Town of Herndon seeks state funding for Worldgate Drive extension

The Town of Herndon is seeking up to an additional $22.1 million in state funding for the future extension of Worldgate Drive.

In materials prepared on July 12, town officials request the council’s blessing to include the project in the town’s application for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s six-year improvement program for fiscal years 2023-2028.

The project would extend Worldgate Drive from Van Buren Street to Herndon Parkway, create more lane capacity, add pedestrian and cycle tracks at the intersection, and improve signalization of pedestrians and vehicles.

VDOT encouraged the town to include the project in its overall funding application.

So far, the town has gathered roughly $7.9 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s local share funding program.

The extension is a key infrastructure improvement planned to manage traffic in Herndon’s transit-oriented core. The council approved a concept plan for the project in 2017.

Overall, the town expects private developers to complete the final engineering and construction of the project through redevelopment.

“A concept and preliminary engineering has been completed to provide private developers with cost estimates and a detailed concept for right of way dedications,” the town says in its current capital projects plan.

The town noted that the timeline of the project is not known yet, including groundbreaking and completion.

“The town will not know whether funding is granted until early 2023. Therefore, there is no timetable yet for groundbreaking and/or completion of the project,” wrote town spokesperson Anne Curtis in a statement to FFXnow.