Archive
RAIL Solution was founded in 2003, primarily in response to a proposal by STAR Solutions to privatize and rebuild Interstate 81 across the entire 325 miles of Western Virginia as an 8-12 lane truck tollroad. Many citizens of the area felt this was too extreme, threatened the environment and quality of life, and that equivalent freight-carrying capacity could be created on the parallel rail line at far lower cost.
This battle continued through December, 2007, when the last vestige of STAR, one-time Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, finally gave up on the project. The five-year history of this battle, in which a volunteer citizens' group took on Halliburton and its well-funded allies in the highway engineering and contruction industries, together with influential state and federal politicians, is no longer of current relevance but has been preserved in this Archive section.
Countless documents were written during this period, many of them still of historic interest. In many ways they illustrate RAIL Solution's work as a poster child for effective grassroots advocacy. These are preserved in the subheadings under this menu tab and can be accessed by those tabs or by clicking on the links below.
Overview of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)