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Will our region be left out of I-95 improvements?

Date published: 10/1/2006

VDOT double cross?

Suddenly, there's a question whether HOT lanes will extend to our jammed region

HOW DO YOU SPELL relief? Apparently not V-D-O-T. At Wednesday's meeting of the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, VDOT officials hemmed and hawed when asked for assurances that the proposed HOT lanes on Interstate 95 would actually extend to our region. Not only that, the proposed completion date for the project somehow slipped three years. Evidently, legislators aren't the only ones skilled at doing nothing to keep Virginians moving.

Never mind that Fredericksburg commuters grow old sitting in molasses-slow traffic on the interstate. Never mind that FAMPO held a special meeting to commit $11.3 million in federal transportation funds toward the project. Never mind the stress and economic cost of the mind-numbing, time-wasting congestion.

Fluor/Transurban, the company whose proposals got the go-ahead last year from VDOT, has split the I-95 improvement into two segments: the "northern project" and the "southern project." The northern portion would end where the current HOV lanes terminate, near Dumfries, while the southern component would stretch to Massaponax. But with the proposal divided, FAMPO Chairman Matt Kelly says he "flat out asked" VDOT representative Barbara Reese for assurance the southern project would be built. She wouldn't commit to that.

Perhaps her reticence was simple caution. After all, an environmental-impact study could turn up some endangered fern or frog that would preclude any project. But perhaps VDOT and its partner, Fluor, have another motive. The northern project basically involves re-striping the existing HOV lanes and turning them into HOT lanes. Once that's done, guess what? Tolls can be collected. As one observer put it, what you've got is a cash register on I-95.

But that wasn't the deal. FAMPO member Pete Fields says that the organization was "adamant from Day One" that the project "not just put more lanes in the HOV lanes. If you do that, you've done nothing to help the congestion on Rt. 610." He believes that the I-95 traffic problem must be solved "regionally and thoroughly" and that the impression he's getting is that the easy, lucrative part will be built--and the southern section will just fade away.

That would be intolerable. Barring unforeseen environmental issues (the only endangered species we can imagine is the "happy commuter"), the entire 14th Street Bridge-to-Massaponax project must be built. As Mr. Kelly notes, "The goal here is congestion mitigation." It's not making quick money. Failure to extend I-95 improvements to Massaponax would leave Fredericksburg commuters in sheer misery. The HOT lanes, as FAMPO member Hap Connors quipped, would be just "lukewarm lanes."

FAMPO members voted to sign off on the $11.3 million in federal funds (with the Stafford contingent dissenting) because, as Mr. Connors put it, something has to be done with I-95, and the environmental impact studies the money is designated for will be needed in any scenario. But elected officials, Commonwealth Transportation Board Members, and state transportation leaders should not allow VDOT/Fluor to back away from their commitment. The entire $1 billion, 55-mile I-95 improvement project should be completed, preferably by the original 2011 date. Anything less is bait-and-switch.

Date published: 10/1/2006