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Coalition for Smarter Growth	PRESS RELEASE July 21, 2005 Stewart Schwartz (202) 244-4408 Morgan Butler, SELC, (434)977-4090
Traffic During 1st Battle of Manassas was East-West & New Study Finds Traffic Remains East-West Now Report Finds VDOT’s proposals for North-South Highways Leave Commuters Stuck in Worse Traffic

Summary of the Report

Read the Full Report

Civil War re-enactors donned their Confederate and Union uniforms to mark the 144th anniversary of the 1st Battle of Manassas, when Union Troops were soundly defeated and forced to retreat. As they sought to return to Washington along the Warrenton Turnpike (Route 29), they collided with a traffic jam of carriages of Congressman and others who had driven out to Centreville to watch the fight. Traffic was East-West then and it’s still East-West today according to a new study released today.

A new report from Smart Mobility, Inc., a nationally recognized transportation consulting firm, shows that Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) proposals for two north-south major highways around Manassas National Battlefield would fail to address the primary east-west traffic problem and would likely increase traffic.

“Traffic was East-West in 1861 and is East-West today. These proposed highways do not address the crisis in east-west commuter congestion on roads like I-66 and Route 50. Instead they create new avenues for speculative development in an area already reeling from an explosion of houses,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

The report found that moving forward with these highways would divert scarce transportation funding from higher priority needs for reducing commuter congestion.

“The money that would be poured into these two new roads would be much better spent making intelligent improvements to the transportation networks that already exist -- improvements that the agencies in charge have all but ignored,” said Morgan Butler, Associate Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Smart Mobility’s analysis of the Virginia Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration’s studies of the proposed Battlefield Bypass and Tri-County Parkway found:

• None of the proposed routes for the highway would significantly reduce average travel time, vehicle miles traveled, or vehicle hours traveled in the study area;
• The proposed highways would have almost no effect on relieving current traffic congestion, but the new travel and development the highway would trigger would increase traffic in the study area, and along I-66, in particular; and
• Future congestion on east-west roadways in the area will be much worse than congestion on north-south roads.

Based on Smart Mobility’s Report, the groups recommend:
• Improving I-66 as an east-west thoroughfare, including extension of HOV lanes;

• Adding a two-lane frontage road between I-66 and the southern border of the Park and upgrading Pageland Road west of the Park with shoulders and roundabouts at intersections;

• Linking enhanced transit service such as extension of Virginia Railway Express to Gainesville and Haymarket, and expanded regional bus service with land use policies to improve development near, and access to, transit; and

• Funding and fixing the Gainesville Interchange, a site of huge backups.

“VDOT is proposing to spend up to $52 million per mile in order to build a new north-south highway that would benefit developers, instead of using the money to help commuters. The money should be used to fix I-66 and to improve the local road network,” said Schwartz. “Neither the Tri-County Parkway nor a Battlefield Bypass are the solution and will only cost taxpayers money in addition to time wasted in traffic.”

Where would the Tri-County Parkway & Battlefield Bypass go?
The Tri-County Parkway would be the first piece of an outer beltway that has been pushed for decades by developers who own land in the area. One option would slice through Bull Run Regional Park and its 100 acre stand of native Virginia Bluebells and the other would cut along the undeveloped western edge of Manassas National Battlefield that taxpayers spent $130 million to protect.

The Battlefield Bypass would loop around the Park through undeveloped lands on the northern, eastern and western borders of the Park through the expanded Historic District west of the Park effectively severing an important piece of this monument and irreversibly impacting important historic resources.

The full report is available at: www.SmarterGrowth.net or from the Coalition for Smarter Growth (202-244-4408) or the Southern Environmental Law Center (434-977-4090 x 306)

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