Construction of a new interchange at Fairfax County Parkway and Fair Lakes Parkway has been pushed back approximately two months, according to Supervisor Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield).

Herrity said this news is frustrating, particularly after a significant amount of effort was made to move power lines around the intersection in order to expedite the start of the project. The Virginia Department of Transportation, not Fairfax County, is in charge of moving the project forward.

The commonwealth recently dedicated about $24.8 million in federal stimulus funding toward the interchange and Herrity sought to make a connection between its delay and the public scolding U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), who heads the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, gave Gov. Tim Kaine (D) about the commonwealth’s sluggish spending of stimulus dollars.

Oberstar, in a letter to the commonwealth, indicated that Virginia was dead last among states and Washington, D.C. in spending its stimulus money. As of Aug. 31, the commonwealth had only spent 17 percent of its share of stimulus funding, according to Oberstar’s letter.

Earlier in the year, Virginia had been called out on being the last state to apply for stimulus funds.

But Democratic state legislators have said that Virginia has been slow to apply and spend the commonwealth’s share of funding because officials wanted to spend it on much more complicated projects than other states have proposed.

According Del. Margi Vanderhye (D-34), Virginia was hoping to spend its stimulus money on "40-year projects," while many other states chose to use the money for "five-year projects," like resurfacing roads.