With less than two weeks notice, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) scheduled two public meetings this week on their "North-South Corridor of Statewide Significance," a revival of the long-controversial Outer Beltway. Not only are the meetings set amid the busy holiday season when it's hard for local residents to attend, but the comment period is scheduled to close on January 2nd, the day after the long holiday week -- a time guaranteed to ensure that few people will have the time to comment. Moreover, the meeting notice cannot be found on the main VDOT website, but is instead on a little known VTRANS website and the meetings will not be conducted in an open public hearing format.

Vince Gray beamed as he strode down the aisle, trailed by a cluster of aides and constituents hoping for a photo with the mayor, clutching a fork in one hand and a plate of appetizers in the other. “Imagine how many jobs this will create!” he said. The scene last Wednesday was a preview reception at D.C.’s first Costco, the evening before the 154,000-square-foot store officially opened. Giddy Washingtonians, Marylanders, and local politicos availed themselves of the copious free food and gazed admiringly at the megajugs of liquor and electrical appliances stacked five feet high. Arriving almost exclusively by car, visitors put a solid dent in the Shops at Dakota Crossing’s 2,000-spot parking lot, near the heavily trafficked intersection of New York and South Dakota avenues NE.

The General Assembly of Virginia directed the Commonwealth Transportation Board, with assistance from the Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment, to conduct a comprehensive review of transportation needs in corridors of statewide significance and regional networks.

Today, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Connaughton issued a press release announcing a study of traffic across the Potomac. While seemingly an innocuous study, the Secretary's intention -- based on the news last spring that Governor McDonnell and Secretary Connaughton had been pressing Governor O'Malley and his staff on new Potomac River Bridges -- is certainly to pursue new upriver bridges.

A recent history of the Outer Beltway.