STAR Solutions Officially Ends Participation in All Future Work in the I-81 Corridor!

May 28, 2006 - The Roanoke Times - Editorial

Plan the right improvements for I-81

The Virginia Department of Transportation should await the findings of the state's Rail Advisory Board before dismissing an I-81 rail component.

Spending part of Memorial Day weekend sandwiched between tractor-trailers crawling along Interstate 81 is certainly no one's idea of a picnic.

The inevitable snags that force motorists to cool their engines and their tempers might allow a thought, poisoned by the fumes of congestion, to creep in: The Department of Transportation could be on to something with plans to add at least four more lanes along I-81. Heck, why not pave the entire Shenandoah Valley? Anything -- even a handsome toll --to keep moving.

Of course once traffic again moves freely, the thought flits away. It's really just all this extra freight. I-81 wasn't built to handle this heavy of a truck load. Problem is, if nothing is done, traffic, such as the 58,000 vehicles traveling each day through the Roanoke Valley, will double by 2035. But can Virginia pave its way out of this jam?

Is there a choice? Rail advocates think so. They'd like to see a re-emergence of a 600- mile rail line between Knoxville, Tenn., and Harrisburg, Pa., with Roanoke, and its upcoming intermodal yard, in between.

Members of Rail Solution push the idea. As persuasive as their arguments are, they lack a good, comprehensive study that can add heft to the debate. They are about to get it. The question is whether it will be soon enough to make a difference.

Recently, Gov. Tim Kaine signed into law a bill that directs the transportation secretary and the Rail Advisory Board to get cracking on a comprehensive feasibility plan and a cost analysis to determine what it would take to divert freight off I-81 and onto the rail.

The legislation doesn't set a deadline, suggesting instead that it be completed "as quickly as reasonably possible."

The information is vital to the environmental review process currently under way on the I-81 corridor. In fact, the deadline for comments on the initial draft impact statement is set to close tomorrow, on Memorial Day. While VDOT has received a rail yard full of comments that promote a rail component, the study itself failed to seriously consider rail.

Without the Rail Advisory Board's information, it is impossible for VDOT responsibly to eliminate rail as one of the alternatives for alleviating I-81's congestion and safety hazards.

Waiting for the information could delay the process, which might steam frequent users, but it is just as important to do this right as to get it done. |||

May 9, 2006 - The Roanoke Times

Legislators oppose truck tolls on I-81
Some lawmakers say tolls will divert trucks from Interstate 81 to smaller roads.

By Ray Reed (981-3351)
State legislators in the Interstate 81 corridor urged a halt Friday to highway officials' negotiations with builders who proposed truck-only lanes on I-81.

The 11 legislators who joined in criticizing the truck-lanes concept objected to tolls proposed by the Star Solutions builders' consortium.

Eight of the legislators are from the Shenandoah Valley, and they supported a resolution against Star Solutions that failed to pass during the legislative session.
The General Assembly later designated those members as a committee to focus on proposals for upgrading I-81.

They continued their opposition to the Star Solutions concept Friday by adding statistics to the argument.

In a news release issued by the Virginia Trucking Association, the legislators cited a New Jersey company's study indicating trucks would avoid I-81 in huge numbers if tolls were to be placed on it.

The trucking association said miles driven by trucks using U.S. 11 instead of the interstate highway would more than double as drivers avoid tolls.

The percentages of miles driven on other roads such as U.S. 29 could reach 129 percent and higher.

The association said it got its projections from ALK Technologies, a Princeton, N.J., provider of truck routing services.

A gulf existed between the trucking association's projections and VDOT's numbers. VDOT predicts a 1 percent increase in the number of trucks on U.S. 11.

Cars, not trucks, are most likely to use U.S. 11 if they need to avoid tolls on I-81, the VDOT study predicts. Car tolls on I-81 currently are not allowed under state law.

A clear explanation of why the projections differed so widely wasn't available. But the statistical methods were different: VDOT counted the number of trucks on U.S. 11, and ALK Technologies calculated the number of miles they would drive.

Both the trucking association and VDOT based their projections on a 20-cents-per-mile toll on trucks, although tolls have not been approved.

Star Solutions proposed four years ago to increase I-81 to eight lanes border-to-border through Virginia.

Four lanes would have been designated solely for trucks, to be paid for by tolls on trucks.

The truck-lanes concept sustained two major hits last year. First, Congress in the federal transportation bill appropriated just $100 million of the $800 million that Star Solutions had sought for truck lanes.

Next, a draft environmental study paid for by the Virginia Department of Transportation said six lanes would be wide enough for I-81 through about half of Virginia, and that only a few urbanized areas might need truck lanes.

VDOT has been negotiating a potential contract with Star Solutions since a study panel approved Star's proposal two years ago, after rejecting a six-lane concept for I-81 offered by another consortium.

The legislators on Friday called for those negotiations to stop.

Jay Smith, spokesman for the trucking association, said, "VDOT is in the process of awarding a contract to a predetermined company before they even know the scope of the project.

"It's ironic that the company that came up with the bad idea and didn't get the federal funding they promised is going to be rewarded with what is likely to be a different project altogether," Smith said.

VDOT officials have consistently said terms of a contract with Star Solutions can't be settled until the environmental study is complete.

VDOT's target for completing the study's first tier is late this year.

Southwest Virginia legislators who joined in the call to halt Star Solutions negotiations were: Del. Anne Crockett-Stark, R-Wytheville; Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg; and state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke.

Note: This article also appeared in similar form late last week in Richmond and Bristol papers. |||

May 9, 2006 - Roanoke Times- Editorial

TRUCK TOLL LANES AREN'T IN THE STARS

Key lawmakers want VDOT to halt negotiations with Star Solutions to
add toll lanes to I-81. The governor should lead the movement.
Long gone are the days, thankfully, when politicians and road
builders got out a map, decided which towns to favor with
interchanges, then poured concrete from Point A to Point B.

That type of highway building failed to consider how people and
their goods travel now and into the future, and it gave little
thought to unintended environmental or economic consequences.
That's why, at the public's insistence, the federal government
devised a long and involved permitting process. State transportation
officials must demonstrate a need for a project, such as alleviating
safety and congestion problems along Interstate 81, then impartially
evaluate an array of options. That's not happening along I-81.
Gov. Tim Kaine should direct the Virginia Department of
Transportation to stifle the preconceived notion that Star Solutions
offers the only answer: four truck-only toll lanes.

VDOT's environmental study hasn't backed the Star Solution plan as
the best solution, yet VDOT continues to promote the alliance. Last
week a group of key lawmakers whose districts fall along the
corridor requested that VDOT step away from the negotiating table.
The transportation agency responded that it isn't a done deal. Now,
Kaine needs to make sure that it isn't for several reasons:

* The study low-balled the amount of truck traffic that would avoid
paying tolls and use alternative routes -- the incentive for which
continues to grow when profits dwindle during fuel cost spikes. The
Virginia Trucking Association cites a study that concludes U.S. 11
truck traffic would double, thereby shifting congestion and safety
problems to a road ill-equipped for the overflow.

* The study failed to consider, as the federal government has urged,
the congestion-alleviating, fuel-conserving intermodal
transportation concept of moving freight by ships and rail as well
as trucks.

* The Star Solution proposal -- expected to cost between $13 billion
and $19 billion -- failed to gain the federal funding anticipated,
receiving just $100 million of the $800 million sought.

* The environmental study indicates that only those sections of I-81
near urban areas would benefit from four additional lanes.

* Most important, the governor and senators are locked in a
budgetary stalemate with Republican delegates over the future of
transportation in Virginia.

Until financing for a comprehensive, long-term transportation plan
is approved, the state would be foolish to rush into a project with
Star Solutions that has neither the money nor the public support
needed to complete it. |||

April 20, 2006 - The News Leader - Staunton

Star Solutions faces sharp I-81 questions

By Joel Banner Baird/staff Jbaird@newsleader.com

BRIDGEWATER -- The specter of an irreversible expansion of asphalt through the Shenandoah Valley was only the first of many road hazards raised at the public hearing on the future of Interstate 81 during a gathering at Turner Ashby High School on Wednesday.

Forty of the 46 speakers who voiced opinions at the Virginia Department of Transportation-sponsored event favored substantial detours from the wholesale widening of the interstate proposed by Star Solutions, a Haliburton subsidiary.

