By KELLY HANNON
No one misses an opportunity to lobby for transportation projects.
The state's top transportation leaders were in Stafford yesterday to hear comments on the six-year budget that builds roads, interchanges and bridges in Virginia.
Stafford supervisor Paul Milde asked for money to advance the Courthouse Road/State Route 630 interchange on Interstate 95. So far, the $185.4 million project has $28.8 in funding.
The Falmouth intersection and U.S. 17 in Stafford were mentioned, too, by Stafford supervisors George Schwartz and Joe Brito.
Redesigning the Falmouth intersection may cost around $21 million. It has $11.9 million in funding. The U.S. 17 widening needs $44 million. It's got $15 million.
Taking in the requests were Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, and two members of the state Transportation Board, Mary Lee Carter, the Fredericksburg area's representative, and Stafford resident Cord Sterling, an at-large urban member.
Homer recalled the Falmouth signal from his tour of the area this summer.
"This is the longest stoplight in the world you're talking about?" Homer asked, drawing knowing laughs from the crowd.
The money already in the state budget for the Falmouth intersection and U.S. 17 widening will pay for design work and project engineering. "Until we get the engineering completed, it's hard to price what the construction will be," Sterling said.
"Every step forward is a step forward," Homer said, noting the projects have been languishing for years.
Spotsylvania requested funding to replace the U.S. 17 bridge over I-95. The county has identified more than $1.5 million to help VDOT finish design work. "We hope this will 'jump start' the project to be in a position to request the CTB to consider allocations to complete the construction," said Rebecca Golden, director of Spotsylvania's capital projects management department.
Caroline supervisor Calvin Taylor, on behalf of his board, asked for money to improve the Ladysmith I-95 interchange, and to widen State Route 30 beyond the intersection with State Route 652, anticipating Virginia State Fair traffic.
One Stafford woman asked the board not to fund a project, High Occupancy Toll lanes on I-95. The combination HOT and High Occupancy Vehicle lanes will give access unfairly to wealthy drivers, said Susan Kelly, a vanpool driver.
Under the proposal being studied by the state, vehicles with one or two occupants would pay a toll to use the free-flowing lanes on I-95. Vehicles with three or more occupants ride for free.
"We implore you not to institute that," Kelly said, who wants the lanes to remain limited to HOV use.
Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, praised Virginia Department of Transportation workers, who he said typically receive little praise but lots of blame. He also asked the agency to consider the wishes of Waverly Village residents in Spotsylvania, who he said are concerned about the planned route for a new road in Spotsylvania Towne Centre that will link State Route 3 with Harrison Road.
Most of the meeting's speakers focused on the Robert O. Norris Bridge in Middlesex County.
The 50-year-old bridge crosses the Rappahannock River and links the Northern Neck with Virginia's Middle Peninsula.
Residents have been worried about the state of the two-lane bridge, which is two miles long, but those fears escalated after a bridge inspection found an anomaly in one of the structure's pins earlier this month.
The Norris Bridge was being inspected as a precaution. The bridge has a steel-deck-truss design, similar to the style of the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis in August. Virginia inspected all steel-deck-truss bridges after the collapse.
The Norris Bridge was closed two nights this week so the pin could be replaced.
A grass roots group, Norris Bridge Now, traveled two hours to last night's meeting at the Stafford County Government Center to ask for a new bridge.
If the bridge were ever declared unsafe, forcing a closure, "the loss of the bridge would create an economic crisis for our region," said Carmen Kilduff, Kilmarnock Town Council member.
A quarter of Rappahannock General Hospital's employees must use the bridge to reach work, said hospital vice president Emerson L. Gravatt.
This week, The Tides Inn in Irvington offered space for medical staff to spend the night instead of taking an 85-mile detour home.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436