Road plans must be taken very carefully

A system of parallel roads to remove some traffic from U.S. 29 has long been an accepted vision of local leaders.
That demonstrated need is why, after all, local lawmakers have been willing to brave the displeasure of some constituents by building new roads (other constituents, of course, approve the addition of more roads). Pursuing the Hillsdale Drive Extension all the way from Rio Road East to Hydraulic serves as an excellent example. Another more recent idea that has been floated: expanding a growth area into a rural area for the opportunity of extending Berkmar Drive.

Despite this, neither leaders nor residents endorsed a state suggestion presented at a recent meeting to extend Leonard Sandridge Drive to the Georgetown-Barracks Road intersection, or potentially tying it into the old right-of-way originally acquired for the defunct Western Bypass.
The reasons for the lukewarm response are several.
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors realizes that even if the idea had merit, there is no money to fund it.

But does it have merit? The report presented last week by the Virginia Department of Transportation was brief and undetailed. The report suggested that the extension would not serve “regional,” or through, traffic but would benefit local commuters and emergency responders. However, there were no figures to support the proposal. VDOT officials merely indicated that they believed these routes were worth studying.
Meanwhile, opposition to use of the Western Bypass corridor is virtually guaranteed from those who also opposed the bypass. Indeed, it is tempting to wonder if VDOT is not simply looking for a use for land it already owns.
As an overall strategy, constructing parallel roads is a sound idea. But they must be the right roads, in the right places. 
Further documentation is clearly needed to prove cost-benefits for extending Sandridge Drive. But VDOT need not waste tax money on studies if there is no hope that the Board of Supervisors, for political reasons, will ever approve the road or the county and state will ever be able to fund it.

Other ideas floated by VDOT included creating a major new connector between U.S. 250 and Hydraulic Road to reduce gridlock at the current traffic light and to reduce traffic south of the light. There were figures to accompany this scenario. A new connector would cost twice as much as simply reworking the existing intersection — $120 million vs. $60 million. Plus, the impact on traffic during construction would be substantially higher, as would the impact on properties along the route. However, VDOT predicted the end result would be superior.
VDOT also proposed double-tracking the rail line along Virginia’s 219-mile portion of the U.S. 29 corridor and encouraging increased use of rail freight and commuter rail (extending it to Gainesville) to remove automobile traffic.

All proposals were part of the department’s massive review of U.S. 29’s efficiency.
Economics may eliminate some of these proposals; politics may eliminate others.
But at this stage, none of these options should be off the table.