Most of the testimony claimed that enabling more vehicular traffic in the Valley would degrade the Valley's air and water resources as well as its cultural heritage.
Howard Kittell, the executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, called on VDOT to develop a supplemental study following the current round of hearings -- which would then be open to further public discussion.

"This (environmental) impact statement does not adequately address our concerns, and the concerns of many other citizens," he said.

Nick MacNeil of Staunton agreed.

"These comments make no constraints on VDOT," he said. This is the last public hearing before they make their final decision. It's a pig in a poke."

Star Solutions spokesman Tyler W. Bishop, a vice president with McGuire Woods Consulting, said that his client's proposal would remain flexible.

"When people say that hot spots (such as truck climbing lanes) should be done first, we couldn't agree more," he said. "But that's no substitute for a wider interstate."

Bruce Richie of Criders said the Star Solutions proposal ignored steadily higher gas prices that would soon inspire Valley residents to devise other, more modest solutions.

"It's going to be about carpooling," he said. "It's going to be about not going into town every day. We seem to have forgotten that Jimmy Carter asked us to turn down the thermostat and slow down our driving. That's not what happened."

Jerry Snyder of Bridgewater, who drives a truck for Little Debbie in Stuarts Draft, said the widening of I-81 was "a no-brainer," because of the growing need for truck-hauled freight.

"Trucks are a necessary evil," he said.

Kenny Lee Robinson, the Verona residency administrator for VDOT, hovered around the displays and answered questions. Some favored expansion; most did not. Either way, he said, he felt better informed.

"You need those voices," he said.

Nearly 300 Valley residents attended the event -- the highest public response at any of the recent series of VDOT-sponsored hearings on I-81. |||

April 20, 2006 - Daily News Record - Harrisonburg

Many Roads To A New I-81
Hearing Highlights Divergent Ideas For Improvement

By Melvin Mason

BRIDGEWATER — Reducing truck traffic, concerns about the environment, and new lanes for Interstate 81 highlighted a public hearing on Wednesday.

The session at Turner Ashby High School was the last of six public hearings the Virginia Department of Transportation held in the last few weeks throughout the I-81 corridor. VDOT held the three-hour hearing to receive feedback on an environmental study of the interstate.Many Want Fewer LanesMost speakers during the early portion of the meeting opposed major widening of the interstate.
		Some of those who attended the public hearing on Interstate 81 improvements examine displays at Turner Ashby High School on Wednesday. A variety of viewpoints on the future of the interstate were put forward at the hearing. Photo by Nikki Fox

The department has yet to decide on a concept for the road, but the environmental review offered several possible solutions.

Bruce Ritchie of Criders said adding more lanes to the road would lead to more wrecks. He joined others at the session asking that any upgrades include rail improvements.
"We need to quit looking at our belly buttons and look to the future," he said.

Eliza Hoover of Harrisonburg also touted improvements with fewer lanes.
"I think you really can address the issues in more creative ways," she said.

STAR Solutions, a consortium of transportation companies, has presented a concept calling for the interstate to be expanded by four lanes.Some Say More Lanes NeededA few speakers said more lanes are necessary. Bill Davidge of Goochland County compared I-81 to an old car, and said it will need more than an oil change. He said more lanes will be needed, even if truck traffic does not increase.

"I believe a major overhaul is needed," Davidge said.

Jerry Snyder of Bridgewater said using rail won’t help people get what they need quickly.

"Rail is not good for time-sensitive items," he said.

Kevin Saxton, operations director for the Perdue Farms poultry plant in Dayton, said tolls on the interstate would be "excessive" for companies that regularly use it.
"It’s excessive to Perdue Farms and excessive to the many consumers who purchase Perdue products," he said.

VDOT will give the comments from Wednesday’s hearing and five others to the Commonwealth Transportation Board and the Federal Highway Administration. A second environmental study will analyze the impact of whatever plan transportation officials settle on.

Contact Melvin Mason at 574-6273 or mmason@dnronline.com–|||

April 19, 2006 - The Winchester Star

I-81 Hearing: Most Oppose Widening Plan
More Than 200 Attend Session for Discussion of Improvements to Heavily Traveled Highway

By Sarah A. Reid

The curtains in the Winchester Travelodge banquet room blocked the rays of the setting sun and the sight of rush-hour traffic trying to merge onto Interstate 81 from Millwood Pike.

But a small gap in one of window coverings allowed a view of the heavy traffic that occasionally clogged the interstate’s entrance and exit ramps.
Consultant Craig S. Eddy of Richmond moves a partition to make room for the large number of spectators at the hearing.

Of the 215 people who attended the Virginia Department of Transportation’s public hearing on Tuesday, concerning proposed I-81 improvements, only some could see past the curtains to the traffic moving below.

About 50 of them came to the podium to speak — and a large majority opposed the plans.

They talked about heavy traffic around their homes and businesses, and most asked VDOT officials to re-study the interstate plans, investigate the use of railroads, drop proposed tolls, and find a better solution.

In the Winchester area, VDOT is considering widening most of the 23 miles of interstate by one lane in each direction, except between Va. 37 south of Winchester and the Apple Blossom Mall — exits 310 and 313, respectively — where two lanes would be added.

Local public officials — including Frederick County Transportation Planner John A. Bishop, Winchester Planning Director Timothy Youmans, and Winchester-Frederick County Metropolitan Planning Organization Secretary and Treasurer Steve W. Kerr — called for VDOT to create a contingency plan allowing for the completion of Va. 37’s eastern extension, creating a bypass around Winchester.

“In the Harrisonburg area, which currently boasts only half the growth of our own metropolitan area, a bypass is mentioned in the [Environmental Impact Study] due to the constraints around 81,” Bishop said. “In this area, the physical constraints are quite similar.”

Those constraints and the dangers they pose to the environment, parks, Civil War battlefields, and businesses brought out representatives from the Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, the American Trucking Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and other groups who spoke out against what could be a $13 billion improvement project along the 325-mile length of I-81 in Virginia.

“We are gravely concerned that the proposal to expand 81 to a truck superhighway will cause irrevocable harm to the [Cedar Creek and Belle Grove] national park and the Shenandoah Valley’s unique rural character,” said Robert Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, owner of the Belle Grove Plantation near Middletown.
The National Trust and other groups and municipalities support a six-point plan introduced by the Shenandoah Valley Network, a grass-roots organization that deals with quality-of-life issues.

The SVN’s plan calls for spot improvements on the interstate, use of the medians for expansion, and using rail to relieve vehicle traffic.

Owners and operators of tractor-trailers or trucking companies were generally supportive of getting trucks off the interstate, but said if tolls are implemented to pay for the improvements, more trailers could be coming off the road than VDOT has bargained for.

“We will divert [from I-81] every chance we get,” Con-Way executive Randy Mullett of Berryville said, noting that tolls could add $1.5 million to his trucking company’s costs.

Teresa Sales of Mickey Sales Trucking and Jones Motor of Stephens City said tolls will also cost area residents more, because the fees will push truckers off the interstate and create the need for additional maintenance on U.S. 11 and other side roads.

“Everything you buy has been on a truck six to seven times before it is a finished product in your store,” she said.

Four people spoke in favor of widening the interstate, including Ben Whittle, a Warren County truck driver who also asked VDOT to consider the environment and improve railroads so more freight could be hauled.

“We must be good stewards of our land, valley, and water,” he said.
———
The sixth and final public hearing on the I-81 improvement plan is scheduled for 5 p.m. today at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater.
VDOT is accepting written comments until April 29. Those opinions can be e-mailed to 81info@VirginiaDOT.org or mailed to Christopher Collins, Project Manager, VDOT Environmental Division, 1401 E. Broad St., Richmond, Va. 23219.
http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/060419/Area_hearing.asp |||

April 18, 2006 - Augusta Free Press

How far down the road is an I-81 fix?

In Focus by Chris Graham (chris@augustafreepress.com)
 
Another round of public-comment gathering on what to do with Interstate 81 in Western Virginia is getting under way this week.

That the latest phase of the discussion regarding long-looked-at improvements to the I-81 corridor is set to take place against the backdrop of the ongoing transportation-spending impasse in Richmond has not escaped the attention of too many in the political know.

"All of the proposals being talked about with respect to 81 are expensive. It's a question of how we want to invent our future," said Rees Shearer, the chair of the Emory-based Rail Solution, which is working toward the adoption of a corridor-improvement plan that includes a significant freight-rail component.

"I know the General Assembly is struggling over the money end of it now. And the governor seems to be more and more convinced in his public pronouncements that tolling a current-day interstate as opposed to new construction is problematic because of the diversion it causes," Shearer said.

