On Jan. 18, the Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club hosted a large meeting of concerned Albemarle residents, at which the status of the proposed U.S. 29 Western Bypass was updated by Jeff Werner, Piedmont Environmental Council, and Morgan Butler, Southern Environmental Law Center.
Cutting close by many Charlottesville neighborhoods and schools, the proposed 6.2-mile western bypass is an obsolete, expensive, destructive project that has provoked massive community protest because of its significant negative environmental impacts. Supporters of this bypass project have dismissed the far less expensive Places29 Plan road projects — that is, completing Hillsdale Drive and extending Berkmar Drive to Hollymead Town Center, which are much more effective in diverting U.S. 29 North traffic.
As a part of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s procurement schedule for the bypass design/construction project, VDOT staff are currently performing an environmental assessment of the bypass project. Since the environmental impact study for the original bypass is now more than 18 years old, VDOT performed a supplemental EIS in 2001 with a primary focus on South Fork Rivanna River Reservoir.
Moreover, the traffic analyses are similarly outdated on a project that was proposed by the VDOT about 25 years ago. As a result of those outdated plans, it is necessary for VDOT to prepare a new supplemental EIS for the analysis of the following:
» New design of the bypass project.
» Negative health effects of auto and truck emissions on children in nearby schools.
» Road alternatives to the bypass like the Places29 Plan, unanimously approved by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.
» The bypass route’s northern terminus, which creates a new “F”-level traffic flow problem by dumping bypass vehicles into the county’s thriving primary business development area (Hollymead Town Center).
In addressing those matters, the current VDOT environmental assessment of the bypass project should be thorough and objective in order to be consistent with national environmental policy, on which bypass project compliance must be approved by the Federal Highway Administration. Also, the VDOT assessment should include the traffic modeling of the bypass in comparison to road alternatives like the Places29 Plan and, before its finalization, should provide the opportunity for public comment via a formal hearing.
The U.S. 29 bypass is not a done deal. I urge Albemarle residents to write or email VDOT and the FHWA about the negative environmental impacts of the proposed bypass.
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