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Spotsylvania bypass up for grabs again. Date published: 8/30/2005
VDOT's raid
Repel it--tomorrow night LEST ANYONE think the Civil War is over in Spotsylvania A 1997 memorandum of understanding among the Virginia Department of Transportation, the National Park Service, the Federal Highway Administration, Spotsylvania officials, and preservationist groups set some parameters for the road. One was that the stretch near the Spotsylvania battlefield would be "limited-access"--i.e., there would be only a few traffic exits and entrances. Now, however, VDOT has unilaterally changed the rules, opening up motorist access near the sensitive area, thus threatening to seed development and degrade the historic battleground of Heth's Salient, which, preservations say, was the site of intense fighting on May 12, 1864. Fortunately, VDOT must go back to Square One, holding a public hearing about its tin-eared redesign. Unfortunately, officials chose to set that hearing at an inopportune time: tomorrow night. Whatever the merit--or folly--of VDOT's revised plans, the short notice of a meeting right before the Labor Day weekend smacks of a fast one. Residents with an interest in the bypass or the battlefield should muster between 1700 hours and 1900 hours (5 to 7 p.m.) at the Marshall Center, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and let their voices be heard--preferably in a cry of counterattack.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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