"One thing that's clear is that it's going to be tricky to find the resources to do this," Shearer told The Augusta Free Press.
This is probably putting it mildly. The House of Delegates and Senate are miles apart in their approaches to transportation - with the House pushing for reforms in the way the Virginia Department of Transportation does its business and resisting any tax or fee increases until substantial reforms have been put in place, while the Senate is advocating a pay-now, pay-later approach oriented toward addressing the Commonwealth's myriad roads needs sooner rather than later.

"First things first, we need to work our way through this budget impasse," said Winchester Republican Sen. Russ Potts, who as an independent candidate for governor last year made addressing the state's transportation-funding situation a top-shelf campaign-agenda item.

"We have all these House of Delegates members who don't perceive at all the sense of urgency - whereas the Senate members, from the West Virginia line all the way to the Tennessee line, with one exception, Mark Obenshain, all understand the sense of urgency here and that every single day truck traffic is increasing and that I-81 is the most heavily traveled truck route in the Northeast and Southeast, and it's getting worse," Potts said.

"The answer is yes, we will get something done with this - but the sense of urgency is going to have to dictate that," Potts told the AFP.

A former colleague of Potts in the Virginia Senate, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, sees things relative to the I-81 issue from a very much different perspective.

"It is important for us to come up with a plan to reduce traffic and improve safety along the I-81 corridor. I travel that corridor all the time now - with one son in Harrisonburg and one son in Blacksburg in college - and I know what traffic is like there, and I know what the safety issues are. I think trying to do something to reduce traffic and improve safety along the I-81 corridor is one of the most important transportation challenges that we face in Virginia today," said Bolling, a Republican.

"The question obviously is how to go about doing that - because anything that you do along that corridor is going to a, take a lot of time, and b, cost a lot of money. So in recent years, the focus has been behind these Public-Private Transportation Act proposals that in whole or in part would have some toll-funded components associated with them. And the Commonwealth Transportation Board has pretty much settled on this one proposal that would add a couple of lanes in each direction and have some pretty significant tolls. That project was dependent upon a pretty significant infusion of federal funds that never materialized. As a result of that, that project, for all practical purposes, is pretty much off the table right now," Bolling said.

"Now we're back to scratch. They're back really to the beginning of the process. I think what you're going to see in the coming months, realizing that that first project that they had looked at was probably not feasible from a lot of perspectives, they're pretty much back to the drawing board right now trying to figure out what can we realistically do, and how can we realistically pay for it?" Bolling told the AFP.

It would indeed seem that the multibillion-dollar, largely toll-funded plan advocated by Star Solutions, which is currently negotiating with VDOT to serve as contractor on whatever I-81 improvement project might be in the works in the future, is dead on arrival. The nail in the coffin very well could have been the decision by Congress last year to provide $141.5 million in funding for I-81 improvements - less than one-fifth of what the state had been seeking from the federal government.

"The highway is going to have to be addressed," said Congressman Bob Goodlatte, R-Sixth District. "Certainly if you're going to make changes to the highway, you want to target those areas that are facing the most challenges - both from a safety standpoint and a volume-of-traffic standpoint. Ultimately, more has to be done - and exactly what we do is going to depend in large part upon what the state decides to do about providing funding."

Goodlatte said he and other members of the Virginia congressional delegation in the I-81 corridor have been working with state legislators and VDOT to make sure that state officials have access to as much assistance as they can.

"Basically, the Congress has passed its Highway Bill, we've made some funds available to the state, if they choose to use them under certain circumstances - but the lion's share of the funding, the state has to figure out how to raise that, and that is a challenge for them, I know," Goodlatte told the AFP.

Weyers Cave Republican Del. Steve Landes, the chair of the House Republican Caucus, thinks it is time for VDOT to get the message and ratchet back its plans to focus on what can be achieved in the here and now."I don't think we'll ever see the project as VDOT has envisioned it ever coming to pass," Landes said.

"I think it's going to have to be scaled back significantly - with work on easing congestion at pinchpoints that has already gotten under way continuing and moving forward. But the massive improvement plan that we've seen develop over the years is going to be a hard sell," Landes told the AFP.

Bolling is pushing for a "more modest" approach to I-81 as well.

"I think they're going to come up with a project that will try to address specific traffic-congestion issues and specific safety issues on a spot basis, if you will - as opposed to one of these massive projects like they were looking at before that tries to add two lanes in each direction," Bolling said.

"I just never thought those were feasible projects - one, because they would have forever changed the character of the Shenandoah Valley, and two because they just cost so much money that I never thought it was realistic that you were going to find that kind of money," Bolling said.

"The reality is that the money just isn't there to do a massive 300-mile reconstruction project - and you've got to be a lot smarter with the way you approach this problem," Bolling said.

"They're going to be looking at a lot of different alternatives - but my hunch is that the alternative that they ultimately settle on is going to be a much scaled-down version than that first grandiose plan that they were looking at," Bolling said.

It sounds like Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, might agree - at least in part - with that suggestion.

"The federal transportation budget that was passed last summer had about $140 million in it for I-81 - but that's not enough to do the eight lanes statewide. And the eight-lanes-statewide plan was really premised on a lot of federal money that does not seem to be forthcoming," Kaine said during a transportation town-hall forum held in Harrisonburg last month.

"The challenge that we will have will be to take the money that does exist, then match it up with state money - if we can get new state money - to fix the trouble spots along I-81, and there are a number that we can fix. We need to use that money the best way," Kaine said during the forum.

Potts, who was also on hand for the Kaine town-hall forum, sees the current climate of traffic congestion on I-81 as "being one of those situations where the conditions force the issue."

"The same people that keep talking about these quote 'options' - when you ask them what the options are, they give you this blank stare. They don't have any options. We need two truck lanes, and we need rail - and I believe we're going to get it," Potts said.

 This Week
A six-part series examining the Interstate 81 improvements issue will begin in Tuesday's Digest. |||

April 18, 2006 - Augusta Free Press

I-81 expansion - oh, the horror, the horror!
Ecology and You

by Erik Curren (info@alayapress.com) 
 
Imagine an eight- to 12-lane autobahn cutting a swath of pavement, Jersey Turnpike-style, through the Shenandoah Valley. Imagine the pollution from thousands more diesel trucks wafting over our towns, our farms and our forests and into our rivers, streams and lakes. Imagine the sound of tires on asphalt and hydraulic breaks screaming through the night from the Blue Ridge to the Alleghenies.

If the Virginia Department of Transportation has its way with Interstate 81, pretty soon you won't have to imagine these things. You'll see, hear and smell them for yourself. And, perhaps like the Indian in the old TV ads, you'll shed a tear.

We all know that something needs to be done. It's hard to drive on I-81 without being sandwiched between a convoy of 18-wheelers. But the plan that the state favors now, touted by a cartel of big, politically-connected engineering companies called Star Solutions, is a disaster for the environment.

What's worse, it's just more of the same thinking that gave us traffic problems in the first place. If you have too much traffic, just build more lanes to accommodate it, right? Star Solutions even plans to ease the budget burden on the state by charging tolls to pay for part of the construction. Very considerate - and they'll make a pile of cash off tolls, too.

This kind of thing sounded good to planners in the Northeast, who have built thousands of miles of tollways, including the infamous turnpike that turned New Jersey (before it became the Soprano State) into the Land of Exit Ramps. It also sounded good in Southern California, where eight- and 10-lane freeways are now more common than Thai chicken pizza.

So is there less traffic now in L.A. or Newark, N.J.? Dumb question. But when the new lanes fill up, they just build new-new lanes. And then new-new-new lanes. And so on, I guess, until their drivers all trade in their cars for personal hovercraft like in "The Jetsons."

Traffic is like water - it expands to fill the space you give it. A kindergartner could understand that, and I assume the guys at Star Solutions are smarter than the average 6-year-old.

Yet, they haven't told us how the Shenandoah Valley will keep from becoming the next Los Angeles after they build their bloated truckway. While we may lack a Beverly Hills-level of plastic surgery, our rural Valley does have something in common with the crowded L.A. basin: a topography that naturally traps pollution.

And we know what that means: more traffic, more smog.

Many areas in the Valley already have air that's too dirty by federal standards. With thousands more trucks a year rolling through, we can expect even worse air. And stormwater runoff from a bigger highway would erode soil and pollute our water even faster than it does now.

