Tweet
The Spotsylvania Parkway would have run around the park's southern boundry and encouraged development.
VDOT suspends parkway planning
March 5, 2004 1:14 am
By EDIE GROSS
Spotsylvania County's supervisors voted in November to pull their support for the northwestern quadrant of the Outer Connector, a beltway long favored by state transportation officials as a way to ease regional congestion.
Now, state officials have suspended work on the Spotsylvania Parkway, a transportation priority for county leaders.
Elected officials from Spotsylvania say the move by the Virginia Department of Transportation is merely punitive.
"They made a unilateral decision because they don't like the way we decided to kill the Outer Connector," said Supervisor Hap Connors. "VDOT doesn't like democracy. They seem to have a problem with elected officials making decisions. If elected officials in this region make a decision they don't like, they go home and pout."
Said Bob Hagan, chairman of the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors: "Why don't they just send us a list of things they want us to rubber-stamp, and we'll send it back? My guess is this will get a lot uglier before it gets prettier."
VDOT officials say they did not stop the Spotsylvania Parkway study in retaliation for the county's decision. Instead, it's a practical move.
The Spotsylvania Parkway was intended to be the southwestern quadrant of the beltway around Fredericksburg, said Jeffrey Southard, VDOT's chief of transportation planning and environment affairs. It was supposed to be built after the northwestern section.
Since that section will no longer be built, area transportation officials need to reconsider projects like the Spotsylvania Parkway, he said. The project still could move forward after being re-evaluated.
"It's not punitive. It's just the reality of the consequences--what happens when you pull out a project like that," Southard said. "The consequence is that other studies you were doing that dovetailed into that suddenly lose their validity. At the very least, we're going to need to go back and re-evaluate the merits of that project. We may conclude now that the project is not needed."
VDOT had spent about $5 million studying where to build the northwestern quadrant of the Outer Connector by the time Spotsylvania supervisors withdrew their support last year.
Up until then, elected officials in Stafford and Spotsylvania had supported the road, which would have started at the State Route 627 interchange on Interstate 95 in Stafford, stretched west and south across U.S. 17 and the Rappahannock River and ended at State Route 3 west.
But in November, Spotsylvania aligned itself with Fredericksburg, which had opposed the project. Any mention of the Outer Connector was subsequently removed from the region's long-range transportation plan.
The Spotsylvania Parkway, if built, would start at State Route 3 west, stretch south and east through the county and end at U.S. 1 in Massaponax.
VDOT had set aside $1.5 million to study where best to put the parkway. About $675,000 of that has been spent so far.
Supervisor Hagan said VDOT's decision to suspend the parkway study was hardly a surprise. State officials hinted to him several weeks ago that it could happen, he said.
"They just said there might be some 'repercussions' for our decisions" about the Outer Connector, he said.
Southard said he plans to send a letter to regional officials next week outlining what they must do before Richmond spends any more money here--on the Spotsylvania Parkway or anything else. It's frustrating, he said, to spend several million dollars on a study and then have elected officials abandon the project.
"Obviously, that was very disappointing to us. The Outer Connector study was something we'd been working on for five or six years, something we believed we were in a partnership with the [local transportation planning board] on," he said. "We continue to propose strategies. The strategies just keep getting rejected."
VDOT officials in Fredericksburg said they're just as frustrated as those in Richmond.
"We're spending good money on doing studies and thus far, it hasn't amounted to a whole lot as far as production on projects," said Dave Ogle, Fredericksburg District administrator. "If this were my money and we had spent that much so far and there was no tangible project, I'd be reluctant to spend some more. It's a little bit like throwing good money after bad."
Locals said they'd rather VDOT just spend the money on construction instead of studies.
"They seem to be long on studies and short on solutions," said Connors, who said VDOT was ignoring the wishes of elected officials. "If Richmond knows better than us, let Richmond fix the problem."
VDOT suspends parkway planning
March 5, 2004 1:14 am
Spotsylvania County's supervisors voted in November to pull their support for the northwestern quadrant of the Outer Connector, a beltway long favored by state transportation officials as a way to ease regional congestion.
Now, state officials have suspended work on the Spotsylvania Parkway, a transportation priority for county leaders.
Elected officials from Spotsylvania say the move by the Virginia Department of Transportation is merely punitive.
"They made a unilateral decision because they don't like the way we decided to kill the Outer Connector," said Supervisor Hap Connors. "VDOT doesn't like democracy. They seem to have a problem with elected officials making decisions. If elected officials in this region make a decision they don't like, they go home and pout."
Said Bob Hagan, chairman of the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors: "Why don't they just send us a list of things they want us to rubber-stamp, and we'll send it back? My guess is this will get a lot uglier before it gets prettier."
VDOT officials say they did not stop the Spotsylvania Parkway study in retaliation for the county's decision. Instead, it's a practical move.
The Spotsylvania Parkway was intended to be the southwestern quadrant of the beltway around Fredericksburg, said Jeffrey Southard, VDOT's chief of transportation planning and environment affairs. It was supposed to be built after the northwestern section.
Since that section will no longer be built, area transportation officials need to reconsider projects like the Spotsylvania Parkway, he said. The project still could move forward after being re-evaluated.
"It's not punitive. It's just the reality of the consequences--what happens when you pull out a project like that," Southard said. "The consequence is that other studies you were doing that dovetailed into that suddenly lose their validity. At the very least, we're going to need to go back and re-evaluate the merits of that project. We may conclude now that the project is not needed."
VDOT had spent about $5 million studying where to build the northwestern quadrant of the Outer Connector by the time Spotsylvania supervisors withdrew their support last year.
Up until then, elected officials in Stafford and Spotsylvania had supported the road, which would have started at the State Route 627 interchange on Interstate 95 in Stafford, stretched west and south across U.S. 17 and the Rappahannock River and ended at State Route 3 west.
But in November, Spotsylvania aligned itself with Fredericksburg, which had opposed the project. Any mention of the Outer Connector was subsequently removed from the region's long-range transportation plan.
The Spotsylvania Parkway, if built, would start at State Route 3 west, stretch south and east through the county and end at U.S. 1 in Massaponax.
VDOT had set aside $1.5 million to study where best to put the parkway. About $675,000 of that has been spent so far.
Supervisor Hagan said VDOT's decision to suspend the parkway study was hardly a surprise. State officials hinted to him several weeks ago that it could happen, he said.
"They just said there might be some 'repercussions' for our decisions" about the Outer Connector, he said.
Southard said he plans to send a letter to regional officials next week outlining what they must do before Richmond spends any more money here--on the Spotsylvania Parkway or anything else. It's frustrating, he said, to spend several million dollars on a study and then have elected officials abandon the project.
"Obviously, that was very disappointing to us. The Outer Connector study was something we'd been working on for five or six years, something we believed we were in a partnership with the [local transportation planning board] on," he said. "We continue to propose strategies. The strategies just keep getting rejected."
VDOT officials in Fredericksburg said they're just as frustrated as those in Richmond.
"We're spending good money on doing studies and thus far, it hasn't amounted to a whole lot as far as production on projects," said Dave Ogle, Fredericksburg District administrator. "If this were my money and we had spent that much so far and there was no tangible project, I'd be reluctant to spend some more. It's a little bit like throwing good money after bad."
Locals said they'd rather VDOT just spend the money on construction instead of studies.
"They seem to be long on studies and short on solutions," said Connors, who said VDOT was ignoring the wishes of elected officials. "If Richmond knows better than us, let Richmond fix the problem."