A transportation project that has been planned for more than a decade and that will ease congestion and delays at a busy Manassas, Va., intersection is under way, the Washington Post reports. With almost $20 million in federal stimulus funding, the Wellington Road and Route 28 overpass project has started, city officials said at the Oct. 18 Manassas City Council meeting. The project has been in the city's capital improvement program since 1998 but has been stalled because of a lack of funding, City Manager Lawrence D. Hughes said.

"The availability of stimulus money is what made it possible to accelerate this project," Hughes said, noting that the project was originally scheduled to start in 2015. "This project is about keeping Route 28 moving and about public safety vehicles not being stopped by trains."

The roughly $44-million project, which is being administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation, will include a four-lane overpass that will carry Route 28 over Wellington Road and the Norfolk Southern tracks. The overpass will span from Technology Drive to Cockrell Road and include a pedestrian walkway and lights that will match those in Old Town, officials familiar with the project said.

On a typical weekday, 20 trains and about 23,500 cars pass through the intersection, VDOT officials said. The overpass will eliminate the problem of vehicles having to stop for trains. It will allow railroad officials to add a track and increase train speeds as the Virginia Railway Express looks to extend service to Gainesville and Haymarket.

VDOT said that the project is scheduled to be complete in November 2012 and that drivers should experience "minimal disruptions" during construction.