OK, OK, it would be smelly, noisy and ugly - but Capitol Hill is like that, too. Anyway, isn't a bigger road the only way to reduce congestion on I-81, even if that relief lasts only about as long as a roll of Tums?

No, it's not, according to David Foster, executive director of Rail Solution (www.railsolution.com), a citizens' group with an alternative for I-81. "Virginians can be smarter," he told me. "We can enter the 21st century with a better way to move freight."

His group's proposal would expand I-81 in only a few key spots to ease road traffic. Then, it would add room for trucks by building a rail line just for them. "In Europe, they handle trucks on trains. They don't think it's an appropriate use of their infrastructure or helpful to the beauty of their country to keep building more road lanes. It's a success."

Here's how it would work. A truck planning to drive through Virginia without stopping for any pickup or delivery (the case for many trucks on I-81) would head to a station at one end of the rail line - either in Harrisburg, Pa., in the north, or Knoxville, Tenn., in the south. At the depot, the trucker would drive his rig, cab and all, onto a rail car. Then, he would board a comfy passenger car for the nonstop trip through Virginia.

On the train, he could grab dinner and a shower, and then catch some shut-eye. When he woke up the next morning, he and his truck would be at the end of the line. Then, he'd drive his rig off the train and continue to his destination. And all for about the same cost as if he'd driven the more than 500 miles himself, but without the wear-and-tear on him or his truck.

Such a plan has never been tried in the United States, so Foster does concede that there is some risk, mostly economic. It would be easy to build and run this truck railroad by adapting technology already in use in Europe. But, using partial figures, VDOT has already brushed aside the rail plan as too expensive. Yet, considering the whole project, it could actually be cheaper to build a truck railroad ($7 billion) than a big tollway ($13 billion).

But would trucks use the train? Probably. When they understand that it wouldn't cut into their revenues, truckers love the plan. "You guys are really on the right track here," one trucker told Foster on a radio call-in show. Car drivers and local communities love it, too, since the trains would get trucks off the highway while emitting only one-third the pollution and using one-fifth the energy if the trucks had driven themselves. And best of all, a couple of rail lines rest a lot lighter on the land than 12 lanes of tollway.

Sure, rail would be something different. But to avoid Northeastern or Southern Californian highway horror, we need something different. "You get more bang for the buck expanding capacity with rail than by building more lanes," Foster explains. "The Eisenhower Interstate System is now mature. We need similar vision for the 21st century. We don't just need more lanes of pavement. We need to ask how we’re going to move freight in this country. And the answer should include rail."

With peak oil coming and the cost of gas certain to skyrocket sooner or later, America's energy security demands that we kick our addiction to foreign oil, as President Bush has said. When more trucks fill more tanks with Mideast oil to ship our stuff, then we all become fund-raisers for Al-Qaeda.

Let's not forget global warming, either. We all need to drive less. This goes double for trucks, our heaviest drivers. Rail can help. Otherwise, we can kiss the Antarctic Ice Shelf goodbye and start planning our next family vacation to the Colonial Williamsburg Undersea Park.

If you want to save our Valley from becoming a truck speedway, you can still take action now:

1. Let VDOT know that you don't want a big ugly tollway, but a smart railway. Go to the final hearing on their environmental impact statement on Wednesday in Bridgewater at Turner Ashby High School from 5-8 p.m. Or, submit comments to VDOT at www.I-81.org (click "Comment Online") by April 29.

2. Then, call Gov. Tim Kaine at (804) 786-2211. Tell him you don't want a supersized highway threatening the rural character of the Valley and ask him to make VDOT seriously consider a low-impact, energy-efficient rail alternative.

Erik Curren is a regular contributor to The Augusta Free Press. Curren is the author of Buddha’s Not Smiling: Uncovering Corruption at the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism Today. More information about Curren's works is available on-line at www.alayapress.com. The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press. |||

April 18, 2006 - Editorial - The Roanoke Times

Gov. Kaine puts secrecy in the fast lane
Concealing the details of VDOT's public-private partnerships needlessly prevents public scrutiny.

Virginians seemed about to make it through a session of the General Assembly without any serious attacks on open government. It was nice while it lasted.

After the regular session, the Virginia Department of Transportation convinced Gov. Tim Kaine to tweak legislation so the agency could hide some of its high-cost dealings. If lawmakers agree to the changes, they would hang a curtain before the state's public-private partnerships, curtailing the public's right to monitor how VDOT hands out tax dollars to contractors.

Senate Bill 76 was supposed to close loopholes that allow state agencies to avoid disclosure of some documents in public-private partnerships. The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, which the state created several years ago to protect the free flow of information, composed the bill with assistance from several groups, including representatives of VDOT.

That broad support led to unanimous passage by both the House and Senate.

Now VDOT has backpedaled. Under the governor's proposed changes, public-private partnerships could remain secret throughout the life of a project.

Transportation officials say they need secrecy to negotiate with private firms.

No one contests that during contract discussions, keeping some cards hidden helps the state get the best deal. Local government can hold executive sessions for that very reason. Yet secrecy over the life of a project would prevent oversight, not empower negotiators.

For example, the overhaul of Interstate 81 that the General Assembly is contemplating would take many years to complete. During that time, the public would have no way to find out whether VDOT spent millions -- probably billions -- of dollars responsibly.

Strangely, until this incident, VDOT has stood as a paragon of open government in Virginia. Its Dashboard Web page provides easy access to a wealth of information, and its internal tracking system for freedom of information requests is a model for other agencies.
With public-private partnerships becoming the modus operandi of transportation projects, particularly with a push for such deals from the House, concealing them from public scrutiny would be a tremendous mistake.

On Monday, last-minute negotiations led to a compromise that would sunset the provisions after one year. During that time, the FOI Advisory Council would rewrite the bill to meet VDOT's needs and preserve open government.

Kaine should accept that deal. Otherwise, lawmakers should reject Kaine's amendments. |||

April 13, 2006 - Bristol Herald Courier

RAILS, NOT TOLLS
Public hearing on I-81's future fields criticism

By David McGee, Staff Writer
 
BRISTOL, Va. – Leaving rail out of a plan to relieve congestion on Interstate 81 would be a mistake.

And widening the interstate and paying for it with tolls would be too intrusive and expensive.

Those messages were repeated by speaker after speaker Wednesday, during a Virginia Department of Transportation public hearing on a study of possible solutions for I-81.
Thirty of the 140 people who attended the hearing at the Holiday Inn Hotel voiced their concerns to a panel of transportation officials. The panel included Jim Givens, VDOT’s Bristol district administrator, and Commonwealth Transportation Board members Jim Bowie of Bristol and James Keen of Vansant.

The study, which is the agency’s first step in undertaking major highway improvements, includes a number of options like adding lanes along the 325 miles in Virginia and charging tolls of commercial trucks and private vehicles.

Wednesday’s event was the third of six public hearings along the interstate corridor.
“This study is seriously flawed,” said Bob Barker of Gate City. “The study is only concerned with I-81 in Virginia, but rail needs a minimum of 500 miles to be economically competitive. There is broad regional support for a rail alternative ... Rail has to be part of the solution.”

Jean Bratton of Emory told board members that rail makes sense because it would create less air pollution than truck traffic, take less land than roadway expansion and uses less energy to move more freight.
“As for the idea of charging truck tolls, if even a few trucks divert to (U.S. Highway) 11, it was not built to sustain that kind of traffic. If that traffic happens, you’ll have a real problem maintaining the road,” Bratton said.

Flaccavento of Abingdon called the proposal a “very bad investment” because it would impact the local environment, quality of life and scenic beauty.

Jeff Welch of the Knoxville Regional Planning Organization called the study “short-sighted” for not considering Tennessee’s financial support for improving rail infrastructure from Memphis to Bristol. He also urged officials to consider the environmental impact of increasing truck traffic in all areas affected by I-81.

Bristol Virginia Mayor Doug Weberling reiterated the city’s support of making railroads a part of the solution to the crowded interstate and urged VDOT to work with Tennessee and other states in a long-range plan to expand railroads.

“For this location, tolls would be the nail in the coffin,” Weberling said. “It’s hard enough to get companies to come here. If it’s going to cost a company anything more to ship something to Richmond, that company is going to go somewhere else to save money.”

Other speakers criticized VDOT’s relationship with STAR Solutions, a group that authored the original expansion plan, and questioned why the agency would consider a plan that could cost $11 billion to $15 billion.

