Finally, the long awaited expansion of the park and ride lot on Staffordboro Blvd. is now open for use! This parking lot is a giant bonus to all sluggers, this way there will be more space for riders to park. Drivers now have access to more slugs to pick up and get on the HOV lanes.

Staffordboro parking lot had about 882 parking spaces shared by the Martz bus riders, vanpool, carpool and slugs. This parking lot was so popular, that many commuters from the south of Stafford parked here to slug to common destination like the Pentagon, Rosslyn, and L’ Enfant Plaza. The lot gets filled up at about 7:00 AM on workdays and slugs had to illegally park in the parking lot or nearby shopping complex; risking getting ticketed. Because the lot gets full early some of the Stafford county residents had to go about 10 miles north to 234 or Horner road parking lot to find a parking space there.

This new parking lot will have designated spaces for slug pick up and bus pick up to avoid stacking of cars in front of the buses. Each slug area can accommodate about 30 riders and 4 cars. HOV / HOT / Express lanes from 234 to 610 is scheduled to open on December 2014. That will aid drivers to jump on the HOV lanes after they pick up Slugs, which will avoid sitting on the regular lanes till you reach 234 to get on to the HOV lanes. For more information on the expansion see http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/fredericksburg/route_684_staffordboro_boulevard_commuter_parking_lot.asp

Thanks to the VDoT for spending about $10 million to add 912 parking spaces and continuing to allow residents to park for free. So, why sit in traffic when you can be sitting at work already? So, drivers fill up those empty seats!