been a hot trend in real estate in a lot of urban areas in Virginia in recent years, and Spotsylvania is seeing that trend, too. A few miles east of I-95 is the south- ernmost station of the Virginia Railway Express, which opened in 2015. There are new apartment homes
being built on land between the VRE station and the interstate, many of them projects of the Silver Cos., a major local developer. They’re pretty fancy, and a short drive to either the interstate or the VRE station. There’s also plenty of shop- ping and restaurants nearby, and a hospi- tal, Spotsylvania Medical Center, which is attracting medical office projects.
Buffalo Bills fans The sense among county planning
staff is that many new residents have left parts of the country that have been hurt- ing economically for years. Jacob Pastwik, a planner for Spotsylvania, is from Buffalo, N. Y., and says he’s found a lot of former Buffalo residents here, looking for work. “There’s a lot of people here who
Graphic by Adrienne R. Watson
assistant director of planning. Among the developments
is Jackson Village, which hasn’t been built yet. Plans call for 2,270 residential units on 241 acres along U.S. 1 near I-95. It is a mix of apartments and condos
Development along I-95 Interstate 95 dominates everything
when it comes to development in the region. Spotsylvania’s most active growth is around the interstate exit at mile 126, its northernmost interchange, and that’s what the county wants. “If you look at the past comprehensive plan and the growth patterns we’re now seeing, we’ve done a good job” of guiding develop- ment, says Leon Hughes, the county’s
and single-family homes. That project was approved in 2015, along with the Alexander’s Crossing, a 701-acre mixed- use development. The two developments will be linked by a four-lane bridge over the interstate if all goes as planned. Also on the books in this part of the county is the 1,060-home Heritage Woods subdi- vision, on 378 acres along U.S. 1. Hughes says the bigger, single-
family detached housing developments are not making much progress now, but apartment projects are. Apartments have
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are not from here,” Pastwik says. The presence of military personnel drives up demand, too, for temporary housing along with young adults who need rental space they can afford. During football season, Pastwik helps organize a weekly gathering of Buffalo Bills fans to watch the team’s games on television. “Every Sunday there’s a whole community” of Bills fans with roots up north, he says. In general, a lot of these newcom-
ers are coming for jobs in the region, which had an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent in July. But, many will commute north to jobs in the Washington, D.C., region. So, in an important way, the new transportation improvements in the Fredericksburg region only make it easier for its residents to commute. Here are details on three transporta-
tion projects. The new VRE station in Spotsylvania has been open since late 2015, and the two-mile extension of the Express Lanes on I-95, now under
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