Since she was unable to stay for the public hearing, Beth Jaspers of Norton arrived early and wrote her comments on forms supplied by the department.

“I drive I-81 a lot and I know there’s a lot of traffic,” she said. “I’m also very familiar with New Jersey and New York. The more you increase the lanes, the more traffic you have.”
Jaspers said she also favors diverting commercial freight to rail and is concerned about the environmental impact of more vehicle traffic.

The public comment period will continue until April 29, according to Chris Collins, VDOT’s project studies manager. Then, the agency will compile comments and other data and make a recommendation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
That recommendation is expected later this summer and the state board is likely to take some action this year, Collins said.

“This is tier one, which is very general,” Collins said of the study. “If there is a build decision, that would be followed by subsequent studies.”
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532 |||

April 13, 2006 - The Washington Post

Fighting a Plan to Widen I-81 in a Valley of Battlefields

By Linda Wheeler
Nearly a dozen Civil War battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley are facing a new threat, even as foundations rush to raise money to buy the historic grounds ahead of developers. The new concern is a proposal by the Virginia Department of Transportation to substantially widen Interstate 81, the major north-south highway that runs through the state from West Virginia to Tennessee.

Battlefield lands that have long been considered "safe" from development because of federal and state recognition as historic sites could be sliced through or lopped off by the addition of as many as eight lanes to the divided four-lane highway. A proposed bypass at Harrisonburg would cut into the Port Republic and Cross Keys battlefields.

Visitors view Civil War cannons at the New Market Battlefield in western Virginia as traffic rolls along adjacent Interstate 81. The state has proposed widening I-81 through Civil War battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley.

The Shenandoah Valley, where three years of bloody campaigning led to more than 325 military engagements and the loss of nearly 4,000 lives, represents a major chapter in the history of the war. It was where Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson carried out his successful 1862 campaign, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee rode to take the war north to Gettysburg and Union Gen. Philip Sheridan torched agricultural resources in 1864 to undermine the Confederate Army base.

Last month, the Civil War Preservation Trust joined the fight on the side of preservationists, environmentalists and residents who oppose the state's remedy to accommodate increasing truck traffic along the 325 miles of the interstate through Virginia.

Local groups have proposed an alternative plan, named "Reasonable Solutions for I-81," that would encourage the state to make spot improvements where needed for truck safety, expand the highway into the existing median, increase law enforcement patrols and allow for an expanded role by the railroads to carry freight.

On March 1, Jim Lighthizer, the trust's president, held a news conference on the New Market Battlefield, flanked by the historic 1825 Bushong House and I-81. The New Market Battlefield is already split by I-81, with monuments on each side.

Lighthizer announced that his organization had included the Shenandoah Valley battlefields on its 2006 list of most endangered sites.

"I suggest that if the proposal is accepted, it is a travesty," Lighthizer said. "When Sheridan came through the valley and burned everything, if you liked that, you'll love this plan. The only difference is that after Sheridan, the valley did heal, but with this plan, it will never heal."

The trust has a good track record in rescuing battlefields. The 75,000-member organization, devoted to preserving battlefield land through purchases, conservation easements and partnerships with federal, state and local governments, has protected 22,300 acres at 95 sites in 19 states.

Lighthizer is putting the trust's support behind "Reasonable Solutions for I-81: A Six-Point Plan for the Future," which has been endorsed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, the Shenandoah Valley Network and the Valley Conservation Council.

Although the trust carries a great deal of weight in the field of preservation, Lighthizer is quick to say that the fight is not the trust's alone. Residents directly affected by decisions such as widening a road have to lead the fight by attending public hearings, writing their state representatives and voting for politicians who support their side.
It might not be battlefield preservation that motivates someone to stand up to the state; it could be concerns such as noise and pollution, he said.

"You don't have to care about history to care about quality of life," he said. "Let those politicians hear from you. If local folks stand up and say what they won't tolerate, they won't do it."

The affected battlefields are First, Second and Third Winchester, First and Second Kernstown, Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill, Tom's Brook, New Market, Cross Keys and Port Republic.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has scheduled six public hearings and information meetings in the valley this month to discuss the Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This is the first step in a long process; the next is a vote by the Commonwealth Transportation Board on the statement.

The environmental impact statement and the schedule of meetings can be found at http://www.I-81.org . Click on "I-81 Tier 1 DEIS" for the statement and "I-81 Facts Sheets" for the schedule.

Linda Wheeler can be reached at 540-465-8934 or cwwheel@shentel.net |||

 

April 12, 2006 - TriCities.com/WJHL-TV - Johnson City

VDOT Hears Concerns Over I-81 Widening Plans

More than 100 Southwest Virginians voice their concerns over plans for Interstate 81.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is holding public hearings across the state to get input about plans to widen the highway.

In Southwest Virginia, the plan includes adding one lane on each side of the interstate from Bristol to Wytheville.

Tolls may be used to pay for the project.

VDOT says those tolls would not push many drivers away from using I-81.

Still, many people at tonight's public hearing in Bristol, shared their problems with the plan.

Truck drivers like Willie Carter would love to see I-81 widened to six lanes through most of Southwest Virginia.

"I think it's a good idea for safety factors. You can't put a price on safety," Carter said.

But the price could be anywhere from five to $13 billion and drivers, in cars as well as trucks, might have to foot the bill.

Tolls are just one option, but Carol Edwards of Abingdon doesn't like that idea.
"People going to work and having to pay for it? If we can't afford it from our state taxes, then we shouldn't do it," Edwards said.

Like many others at the public hearing tonight, Edwards doesn't think the state needs to widen the entire interstate by the year 2035

"You need improvements on your highway for safety, but the whole idea of having that many lanes is absolutely out of their minds," Edwards added.

VDOT disagrees saying adding the lanes would solve the congestion problem.
But the group "Rail Solutions" is asking the state to improve railways instead of widen the highway.

Chair Rees Shearer says that way trains not trucks can move cargo.
"It's simply cheaper, cleaner, safer, and a better business option for Southwest Virginia and all of Virginia," Shearer said.

But VDOT says using the rails would only be part of the solution, since it would likely only divert about 5% of all truck traffic.

So what is the ultimate solution? We should know soon.

VDOT hopes the Commonwealth Transportation Board will make a decision by this summer.

Right now, 60,000 vehicles use I-81 in Southwest Virginia every day, including 20,000 trucks.

Statewide, VDOT expects traffic counts to double in the next 30 years. |||

April 12, 2006 - Roanoke Times

Public hearings spark discussion on several topics regarding the future of the interstate.

by Paul Dellinger and Ray Reed

Norfolk Southern Corp. made its strongest pitch so far to be part of the freight solution in the Interstate 81 corridor during a public hearing Tuesday on widening the highway.
Sarah Corey, director of strategic planning for the railroad in Norfolk, said "the best solution for I-81 is a combination of road improvements and multistate improvements to the rail corridor" parallel to I-81.

Corey urged the Virginia Department of Transportation to invest in improving both rail lines and intermodal facilities, saying they could benefit both society and the environment.

The multistate approach is omitted in VDOT's environmental study, which was the subject of hearings that began Tuesday in Roanoke and Wytheville. Hearings in other cities along I-81 will be held later this week and next.

Other rail advocates also criticized the study's single-state focus. VDOT has said it is limited to studying Virginia's portion of I-81, a 325-mile corridor from Bristol to Winchester.

Tolls, which have been suggested to pay for widening I-81 from four lanes to six, eight and more in some places, also brought out opposition -- especially from trucking companies.

Fred Altizer, Interstate 81 program manager for VDOT, told the 40-plus people at the Wytheville session that most of them had heard that tolls on the interstate were a done deal.

"Well, that's not true," he said.

VDOT is looking at tolls as part of the process to get federal approval for improvements, he said, but no decision had been made and VDOT wanted citizens' reactions to the idea.

None of the nine people who spoke to the VDOT representatives in Wytheville liked tolls at all. Most wanted more consideration given to shifting cargoes from road to rail.
Altizer said VDOT studies indicate more rail capacity would do little to curb interstate truck traffic.

"I do think that rail has to become a part," said Charles Crockett of Wytheville.
The other big concern in Wytheville was how Interstates 81 and 77, which cross there, might be reconfigured.

A resolution by local governments and businesses asked that any new I-81 section have plenty of access and exits for existing businesses in eastern Wythe County and to the Progress Park industrial complex.

Altizer said VDOT was aware of those needs, but no decision has been made on relocating the highway.

