Manassas Park wins $1.3 million HSIP grant for Manassas Drive safety upgrades

Manassas Park officials on June 24 outlined final designs and the procurement timeline for a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) project along Manassas Drive that the city secured through a VDOT grant. Steve Hall, the city’s transportation program manager, told the governing body the city submitted an application ‘‘just shy of $1,300,000’’ and received the full award with no local match required. He said the city entered an agreement with VDOT on 2023-05-03 and has completed design authorization with Wallace Montgomery.

The HSIP project covers the Manassas Drive corridor from Baker Street to Signal View Drive and focuses on pedestrian and signal safety. ‘‘We’re gonna do new crosswalks, we’re gonna redo crosswalks where there are some existing, we’re gonna do bump outs to try to slow traffic,’’ said Steve Hall. Ryan Mattern, the Wallace Montgomery traffic engineer who led design work, presented intersection-by-intersection improvements: ADA-compliant type A and type B ramps, high-visibility thermoplastic crosswalk markings (often described as ‘‘piano keys’’), detectable warning surfaces, bump-outs at selected side streets, revised stop-bar locations and signal changes including flashing yellow arrows and high-visibility backplates.

Ryan Mattern said the design honors the constraint that the grant did not fund right-of-way acquisition, so all work is within existing public right-of-way. He walked council through about 30 intersections, noting some locations will receive pedestrian push buttons and phased pedestrian intervals to give walkers a lead interval before vehicles. Mattern also described construction risks such as unknown subsurface utilities and long lead times for steel poles used for push-button signal poles.

On cost and schedule, staff provided VDOT workbook-based quantity estimates that Mattern said total approximately $860,000 in itemized quantities, with an estimated total construction cost around $1,200,000 once MOT (maintenance of traffic), CEI (construction engineering and inspection) and contingencies are included. The consultant recommended a Contract Time Determination of 302 calendar days with an approximate September 1 start date.

Council members and residents asked detailed questions about the differences between high-visibility and standard crosswalks, ADA ramp geometry and compliance (Mattern explained the 12:1 slopes and 5-foot landing requirements), anticipated lane or street closures (staff said lane closures or parking closures are likely but full road closures are unlikely), and the number of parking spaces that bump-outs would remove (staff estimated roughly 5–10 spaces in total across the corridor). On Sandstone Way and a separate HSIP application, staff confirmed a related crossing/refuge island project appears to be funded as a separate HSIP part 3 but is not included in the current bid.

Next steps, Hall said, will be preparation of an invitation for bid, internal and VDOT review of bid documents, procurement of third-party CEI services, a 30–45 day bid period, selection of the lowest responsive, responsible bidder and return to the governing body to authorize contract award. Hall asked council to expect an IFB in the coming weeks.