Public gets say on U.S. 250 interchange

This is not a road which reduces traffic. For the first couple of years, It would shift congestion from the County (and some of Park st) to right though the heart of Charlottesville. But It would also promote sprawl growth, and thus in a few years there would simply be more traffic everywhere.  But aside from this being a terrible idea, it is also based on a lie.

The CPMP and numerous individual citizens have contended from early on that the critical components of this undertaking have been deliberately segmented in order to evade historic resource, parkland, and environmental protection laws which come with federal funds and/or approval.

But whatever one’s opinion about why Charlottesville and VDOT chose to segment this project, there is indisputably a very consequential falsehood underlying much of the parkway/interchange process. As this fiction is stated in its Route 250 Bypass Interchange project website’s “Frequently asked questions“:
“If the interchange is not built, the McIntire Road Extended (City) and Meadowcreek Parkway (County) projects will proceed as planned… The no-build alternative would include an at-grade, 17-lane intersection at the Route 250 Bypass, McIntire Road and McIntire Road Extended.”

The above statement is a rewriting of history. VDOT’s own engineers advised against such an intersection, as it would dramatically undermine the function of the Rt. 250 bypass.  More importantly, Charlottesville did not agree to, and in fact explicitly rejected this 17 lane at-grade version in City Council’s letters to VDOT and in its resolution to authorize the use of Charlottesville’s parkland. 

Thus, the Route 250 Bypass Interchange project team – under the supervision of a majority of Charlottesville’s City Council - is misleading citizens with the statement that an at-grade, 17-lane intersection would “proceed as planned“absent an interchange. No such plan has been agreed to.

Intentionally or not, the city’s fabrication has been used by the FHWA to make a determination that this project can be lawfully segmented.  As it also forms a false premise from which to determine the need for, impacts of, and feasible alternatives to the federally funded interchange, the results of these studies are not only inaccurate but deceptive.

VDOT, the administrating agency for MRE, is engaged in similar duplicity.  In a June 30, 2008 letter, VDOT wrote to Charlottesville’s City Manager:

“This letter also certifies that this temporary construction easement will not be used to construct an at-grade intersection at the Route 250 Bypass. In addition, the construction plans for the MRE project have been revised to terminate before reaching the Route 250 Bypass at the proposed project limits of the new interchange…”

Yet, despite this acknowledgment, VDOT recently submitted the discarded 17 lane at-grade design to the U.S Corps of Engineers for permit approval while coordinating a different set of plans with the city and FHWA to build a road which, without the interchange, would end in a field 775 ft from the Rt. 250 Bypass.

As owner of McIntire Park and the administrator of the Route 250 Bypass Interchange project, City Council must come clean with its citizens and partner agencies and acknowledge that a 17 lane at-grade intersection was not agreed to, and that the interchange was deemed by Charlottesville a critical component of the Meadowcreek Parkway project.  This stance would necessitate evaluation of the project as a whole with regard to compliance with federal law, and citizens would then have the information needed to meaningfully participate.

The CPMP has sent a letter to Senator John Warner requesting that he support allowing the earmark he sponsored for the Meadowcreek Parkway Interchange to be re-appropriated to other transportation projects in the Charlottesville area.  We ask council to do likewise.

The parkway/interchange proceedings have been largely founded on the 17 lane at- grade untruth, and this must be corrected if the process is to be made legitimate.

The CPMP advocates that the parkway/interchange project not be built.  Regardless of your position on the merits or shortcomings of the proposed road, we hope you will agree that Charlottesville’s citizens have the right to honest government, and act accordingly within your agencies mandate to enforce the letter and spirit of the law.