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Interstate
81
is a thorn in the side for area truckers and Shenandoah
Valley residents due to the congestion created after the
1990 NAFTA agreement and bleed-off truck traffic from
I-95 using the Valley interstate as an alternative
north-south means of access.
The
325-mile stretch of I-81 that bisects Western Virginia
is problematic, but the proposed solutions don't benefit
Valley residents.
The
Star Solution is nothing more than a multibillion-dollar
pork-barrel project for a few local, state and federal
politicians who enjoy the benefits and funding of PAC
contributions from the interstate-trucking industry and
road-construction corporations.
Gov.
Mark R. Warner challenged companies to "get
creative" with building and financing the I-81
interstate and the worldwide corporation Halliburton.
Financiers such as
Salomon Smith Barney, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Keegan
answered Hizzoner's request.
Shucet
disagrees with the idea that I-81 is pork at its worst. "At
this time, there haven't been any additional federal
funds dedicated to it at all. However, before any
corridor-wide solution could be implemented on 81,
substantial additional federal funds will need to be
available. Otherwise, Virginia just can't afford it. If
additional federal funds aren't available, then we'll
have to look at something less than a 325-mile long
corridor solution."
Trip
Pollard, the senior attorney and policy advocate with
the Southern Environmental Law Center, says "I-81
does have serious problems, primarily due to the
dramatic increase in truck traffic on this
highway."
He
disagrees with the commissioner's assessment, however,
that I-81 is not pork.
"The Star
Solutions proposal is the wrong solution. It would be a
serious mistake to pursue a massive $13 billion
experimental truckway that is likely to increase truck
traffic on I-81, divert traffic to other roads
ill-suited to handle it, cause years of construction
delays, increase air pollution and polluted runoff,
destroy enormous swaths of farmland, harm battlefields,
degrade scenic vistas and other tourism resources, lower
the Valley's quality of life, convert a free public
interstate highway paid for by taxpayers into a toll
road profiting private companies, and harm the region's
long-term economic prosperity.
"Not
surprisingly," Pollard adds, "this proposal
has generated considerable opposition and has been
ranked among the most wasteful and destructive proposals
in the country."
For
whom the bell tolls
The
Blue Dog is fervently anti-toll for the Valley road for
a number of reasons. First,
toll roads will hamper economic prosperity of the
Shenandoah Valley - and residential traffic - not to
mention lessen our quality of life.
Second,
tolls are a death sentence for regional manufacturing
facilities along with independent truckers and
agribusinesses, farming and timber industries,
throughout the Valley.
Third,
Shenandoah Valley tourism, the third most profitable
business in our area, would take a heavy loss - with the
combination of a 15- to 20-year construction period and
the eventual tolling.
Fourth,
tolls are essentially nothing more than a tax increase.
It's
a lose-lose-lose-lose scenario for the residents of the
Valley.
Shucet
responds this way: "I'm not sure we should get into
a toll versus no-toll debate ... but let me just say
this. I-81 is one of the top eight truck routes in the
U.S.
"The
highway was designed for 15 percent truck traffic, but
trucks now account for 40 percent of the traffic in
certain areas," Shucet says. "Traffic has
tripled in the last 20 years, from around 20,000
vehicles per day to nearly 70,000 vehicles per day in
the Roanoke Valley. On some sections of I-81, the number
of trucks nearly equals the number of passenger cars. If
any solution is to be implemented, it has to be paid
for.
"Tolls
are one way to do that," Shucet says.
"Additional revenue available for the state's
transportation program is another way. But either way
you cut, we need a substantial source of additional
revenue to improve 81."
The
Blue Dog doesn't know Shucet's political party
affiliation. Gov. Warner has appointed Republicans as
well as Democrats to key positions throughout his
Cabinet. But
Virginia Democrats, who cry a river of tears for the
underprivileged of Virginia, are selfishly supporting
special interests over the disadvantaged and depressed
of the region.
The
Blue Dog calls the Star Solution road improvement Mark
Warner's private business-state government folly.
In
an March 2002 public statement, the governor said that
"anyone who drives on Interstate I-81 knows the
sooner this road is widened and car and trucks traffic
is separated, the safer all motorists will be. This is
an innovative approach to enhancing our state
transportation system and protecting our citizens who
drive on I-81."
Yes,
Governor Mollycoddle, but you're enhancing the pockets
of special interests, not the residents. It's
another example of the Democratic Party of Virginia
losing touch with its rural roots.
