councilman Ocina asked what funding and timeline might be expected for corridor 22 (Manassas to Dulles). Bachman said timeline and implementation depend largely on identifying an operator and securing operating revenues; NVTA can fund capital infrastructure but not the ongoing operations. Councilman Hudson asked whether the $34.9 million figure covered a specific time period; Bachman said the total reflected funding awarded since the authority began receiving revenue in 2013.

Why this matters The NVTA’s regional funding decisions and the BRT study affect how and where state and regional transportation dollars flow, which projects reach construction and when new transit options might be available to Manassas commuters. The authority’s emphasis on multimodal projects signals continued investment in pedestrian and biking improvements in addition to roadway projects.

Ending NVTA materials and the draft BRT action plan remain open for public comment through the date cited in the presentation; residents seeking details or to submit feedback were directed to NVTA’s public comment channels during the council meeting.