From the
Fairfax Coalition for Smarter Growth:
Click
here to read FCSG's "Beltway Rail White Paper" in full
"Beltway
Widening Threatens Fairfax"
"No Coordination with Maryland"
"Rail Alternatives Slighted?"
"The Joker in the Deck: The Wilson Bridge"
"Beltway Widening Threatens Fairfax"
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Northern Virginia Transportation Coordinating Committee are proposing widening of the Capitol Beltway in Virginia from 8 10 12 lanes. This could be a calamitous and expensive project with extensive impact on Fairfax County homeowners, parkland, and resources.
Experts have pointed out that while the current Springfield (Mixing Bowl) project is being built, the amount of time the average commuter will lose during the construction delays will never be made up in the lifetime of any living commuter. That is for one Interchange. We are now talking about the entire Beltway.
Entire neighborhoods will disappear or be so blighted by noise and pollution that they will become unlivable. Business enterprises and high-rise apartments will be paved over.
Federal law requires that construction projects like Beltway widening be studied to determine their compliance with Federal environmental standards. An EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) has been ordered on beltway widening.
"No Coordination with Maryland"
The 2020 Transportation Plan's call for a 12-lane Beltway is totally out of synch with Maryland's planning for its portion of the Beltway. In the absence of coordination, Virginia's plan is not just futile; it become surreal. The two states have exactly opposite approaches. Virginia favors more vehicle lanes and treats rail as an unwanted distant cousin. Maryland favors rail and downplays more lanes. Maryland officials also say they are likely to call for an EIS in conjunction with any construction on their side.
The Washington Post, in an article on January 30, 2000, summarized the differences succinctly:
"The (Beltway) exemplifies the distance between Maryland and Virginia in transportation policy"…Maryland transportation planners "are considering adding at most two lanes, solely for car pools, and are also reviewing five alternative rail alignments parallel to the Beltway."
The conclusion is obvious: Even if Virginia proceeds to construct a 12-lane Beltway, motorists will hit stupefying bottlenecks where the lanes narrow at the Potomac crossings. The backup effect will be felt all along the Beltway.
VDOT and the 2020 Transportation Plan do not provide for a Beltway rail system. The chance of a rail link along the corridor is kept alive only because of the effort of Delegate David Albo. The agency given responsibility for studying the Albo proposal is the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT). To understand the implications of that choice, consider that DRPT has 30 (thirty) employees. VDOT has 10,000.
Meanwhile, Delegate David Albo came up with an innovative plan for constructing a commuter rail system in the Beltway corridor, including a link to rail in Maryland. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation in late 1999 took preliminary steps to launch a feasibility study for a Beltway corridor rail system. For now, there is no link between Del. Albo's rail plan and the Beltway expansion. The two projects are progressing independently of one another. The Fairfax Coalition believes that it is foolish for the state to push ahead with both widening and mass transit because more lanes will only attract more cars, taking away the potential ridership for mass transit. State transit officials have promised to reconcile the widening study and the rail study before going ahead with any improvements on the Beltway.
"The Joker in the Deck: The Wilson Bridge"
Time, however, is more critical
in regard to the Beltway than almost any of the other proposals contained
in Plan 2020. This is because the Beltway widening project is linked to
plans to build a 12-lane replacement for the Wilson Bridge. Construction
on the bridge is due to begin in late 2000, long before the first spade
of dirt is turned on any Beltway project. The proponents of a wider Beltway,
however, will argue that a commitment to a 12-lane Bridge absolutely requires
a 12-lane Beltway. They will make every effort to bulldoze through the
massive Beltway project on the back of the Wilson Bridge project, as if
the two were one, instead of being two separate and distinct undertakings.
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