Let
me explain: The Shenandoah Valley is filled with older
trailer-park communities and substandard housing while
the main thoroughfares are home to upscale housing
projects.
Eleven
states represent the core of the U.S. poverty belt, and
Virginia is one of them. Virginia's
impoverished areas stretch from Highland County down
into Rockbridge County and into the rural enclaves of
coal country in Southwest Virginia.
Most
rural Virginians earn under $17,500 annually, which is
considered poverty level in America; and matter of fact,
most live paycheck-to-paycheck trying to support their
families, and most do not have health care coverage.
These are the working poor of rural Virginia.
There
is no doubt that I-81 tolls will drive local residents
off the interstate and into the regional unemployment
lines. It's beyond reason to double tax these citizens.
Big
government, corporate lobbyists and high-priced attorney
outfits located in Washington and Richmond should not
have carte blanc to decide our future.
But
the Star Solution only advocates tolling truck traffic,
you say? Think
again, my Valley friends.
In
a Star Solutions press release, dated Sept. 5, 2003,
Star Solutions spokesman Jim Atwell said, "Tolling
all vehicles could allow for the project truck tolls to
be cut in half."
Are
you beginning to see the light at the end of his tunnel
vision?
Virginia
Democrats, who enjoy hugging trees and regularly attend
environmental events, are turning their backs on the
breathtaking scenic vistas of the Shenandoah Valley,
which are doomed to become more clouded with ozone and
polluted with vehicle emission with expansion of I-81.
Eight
lanes of asphalt, center-lane truck stops and 12-foot
high concrete barriers and sound walls are likely to be
seen from the mountainous overlooks of the Blue Ridge
and Massanutten mountain ranges.
The
Star Solution for I-81 will likely be known in the
future as a modern version of the China's Great Wall
that is seen from space by satellite-imaging systems.
Initial
construction would begin in the Staunton to Lexington
corridor of I-81 and build outward north and south until
the project is completed.
After
the General Assembly and Congress move forward with a
truck-friendly interstate that widens the interstate to
eight lanes, VDOT might as well start planning ahead
with an additional eight lanes, because the volume of
truck traffic is bound to increase, if not double, in
less than 10 years time, until the highway engulfs a
good portion of Valley property.
Fast
intermodal or passenger-rail systems are alternative
solutions that are political afterthoughts with these
bureaucrats - and often ridden with pitiful excuses
about rails being cost-prohibitive and not accessible.
Poppycock,
I say.
If
that were true, the cost associated with any I-81
project should fall under management of an independent
committee, much like the outside project manager hired
by Shucet for the Hampton Roads planning district.
A
reduction in automobiles and trucks by means of rails
not only can provide a choice that is economically
efficient and functional, but environmentally friendly
as well.
Hopefully,
the often gullible general public will not buy into the
I-81 toll mantra. Tolls are exclusively linked to the
widening road construction, future maintenance and
upkeep along with built in cost avoidance for inflation.
Other
solutions
Pollard
suggests that instead of a 325-mile, one-size-fits-all
widening project, Virginia should pursue several
complementary solutions, including ...
-
targeted improvements to I-81.
-
rail alternatives to capitalize on the potential to use
the lines paralleling I-81 to get a significant chunk of
the freight traffic off of the trucks, and off of 81 and
onto the railroads.
-
improved local street networks.
-
safety zones and stepped-up law enforcement.
-
land-use improvements.
"These
alternatives offer a safer, less expensive alternative
that is better for our health, our communities, our
economy and our environment," Pollard said.
Less
public expense would be great change for the better. The
Blue Dog says the Star Solution is nothing more than a
special-interest boondoggle - a moneymaking scheme.
Star
Solutions pamphlets display the building of new
facilities in the middle of the interstate for trucks -
i.e., rest stations, fuel and food, all financed and
built for profit for the state of Virginia and managed
by companies like Halliburton.
Come
on, folks. Is this yet another welcome to Iraq
reconstruction scenario, but for Virginia's fat cats and
special interests?
Bureaucrats
and lobbyists control the flow of money in Richmond.
In
reality, I-81 tolls are cash cow for the state and
future transportation funding for urban Virginia. It's
the truth.
It
needs to be said ... tolling has nothing to do with
assisting rural residents.
Four
of the top five counties in agricultural receipts are
located in the Valley. If the state and selfish
politicians want to deliberately hurt the local economy,
then by all means, move on.
But
hampering those economic facts cannot good medicine for
rural Virginia farmers. For
now, Shucet and the Blue Dog don't see eye-to-eye with
the challenges of I-81.
--
November 29, 2004
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