In Roanoke, Dale Bennett of the Virginia Trucking Association hammered the environmental study's conclusion about how many trucks would use local roads to avoid tolls on I-81.

Bennett said a study three years ago by a consultant showed that 50 percent or more of trucks would avoid I-81 under the maximum tolls that were proposed.
But the consultant who prepared the environmental study foresees 25 percent of trucks switching to roads such as U.S. 11 and U.S. 29.

"We don't understand how two groups can use the same data and come up with such widely different conclusions," Bennett said. And although VDOT describes the diversions as not significant, Bennett said, residents along roads that gain truck traffic might have a different view.

Liniel Gregory, secretary of Fleetmaster Express trucking in Roanoke, said an eight-lane I-81 is not needed and the company opposes tolls on both cars and trucks.
Rail alone won't solve congestion on I-81, either, Gregory said.

The best-case scenario proposed by rail advocates suggests that trains could carry 4,200 trucks per day that otherwise would use I-81. Gregory said it would take 28 hours to load and haul that many trucks on longer rail flatcars, and it would leave 10,000 trucks per day still using I-81.

John Ballard, vice president of Woolpert Inc. and a member of the Star Solutions builders consortium that proposes an eight-lane I-81, said several studies have shown that rail would play a minor role in solving I-81 congestion.

Ballard referred to the environmental study's prediction that unless the highway is widened, traffic will look like Northern Virginia and Norfolk at rush hour.

"These traffic projections are for real," Ballard said. Further, he said, at least two public opinion polls suggest that 75 percent of people support widening I-81.

Kristin Peckman of Roanoke said the traffic predictions should be questioned because they didn't include the rising cost of gasoline.

Fuel costs will cause people to consolidate their trips and find cheaper ways to move freight, Peckman said. "VDOT has ignored the elephant in the room." |||

April 12, 2006 - Bristol Herald Courier - Editorial

Reinforce the I-81 message
 
Virginia transportation officials come to Bristol tonight for another public gripe session on the increasingly unpopular plan to widen Interstate 81.

It is doubtful they will hear anything new. The region’s residents, particularly those motivated to attend hearings on the project, have been vocal in their dislike for the plan for several years. Their litany of complaints is long: too much pavement, too little emphasis on rail, too costly, too reliant on tolls for financing.

The critics make valid points. The project, as conceived by the STAR Solutions road-building consortium, is a colossal overreaction to the interstate’s legitimate need for safety improvements and a reduction in truck traffic. Instead of a targeted approach to trouble spots or a plan to get some of the trucks off the highway, the project calls for widening I-81 to a minimum of eight lanes from Bristol to Winchester, with some of those lanes set aside for trucks only. Critics contend the massive road would lure even more trucks with devastating affects on the air, the landscape and the quality of life.

STAR hatched the plan as a real-world test of the concept of separated truck lanes – a parallel interstate – for possible replication around the country. The federal government was supposed to provide the money for the experiment, but lawmakers wisely elected not to go along.

When Congress refused to sign the check, that should have been the death knell for the STAR plan, but a slightly scaled-down version is limping along. The Virginia Department of Transportation is still negotiating with STAR and the listening tour involves a study of the environmental impact of the STAR plan. Bad ideas die hard in Virginia.

However, the political winds might be shifting. Gov. Tim Kaine has expressed little support for the massive widening project. Perhaps Kaine is just being realistic, given the project’s price tag, the lack of federal support and the Virginia legislature’s transportation funding stalemate. Maybe he recognizes the foolishness of paving over so much of Virginia’s paradise. His reluctance should give hope to those who seek a different solution.

But it is the impact of STAR’s proposal that Virginia transportation officials are pondering. They’ve heard from the region before, but repetition drives home the important points. An eight-lane superhighway for trucks is an unwanted and unneeded answer to the interstate’s problems – one that would increase air pollution, destroy the scenery and pave over some of the state’s Civil War history.

Turning I-81 into a toll road is an equally preposterous suggestion that would cripple the region’s economy and work a hardship on its residents. The law doesn’t allow tolls on existing roads, nor should it.

Railroad improvements are no panacea, but should be part of the total picture. Virginia transportation officials likely skewed the numbers against rail by failing to consider a multi-state approach, but this can be corrected. Run the numbers on a multi-state plan before writing rail off.

I-81 is the region’s economic lifeline. The state should exercise extreme care before performing radical surgery. |||

April 11, 2006 - The Roanoke Times

VDOT seeks comment on study

"I'm glad somebody is looking at it this close," said one VDOT official about concerns already raised.

By Ray Reed

Dave Foster wondered why an $11 million consultant's draft report says a rail line parallel to Interstate 81 is twice as steep as it really is.

Megan Gallagher and others in the Shenandoah Valley Network, an activist group, noted that two pages in the report appear to give widely different estimates of the farmland to be affected if the highway is widened.

People can check out those "gotchas" at public hearings the Virginia Department of Transportation will hold during the next two weeks in cities along I-81's 325 miles in Virginia.

The first hearings will occur tonight at the Wyndham hotel in Roanoke and at Wytheville Community College.

Activist groups have been poring over the 1,800-page draft environmental impact statement since it was released in November, looking for anything to support their arguments that VDOT wants to widen I-81 more than they think is necessary.
Their scrutiny doesn't bother Fred Altizer, who's managing the Virginia Department of Transportation's I-81 study process. It's called a draft report for a reason, Altizer said.
"I'm glad somebody is looking at it this close," Altizer said. The report can be changed to fix errors revealed in the public review process, which continues with public hearings through April 19. Written comments received by VDOT through April 29 also will be included in the review process.

Hunt Riegel of Glasgow noted a math error in the report's Environmental Consequences chapter. In a table that predicts fuel consumption in 2035, someone in the consulting process used the wrong method.

"This table lists potential energy consumption, but incorrectly multiplies the miles traveled by 27.5 miles per gallon [rather than dividing]. If we are to believe that table, it takes us 27.5 gallons per mile to drive on I-81," Riegel said.

Altizer said the math error had been pointed out earlier.

VDOT signed Watertown, Mass., consultant Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. in 2003 to conduct the first level of environmental review, called Tier 1. The contract was valued at $10,955,273. Nine other consulting firms contributed to the report.

Foster, a Salem resident and executive director of the Rail Solution advocates group, zeroed in on two things that bothered him about the draft.

First, he noticed that it constrained its evaluation of railroads' ability to take freight off I-81. The study focused on improving rails in the 325-mile corridor in Virginia, but ignored other states that I-81 goes through.

Nearly all rail experts say trips shorter than 500 miles are more efficiently handled by truck, while rail shipment becomes economical on longer hauls, Foster said.

But one clear-cut discrepancy came in the report's description of the Norfolk Southern Railway's most direct route between Bristol and Winchester, called the NS Shenandoah division.

The Transportation Technical Report portion of the draft statement says the Shenandoah line has "numerous grades approaching 4 percent."
Norfolk Southern's Track Chart for its Virginia division, dated 1990, shows the steepest grades in the Shenandoah division are just 2 percent. And the steepest "ruling grade," the long, uphill haul that determines how many locomotives are needed to pull a train, is a 1.8 percent grade near Rileyville, north of New Market.

Foster cited other examples that, he said, call the report into question. The report states that the NS track between Danville and Manassas on its Piedmont division, the north-south freight route NS uses most, "is on level grade." In fact, the Piedmont division has a "ruling grade" of 1.42 percent near Charlottesville, NS said.

Assertions such as those, Foster said, "make the Shenandoah line seem worse than it really is."

Responding to those criticisms, Craig Eddy at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin said the company received the rail-line information from Norfolk Southern but it was "in some instances misinterpreted by the I-81 study team. All incorrect statements will be corrected" in the final document, Eddy said.

"The statement regarding 4 percent grades should have read '2 percent grades.' There are no 4 percent grades along the rail corridor," Eddy said.

Rail Solution's announced goal for several years has been to get the Shenandoah line upgraded, possibly with some help from government funding. The group says a better Shenandoah line would mean more freight could move by rail, resulting in fewer trucks on I-81.

VDOT has said that while better rail lines could slow the increase in truck traffic on I-81, the number of trucks nevertheless will continue to rise. The demand for freight shipments will grow faster than rail alone can match, VDOT's studies predict.
Gallagher and fellow members of the Shenandoah Valley Network focused on how a widened I-81 could affect farmland, tourist attractions and other aspects of the valley's quality of life.

