Loudoun County is putting up the money to jump-start work on a $20 million road project along the bustling Route 28 corridor that had been set to start next year.

By pitching in $1 million of its own money, Loudoun is allowed to begin planning for the 0.3-mile extension needed to complete the 3-mile-long Atlantic Boulevard — a project that has long been called a “missing link.”

“We have the funding for it, but we weren’t set to use that funding until July,” said Joan Morris, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation. “This gives it a nice nine-month advance.”

The Commonwealth Transportation Board signed off on the move Thursday in Richmond.

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The project complements the ongoing interchange improvements to Route 28 and helps improve traffic flow on the central business corridor, said Art Smith, senior coordinator for Loudoun County’s Department of Transportation Services.

The project is welcome news to transportation planners, Smith said, particularly in combination with a similar Pacific Boulevard project on the opposite side of Route 28.

“When those two projects are finished, we will have our parallel roads system in really good shape,” Smith said.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com