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More asphalt not the path to relief from region's traffic congestion. Date published: 11/1/2002 By LARRY EVANS TRAFFIC reports are provided every few minutes for sever- al hours each weekday morning and evening on many radio and TV stations in Northern Virginia. Weather reports often take a back seat to traffic-copter updates in a region where hundreds of thousands of people commute long distances to and from work. Sometimes weather and traffic converge, of course. A light snow can send the region into a tailspin. Workers don't get home for hours. How did the region get into such a mess? By building roads. Highways and secondary roads are absolutely necessary in a society that became increasingly dependent upon cars over the past 100 years. But we've ignored the effects our single-minded fixation with transportation has on open land, communities and the quality of life of the individuals who spend several hours a day commuting. The Washington suburbs--which now include the Fredericksburg region--have been radically changed over four decades by road-builders, developers and the real-estate industry. All have thrived as sprawling development followed new interstates and highways into the countryside and away from places of work. A 50-mile, one-way commute is common for suburbanites who live in Spotsylvania County or southern Stafford County. Along their way to work they listen to traffic reports and hope no one up ahead has a fender-bender or flat tire, let alone a serious accident. Is that any way to live? Is that any way to build a community? No. It's time to figure out how to handle growth and development in the far-flung region. Transportation must remain an important aspect of planning, but not the primary force. We cannot get ourselves out of this mess by laying more asphalt. And yet on Tuesday, voters in nine Northern Virginia localities--from Prince William County north--will decide whether to fund road projects and mass transit by raising the state sales tax from 4.5 cents per dollar to 5 cents per dollar. Supporters say $5 billion would be generated over the next 20 years.
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