Bypass Proposal
Study form

Name: Harvey Simon for the Friends of Manassas National Battlefield Park
Date: Jan. 2002
Address: Friends of MNBP, P.O. Box 2847, Manassas, VA 20108-0984
Phone No.: (703) 670-3277
E-mail Address:

1. What are the transportation problems on US Route 29 and VA Route 234 you would like to see addressed by this study?
The mutual inconvenience and driving hazards that result from requiring the fundamentally incompatible driving styles and expectations of Park visitors and local through traffic (especially commuters) to coexist on the same roads within the Battlefield.

2. What types of alternatives would you like to see considered in the study?
Bypass VA 234 onto Pageland Lane as a two-lane road. Bypass US 29 south of the Battlefield onto Balls Ford Road, then across Bull Run onto the Bull Run Post Office Road as a four-lane highway. Please see the Friends Bypass Proposal for details.

3. Please help identify sensitive environmental resources in the study area.
By following existing roadway right-of-ways, the Friends Bypass Proposal will have substantially less impact on our environment than would those alternatives which propose to widen VA 234 to four lanes, and to construct a network of new highways to reroute US 29 north of the Battlefield.

4. What are the community resources/concerns that the study team should be aware of in the development of alternatives?
The value of the Manassas Battlefield unencumbered by through traffic (please see Ed Bearss' cover letter). Constructing bypasses north of the Battlefield will invite area development that would subject the Park to even greater traffic pressures in the future. The Friends Bypass Proposal would cost much less than acquiring the necessary right-of-ways and constructing bypasses north of the Battlefield. VDOT and many commuters will oppose any solution that does not provide a four lane emergency alternative to I-66.