The 4 March post on Kilgore’s words (“Blow Right Over” – Isn’t That…) has become swamped by irrelevancies and non-sequiturs but the importance of discussing these words has not diminished.
Kilgore’s quote comes from an interview with Times Community Newspapers editors and reporters. If one reads the story, Kilgore is saying if elected he would support the “Techway” not one of the other two Potomac crossings that the Road Gang supports. Many of the posts in the last thread addressed these corridors.
The Eastern Bypass in theory relieves congestion on I-95 from South of Fredericksburg to North of Baltimore. VDOT and MDOT studies show a roadway in this location would not meet this goal. Scattered urban land-use would generate traffic in eastern Virginia, southern Maryland and in the DelMarVa Urban Support Region that would swamp the new roadway. As is the case with I-81, moving freight to rail (plus an Auto-Train that would carry cars and RVs from North of the Susquehanna to Florida) would be far more efficient.
The Western Bypass (aka, Western Transportation Corridor) would carry traffic from North of Fredericksburg to I-70 in Maryland. In theory this would serve Washington-Dulles Airport and the “fast growing” urban agglomerations west of VA Route 28 in Virginia and cross the Potomac to connect with I-70. Again the data does not support this roadway for the same reasons.
The Techway is a different roadway. It is a Potomac river bridge and access roads to get folks who live in Maryland and want to work in the northern part of Virginia or fly out of Dulles from the I-270 corridor to the Dulles Toll Road/Greenway corridor. For yet a third time, the numbers do not support the idea. Frank Wolf who sponsored a study of the Techway found out how strongly citizens felt and dropped it like a hot potato.
For 30 years Maryland (at the state, county and community levels) has been adamantly opposed to any and all of these roadways. Given the leanings of the current Governor, he may support one or more until he reads the pole results and considers the impact of voter views on his next election. That reversal is just what has happened land week to the Western Transportation Corridor in Loudoun County. Even the Build Everywhere board elected in 2003 can not ignore the lack of support.
Some roadway improvements in all three of these corridors may be needed. On the other hand PRT or some other technology may be better. It is very clear that Balanced Communities both inside and outside the Clear Edge will greatly reduce the demand for any new infrastructure.
What is the solution here? It is to have region-wide agreement on a future settlement pattern and on a mobility system to provide mobility. That means Balanced Communities. Sorry there is no alternative regardless of the length of filibusters and the number of non-sequiturs. For another view on this see Roger Lewis’ column in the Saturday TWP Real Estate section. The solution is not a badly informed comment by Kilgore which was our original post.
We will address some of the overarching issues in our next two columns including an easy to apply definition of Geographic Illiteracy.
EMR