Two charts in the report's "Environmental Consequences" chapter cite different figures on the amount of farm acreage that could be affected by the widening.
A maximum widening's "impacts to land use" for acreage designated for "agricultural/pasture" use a total of 5,095 in one chart. Another chart in the same chapter says a maximum widening could affect more than 12,000 acres described as "prime farmland" or "soils of statewide importance."

The description for the 12,000-acres category covers a range of soil types rather than actual agriculture use, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture terminology.
People can e-mail their comments to 81info@VirginiaDOT.org. An online comment form is available at www.I-81.org.

Written comments can be mailed to Christopher Collins, project manager, VDOT Environmental Division, 1401 E. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23219. The deadline for those comments is April 29. |||

April 11, 2006 - The Augusta Free Press - Voices

Governor could save billions - and the Valley

by Megan Gallagher 
 
In one bold stroke, Gov. Tim Kaine could reform the way Virginia plans for major road projects, save billions in transportation spending and preserve the scenic beauty of the Shenandoah Valley. And he doesn't need the General Assembly, a tax increase or $1 billion in new road funding to do it.

Gov. Kaine could direct his secretary of transportation and the senior staff at the Virginia Department of Transportation to go back to the drawing board in planning for the future of Interstate 81. The governor could order them to use a variety of tools to address safety and congestion problems on I-81, not a $13 billion industrial truck highway with tolls on cars and trucks.

The reasons are obvious. All Virginians coping with traffic and congestion should be alarmed that VDOT could spend $13 billion in just one corridor for a truckway nobody wants. Tolls won't begin to cover the cost. The I-81 truckway will demand billions in state road funds that are needed for other, more urgent projects.

Turning I-81 into a tolled truckway would place an unfair financial burden on Shenandoah Valley businesses and residents. It would destroy much of the corridor's unique scenic value for tourists and erode the healthy environment, rural and historic character of the Valley for all.

VDOT is holding hearings this month on plans to create the eight- to 12-lane, New Jersey Turnpike-style truckway on I-81, one of the concepts in the agency's draft environmental impact statement. VDOT rejected a host of smaller-scale, less costly options for I-81, based on questionable traffic projections that favor highway widening.

VDOT rejected options like improvements to known trouble spots on the highway, such as climbing lanes or improved entrance and exits ramps, increased enforcement of speed limits and truck-weight limits, and meaningful transit programs.

VDOT also rejected rail freight improvements to divert through truck traffic from I-81, after the agency studied rail upgrades - only in Virginia - and found them inefficient. The 2006 General Assembly ordered a multistate rail-feasibility plan for the I-81 corridor. VDOT should wait for the results of this study.

After the I-81 hearings are completed this month, VDOT officials could select final options for the corridor. Smaller-scale, less costly options that were dismissed in the current report could be barred from future consideration.

That's where the governor comes in. Gov. Kaine campaigned on a promise to reform transportation and land-use planning. The Shenandoah Valley provides the ideal opportunity for the governor to exercise his executive authority and demand a better plan for I-81.

Gov. Kaine will find a tremendous base of support. Forty-seven counties, cities, towns and planning groups in the I-81 corridor have endorsed resolutions supporting the rail-freight option. Another 20 local governments and civic groups endorsed the Reasonable Solutions resolution, a six-point plan for I-81 that avoids tolls or major widening. And a great majority of the Shenandoah Valley legislative caucus supported General Assembly resolutions in the past two sessions directing VDOT to halt negotiations with the Star Solutions group of road builders for a major truck highway on I-81.

Shenandoah Valley residents need to attend the VDOT hearings and oppose the toll truckway in their comments to the court reporter there (not just to VDOT staff) to ensure their comments go in the official record. The VDOT hearings take place from 5-8 p.m. as follows: Roanoke Wyndham Hotel and Wytheville Community College, April 11; Bristol Holiday Inn, April 12; Natural Bridge Hotel, April 17; Winchester Travel Lodge, April 18; and Bridgewater Turner Ashby High School, April 19.

Virginians from all over the state should contact the governor's office, encouraging Gov. Kaine to direct VDOT to consider lower-cost, lower-impact alternatives to meet current and future needs on I-81.

To write the governor online, go to www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm.
If the governor decides to promote a reasonable solution for I-81, the result could be more efficient, creative and cost-effective planning for road projects throughout the Commonwealth. All Virginians will benefit from a better use of our road money.
 
 Megan Gallagher is director of the Shenandoah Valley Network (www.shenandoahvalleynetwork.org), which links community groups working on conservation and transportation issues in seven counties: Frederick, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Augusta and Highland. The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press. |||

April 11, 2006 - Augusta Free Press - Inside Politics

Your chance to weigh in on I-81 improvements

Inside Politics by Chris Graham (chris@augustafreepress.com)
 
A series of six public hearings on the draft environmental impact statement that the Virginia Department of Transportation has put together related to possible future Interstate 81 corridor improvements is scheduled to get under way today.

How much of an impact the hearings will have on whatever is done with regard to corridor improvements is a matter of conjecture at this point.

"The biggest limitation is that there are too few opportunities and too little time for public input," said Stewart Schwartz, the executive director of the Washington, DC,-based Coalition for Smarter Growth

"This one set of hearings isn't enough - because they're making critical decisions at this stage. And they're potentially eliminating a mix of more cost-effective alternatives at this stage - and will never study those alternatives again," Schwartz told The Augusta Free Press.

Schwartz said it is still "incumbent upon people to turn out in large numbers to register their concerns about the project and the call for better solutions - more cost-effective solutions."
Another smart-transportation advocate, Rees Shearer, the chair of the Emory-based Rail Solution, which is working toward the adoption of a corridor-improvement plan that includes a significant freight-rail component, is also doing his part to urge Western Virginia residents to take advantage of their opportunity to offer input.

"This is the one and only official chance for the public to weigh in on what the future of transportation in the corridor is going to be - through these public hearings," Shearer said.
"My sincere hope is that people will take this opportunity to heart - not so much because they can convince VDOT to do what's right, but by their presence, they can really speak and testify as to what's right, so that the political process can be influenced to move VDOT in a direction that is more responsible in terms of planning our transportation future," Shearer told the AFP.

The hearings - set for today in Roanoke and Wytheville, tomorrow in Bristol and next week in Natural Bridge, Winchester and Bridgewater - are an important part of the decisionmaking process that VDOT is engaged in right now, transportation-department spokesperson Laura Bullock said.
"Assessing what citizens think is a requirement of the study, and it's also essential for the decisionmakers, who represent constituencies and who are charged with setting policy, to have a good sense of public opinion," Bullock said.

"As far as milestones go in this study, the public-comment period is crucial to the study's success. We want to hear from as many people as possible," Bullock said.

"Don't get me wrong - it's not a vote, but this is the most important time for people to make their opinions known as decisions are made
about the future of I-81 in Virginia," Bullock told the AFP.
Schwartz said he would like to see VDOT do more to show that it takes the opinions of citizens on transportation projects seriously.

"We feel that the public processes are sort of just part of a checklist that they have to check off - but that public input is often ignored," Schwartz said.

"That's one of the key reforms that we want to see in how VDOT does planning. Too many of the studies are conclusions-oriented. They assume that they're going to want to do an end-to-end widening, and therefore they study that," Schwartz said.

Bullock counters that the transportation department already does take public comments very seriously.

"All the comments received in any way will be considered," Bullock said. "The most important message right now is that this public comment period, which officially ends April 29, is the essential time for citizens to weigh in about the findings of the Tier 1 DEIS and about VDOT's tolling application for I-81." |||
 

April 11, 2006 - Bristol Herald Courier

Officials want public input on I-81 plans

By David McGee
With traffic on Interstate 81 expected to double in 30 years, state transportation officials are seeking public input on long-range plans to help alleviate congestion.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is hosting six public hearings starting tonight in Wytheville and Roanoke. A hearing will be held in Bristol Virginia Wednesday at the Holiday Inn on Linden Drive.

The agency’s I-81 corridor study includes a series of options for widening the 325 miles of roadway, improving rail infrastructure to divert freight from the highway, a proposal to charge tolls to pay for the work and an environmental impact statement.
Depending on which options are selected, the work could cost more than $11 billion.
The plan was released in December and the public comment period is scheduled to end on April 29, VDOT spokesman Chuck Lionberger said.

