This May – without any technical justification, without public input and without a recommendation from VDOT — an unelected body, the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), approved a potential north-south highway between Leesburg and I-95 as a Corridor of Statewide Significance. This action brings back a long-cherished dream road for developers – a vast Outer Beltway around Northern Virgina that has been shot down time and time again, when subject to community input and expert review.
Transportation Solutions
As high gas prices, traffic congestion, strain on the state budget and concerns about pollution prompt widespread calls for change, PEC supports a new transportation vision for Virginia.
A Wasteful Bypass and a Better Plan
VDOT gave plans for the Charlottesville Western Bypass an F. So why spend half a billion dollars on it?
That's the question that PEC posed to Charlottesville and Albemarle residents though ads in local papers and a mailing that we sent to 15,000 homes — part of our full-on campaign to stop this wasteful bypass from moving forward ahead of better alternatives.
Insiders Renew Push for Another Beltway Around DC
In 2011, PEC alerted its members to a renewed effort to get an Outer Beltway project built. A highlight from the email text:
"In a meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) last week, the Governor's Secretary of Transportation and two CTB members announced a renewed effort to prioritize a highway connecting I-95 in Prince William to Rt. 50 in Loudoun."