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SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 | NORTHERN VIRGINIA MEDIA SERVICES
Moncure rebuild sent back to BOS TRACY BELL
tbell@insidenova.com
he Stafford County School Board agreed Tuesday to send the Moncure Elementary School rebuild project back to the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. The school board voted 5-2, agreeing to the project’s cost of $34.8 million, an updated funding strategy and a reduction in the school’s collaboration space by 2,400 square feet. School board members Dewayne McOsker, George Washington District, and Patricia Healy, Rock Hill District, cast the dissenting votes, disapproving of the cost. In discussion, school board member Nanette Kidby, Garrisonville District, explained recent committee meetings with respect to the rebuild. The best-case scenario, she said, is a mid-year opening in January 2019; however, that would cause redistricting problems and a need to postpone that process for a full year so that redistricting would not take place mid-year. School board member Irene Egan, Aquia District, said that a lot of people say it’s not about the bricks and mortar. “Well, sometimes it is REBUILD about the bricks and morPAGE 13 tar,” she said, “because if
By the dawn’s light commuters form a slug line at the Staffordboro commuter lot to get a ride to one of several destinations in the D.C. area. DAVID STEGON | FOR INSIDENOVA
County wants to know if additional signage will make slugging easier
DAVID STEGON for INSIDENOVA
tafford slugs be heard. The Stafford County government will close an online survey today that asks commuters who slug out of the Mine Road and Staffordboro commuter lots if additional signage could help organize the process of finding a ride. Slugging is a means for drivers and passengers to commute in the cheapest way possible. The driver loads is vehicle with passengers to meet the limit for a no-cost HOV ride. The passengers get a free ride getting them closer to their destination. Right now, riders stand in one line, no matter their final destination. Drivers pull up to the front of
the line, announce where they are headed, and the person at the front of the line can either take that ride or wait for another. If the first person passes, that option then goes to the next person in line, and the process continues from there. “We had a group of commuters come to us with the idea of putting up signs that mark the destination of the riders,” said Shannon Howell, Stafford County’s public information officer. “We’re doing the survey to see if this is something others riders want or if the system can continue as is.” While there are relatively few problems with riders finding rides, there is sometimes confusion about what cars are traveling where and what riders are ahead in line. During peak commuting hours, the line of slugs can grow to
50 or more people in the Staffordboro lot. The rides out of Stafford go to three designated locations: Crystal City, Rossyln and the Pentagon, where the vast majority of drivers and riders go. Occasionally, drivers will offer rides to other parts of Washington, D.C., such as L’Enfant Plaza, but those are rare. The survey will help determine if the Virginia Department of Transportation should place signs in the lot to organize riders by the most popular destinations. Other lots around Northern Virginia have different systems for slugging. For example, the Horner Road commuter lot in Woodbridge has slugs stand in different lanes of the parking lot for different locations. No signs are used. However, there are signs at the pick-up locations in and around Washington, D.C. SIGNS The slug pick-up PAGE 13 points in Rosslyn
STAFFORD COUNTY SUN
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