“This is the time. If you’ve got an opinion about I-81, we need to hear from you now,” Lionberger said. “After April 29, we will compile all of the public comments, information from the draft environmental impact statement and everything else to prepare a recommendation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board.”
No decisions have been made and public opinion can play a “huge” role in its final form, said Fred Altizer, VDOT’s Interstate 81 manager.

“A lot of what we hear is filtered through special interest groups,” Altizer said. “We’re asking people, ‘What do you want I-81 to look like in 2035 when traffic about doubles?’ This is really an opportunity for the average citizen to say what they want 81 to be and what they want us to do about it.”

The proposal to charge tolls, for example, is one aspect VDOT expects to hear a lot about, Altizer said.

“We’re only looking at tolling as an option to pay for it,” Altizer said. “There just doesn’t appear to currently be any way to pay for major improvements. There is money for some projects, but not comprehensive improvements.”

The Bristol hearing is scheduled to include two formats in different rooms. The formal public hearing begins at 5 p.m., and will give people a chance to express their opinions to a panel of transportation officials and members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

An open house-style hearing begins at 4 p.m., where people can view displays, maps and ask questions of other transportation officials. Both hearings are scheduled to continue until 8 p.m.

People can sign up for the formal public hearing beginning at 4 p.m., while the open house information will be available at 1 p.m.

“We encourage people to come early, learn about the plan and then make their comments to the panel, or, if they prefer, in written form. They can make their written comments later,” Lionberger said.

Citizens can also comment through the Web site at I-81.org |||

April 10, 2006 - Roanoke Times editorial

"I-81 study railroads the case for tolls"

VDOT gave select politicians what they wanted, a study that favors tolling I-81. Now the people can say that is not what they want.

The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold public hearings this week on improvements along the Interstate 81 corridor. Transportation officials hope the outcome will allow them to narrow the options and turn Western Virginia's main freeway into a toll road.

The public should stop them. VDOT has failed to demonstrate that the best way to improve safety and alleviate truck-heavy congestion is to turn I-81 over to a private company.

Toll roads have their place and sometimes are the only way to build spurs into new areas. But politicians who search for the cheapest rather than the best solution shouldn't be allowed to turn over this major artery of travel and commerce to a private company to exact tolls.

Unless the pubic demands better from its political leaders, they will allow such tunnel vision to darken the corridor's potential.

From the outset, VDOT narrowed its focus because politicians were lured by STAR Solutions' proposal to kick in the cash to build more lanes in exchange for a steady stream of tolls. Although the deal remains under negotiation, Virginia has petitioned the federal government to lift restrictions that ban tolls. Further evidence that this is the course politicians favor is found in VDOT's purposeful neglect to fully explore diverting freight off highways and onto railways.

A thorough analysis would recognize Virginia's and the nation's transportation and energy futures depend on developing intermodal transportation networks. The public expected the draft Environmental Impact Statement to encompass all options before discarding any, such as no-build, that clearly would not alleviate congestion or make the road any safer.
Instead, VDOT homed in on a predetermined outcome, hurriedly dismissed the role of shifting freight onto rail and restricted its review to Norfolk Southern's lines within Virginia's borders.
In doing so, it neglected the broader array of options necessary to build intermodal transportation systems to support current and future needs.

Thus the agency sentenced I-81 drivers to pay to use the same fuel-gobbling, truck-laden corridor, only spread out over more lanes, which in turn will mar the famously scenic views.

Worse, if VDOT gains permission to pursue its projected course, drivers could opt to use parallel roads, such as U.S. Route 11. The study estimates 50 percent of drivers might avoid tolls this way, but then it dismisses as trivial the significant safety and congestion consequences for those secondary routes.

A large public turnout can divert VDOT from its preferred path and onto one that better incorporates the state's comprehensive transportation needs. Too much is at stake to sit this out.

The first hearing is 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Roanoke Wyndham Hotel. Those unable to attend can still weigh in by e-mailing comments to 81info@VDOT.Virginia.gov|||

April 10 - Rockbridge Weekly.com - OPINION

April 17 Hearing On Widening I-81

by David Foster, Executive Director of Rail Solution
 
Ground zero for widening I-81 could well be in Rockbridge County’s backyard. The public hearings needed to approve the Tier I Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for widening I-81 are now scheduled to allow the public to comment on the plans.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) seeks to exempt the I-81/I-64 overlap section of Interstate 81 from the final phase of detailed study, or Tier II EIS, which would mean that most of Rockbridge County would never receive a thorough site-specific environmental or economic impact study. This could also allow work on widening the highway – and charging tolls - to start as early as this year in the Lexington to Stanton area. Citizens can expect all the obvious ills associated with a massive highway project, such as increased noise, air and water pollution, long-term construction delays, and tourism disruption, along with the prospect of high tolls and the associated significant increases in traffic on alternate roads such as Route 11.

In its Tier 1 DEIS, VDOT supports reconstruction of I-81 from border to border in Virginia. Some of it would be six lanes wide, but almost two-thirds would be eight lanes or more. The push for such added capacity stems from the huge volume of trucking on I-81 today, as well as VDOT’s projected trucking growth of 2.8% annually over the next 20 years.

But there’s a better way to handle this freight growth. It needs to be on the parallel railroad. An upgraded, double-track rail line between Knoxville, TN and Harrisburg, PA can supply the capacity and reliability to be truck-competitive and remove a high percentage of the trucks just passing through Virginia on I-81 by carrying them on intermodal rail cars.

Yet VDOT doomed the only viable rail option in the DEIS by failing to look beyond the 325 miles of I-81 in Virginia. Instead VDOT endorsed a rail component involving upgrading 13 short sections of track in Virginia, many not even in the I-81 corridor, averaging only a mile or two each. The DEIS adopts this inadequate alternative, that could not possibly attract a meaningful number of trucks, as the benchmark for consideration with all the highway options, thus letting VDOT conclude that new rail capacity cannot significantly affect the scope of highway construction.

There is simply no way we can add more pavement fast enough to support all future trucking growth. We can be smarter in Virginia. We don’t need to repeat the ruinous highway policies of the West Coast or Northeast, at great sacrifice to our economy, environment, and quality of life.

VDOT is dominated by highway people who have spent their entire careers building roads. They want to go on building roads. The highway engineering and construction lobby is a powerful ally. State and federal politicians are pushing hard, too.
VDOT structured the DEIS study to support as large an I-81 expansion as possible. To do the DEIS study they selected a firm that had been a member of STAR Solutions, the Halliburton-led consortium that originally proposed rebuilding I-81 as a toll road with dedicated truck lanes. VHB resigned from STAR to be VDOT's DEIS contractor. It’s no surprise that the DEIS supported VDOT’s desired findings. They’re laid out in an Executive Summary, referencing technical appendices for support. In public statements VDOT has repeatedly told people that the Executive Summary is all they need to read. Multiple volumes of technical data, graphs, and tables were appended to the DEIS, even though much of it is scientifically meaningless, full of errors, and does little or nothing to justify the reported findings.

A much more sensible alternative to a multi-lane, 325-mile rebuilding of I-81 would be a plan of limited improvements, targeted at safety problem areas. These could begin now, not wait on a decade-long construction project. They could be paid for like other Virginia highways, not through tolls. They could be put out for competitive bids to encourage participation by local contractors and to save taxpayers money, rather than guaranteed exclusively to the STAR Solutions consortium.

At the same time, rail upgrades, financed with loans from the $35 billion federal Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Fund, could increase capacity for handling through intermodal freight in the Corridor. There is broad-based citizen support for a meaningful role for rail in the future I-81 Corridor. Fifty local governments and planning agencies have passed resolutions in support of rail including Rockbridge County and the Cities of Buena Vista and Lexington. And there is support from other states such as Tennessee which is a leader in freight rail planning.

We must tell VDOT to give full consideration to the rail alternative. After all, the purpose of an environmental impact statement is to make a detailed comparison of the environmental and economic costs and merits of various alternatives, then to select the lowest cost, lowest impact package of improvements to provide the needed capacity. The DEIS does not do this.

To counter entrenched highway special interests, it is vital that there be input from citizens along I-81. Speak up. Don’t let VDOT foreclose the rail option. It is pivotal to extending the life of highway improvements and limiting their scope and urgency. The closest public hearing will be on Monday, April 17, 2006, from 5 – 8 pm at Natural Bridge Hotel & Conference Center. A complete list of hearing times and places, as well as procedures to be followed, is on our website at www.railsolution.org and VDOT’s website www.I-81.org. |||

NEXT MEETING:
June 7th at 10am
Salem, VA