U.S. 29 Bypass: Not a done deal

When it comes to making the right choices for a sustainable transportation future for our community, the Virginia Department of Transportation and a handful of local elected officials are living in the past. About 25 years in the past, a time when the new Tandy “portable” computer weighed 10 pounds, we listened to music on cassettes, Yugos were on the road (often broken down), and VDOT was proposing to build the western bypass around U.S. 29 in Albemarle County.

Few people would want to reprise the first three things; bringing back the U.S. 29 Bypass doesn’t make sense either.

The bypass has been a bad idea from the start. Back then, VDOT’s own numbers showed it would barely reduce traffic congestion on U.S. 29 North, and citizen comments at public hearings were overwhelmingly in opposition.

With housing developments and shopping centers having proliferated northward along the corridor, the bypass is now flat-out obsolete.

The project repeatedly has been listed as one of the nation’s most wasteful, destructive highway projects.

In the mid-1990s, our local Metropolitan Planning Organization, backed by the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, wisely amended the region’s transportation plan to prevent the bypass from being built, and the community turned its attention to pursuing better solutions to traffic on U.S. 29.

This summer, four members of the Board of Supervisors — with a heavy push from the McDonnell administration and others outside our community — took it upon themselves to haul this transportation artifact out of the basement, virtually in the dead of night. Without even bothering to dust it off, they ran it through the necessary local approvals in unprecedented fashion. The board didn’t even hold a public hearing on the bypass until a month after reversing its longstanding opposition.

Community members are rightly appalled at the way bypass boosters hijacked the democratic process to meet their own ends. Fortunately, public projects of this magnitude are subject to much more than politics.

Plain and simple: The bypass is not a done deal.

It’s not surprising many people think it is, given the hustle that state and local politicians have put on the proposal. Ultimately, the Federal Highway Administration has to sign off on it based on the facts. We are confident that if all the information that is necessary to make an informed decision on this major project is actually put forth, it will reaffirm that the U.S. 29 Bypass is not the answer to local and statewide needs. But that’s a big “if” unless this community stays involved.

Here are some facts we do know.

A number of federal permits and approvals are required before the first shovel of dirt is turned. Most important, the FHWA must ensure VDOT has fully complied with the National Environmental Policy Act before the project can be built. The law requires three basic things:

» Careful consideration of the environmental, health and community impacts of a proposal.

» A thorough review of alternatives.

» Ample public participation.

The bottom line is: Federal law calls for thoughtful analysis based on sound data and public involvement to generate better decisions.

The main environmental impact study prepared for this project is now more than 18 years old. The traffic analyses of the project are similarly outdated, and as anyone who has navigated U.S. 29 north of the river knows, much has changed up there. More recent studies identify better and more complete approaches to solving congestion on U.S. 29, such as the strategy embodied in the recently adopted Places29 master plan.

There is also a growing body of scientific data from around the country on the harmful effects of exposure to tailpipe exhaust on children’s health. The American Academy for Pediatrics notes that children living near busy highways appear to be especially harmed by air pollution, and the Centers for Disease Control aims to have fewer schools located in close proximity to major highways. The bypass, which would supposedly draw a substantial number of tractor-trailers and other through traffic, would run perilously close to six of our community’s schools — within only a few hundred feet in some cases.

VDOT acknowledges that the law requires it to update the impact analysis with new information, but in a noteworthy reversal of its recent haste to push the project through, the agency says the update could take a year. Despite this long lag time, it’s unclear how thorough VDOT’s review will be. For example, the agency has said nothing about studying the health impacts on our children and school staff.

Meanwhile, VDOT is charging ahead with acquiring right-of-way for the bypass, and last week issued a “request for proposals” for design and construction of the project. Before updating the old studies. Before getting important new information. Before getting the required public input. It doesn’t take a transportation planner to see that putting the cart before the horse is not a good idea.

Recent news stories suggest that VDOT has not exactly been transparent with the community about this project. Internal emails released through the Freedom of Information Act show that as late as June, the agency’s engineers pegged the cost of the highway at $436 million — more than double the cost presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board July 20 when it agreed to fund the project.

Strong-arm politics and antiquated thinking have put the U.S. 29 Bypass project back in play today, but it must still undergo the federally required review designed to ensure informed decision-making and prevent unnecessary environmental harm. We encourage citizens to stay involved and to hold our decision-makers accountable. Contact your county supervisor and Gov. Bob McDonnell and express your concerns. Demand that VDOT and FHWA conduct a full “supplemental environmental impact statement” and not simply re-evaluate the old documents. The review should include a robust traffic analysis and consider the more cost-effective alternatives this community has developed, and it should ensure all impacts are thoroughly considered, including health and noise impacts on neighborhoods and schoolchildren.

We all understand the genuine need to fix traffic problems on U.S. 29, for local drivers and for other communities that rely on the corridor as a key transportation route. The U.S. 29 Bypass is not the solution. Let’s put this 1980s relic back in the basement and return to the business of advancing real transportation solutions for our future.