Dale City Commuter Lots Affected by Potomac Mills Reduction

The Dale City commuter parking lot at Dale Boulevard and Gemini Way was packed on Monday, the first day of reduced of commuter parking availability at Potomac Mills Mall.

The Gemini Way lot still had spaces available at the far ends, but it was noticeably fuller than normal, as slug lines that used to form at Potomac Mills were forced to move. The Pentagon, Rosslyn, and Crystal City slug lines were moved to the Dale City lot.

Other commuter lots in Dale City seemed to be mostly unaffected by the change on Monday. TheLindendale Commuter Lot at Dale Boulevard and Quate Lane and the Hillendale Commuter Lot at Hillendale Rd just off of Dale Boulevard both had many spaces still available.

, Potomac Mills Mall management cut some 750 parking spaces from its commuter lot near Costco in order to accommodate for new retail development it has planned.

Some sluggers woke up an hour earlier than usual to get to the Potomac Mills mall commuter lot just to ensure they snagged one of 275 parking spaces. Once at the lot, some sluggers waited for cars to pick them up for work – a longer wait than they usually encountered. Sluggers said that usually the wait for a vehicle to pick them up was five to ten minutes on any given morning but Monday there was a distinct lull.

Commuters that came to the lot after 6:30 a.m. were out of luck Monday, as the lot had filled up quickly. Potomac Mills mall security guards had barricaded off the parking lot with cones and signs marking the boundary for the commuter lot.

Drivers seeking a parking space were turned away Monday morning. The Horner road lot off of I-95 was filled by 7 a.m.

Supervisors Frank J. Principi (Woodbridge) and Mike May (Occoquan)  last Wednesday with members of the Prince William County Transportation department, Virginia Department of Transportation, Potomac Rappahannock Transit Commission and the coordinator of popular commuting website, Slug-Lines.com in hopes to make a solution.

While the county government is looking for ways to alleviate the growing pains in the interim until other solutions can be finalized to make up for the lost parking spaces, coordinator of Slug-Lines.com, David LeBlanc had to make a decision to reorganize the slug lines that were originally all at Potomac Mills.

Neabsco District Supervisor John Jenkins is negotiating with a nearby church to work out a deal to .