Erosion, runoff and potential toxic spills pose a threat to the reservoir. Four miles of the 6.2-mile highway would cut through the Rivanna Reservoir watershed - the main drinking water source for more than 80,000 people in the Charlottesville and Albemarle County community. For 20 years, county planners have carefully restricted development in the watershed to protect drinking water quality for the long term. The road would undermine that effort. (Amazingly, VDOT's 1993 environmental study on the road devoted a mere six lines to the impacts of the bypass to the reservoir.)
The bypass would have a negative impact on the daily lives of hundreds of schoolchildren. It would be located about 1/2 mile from six schools - St. Anne's-Belfield Lower, Albemarle County High, Jack Jouett Middle, Mary Greer Elementary, Agnor Hurt Elementary and the Ivy Creek School. It would, in fact, cut through the property of Jack Jouett and Mary Greer schools, and a triple-level ramp is planned right next to St. Anne's-Belfield Lower School. Exhaust fumes and traffic noise would affect outside play areas and be a constant nuisance for schoolchildren and teachers.
The bypass would cut through six established neighborhoods and several farms. About 40 homes are right in its path, which VDOT would take by condemnation. In addition, the bypass would be within view and earshot of hundreds of more homes.
The four-lane bypass, including several massive interchanges, bridges and road cuts, would rip through six miles of Albemarle County, leaving a permanent scar on the countryside. Yet, one of our community's greatest assets is the scenic beauty of our natural and rural landscapes. That is what draws many people to live and work here, and provides the foundation for our quality of life.
Once the asphalt is laid, the pressure to develop subdivisions and commercial centers near it will mount. Traffic engineers and planners are increasingly recognizing that new roads in undeveloped areas are like "can openers to the countryside," resulting in unwanted sprawl development. The bypass is no different.
Financial Costs
At approximately $30 million per mile, the bypass is mile-for-mile one of the most expensive road projects in the country - and it will do little or nothing to solve traffic congestion along U.S. 29. The national Road to Ruin report by Taxpayers for Common Sense and Friends of the Earth has found the bypass to be one of the most wasteful, destructive highway projects in the country.
Virginia faces unprecedented transportation needs, complicated by limited funding, we need to make the best use of every dollar we spend on transportation projects. On November 13, 2001, Virginia's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) released a report that found that the Gilmore Administration has underestimated by $600 million the state's highway and bridge maintenance needs. The total bill to maintain Virginia's road network is $1.6 billion, according to the report. Under these circumstances, the bypass makes even less sense.
An exercise in poor planning
VDOT's own studies show that roughly 90% of the vehicles on that stretch of 29 are heading for local destinations. Those vehicles would likely not use the bypass. Moreover, recent development on 29 north of where the bypass would intersect (near the Rivanna River) has rendered any benefit to through-traffic virtually obsolete.
A 1998 report by Virginia's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) featured the bypass as a prime example of the inefficacy of the state's road planning process. The project was originally approved as a series of three improvements:
widen U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville
build grade-separated interchanges at three congested intersections, and then, if and only if traffic was still a problem
build the bypass.
The report criticized VDOT and its governing board for changing its plans mid-stream and unilaterally dropping the interchanges and moving ahead with the bypass without technical review or public involvement to justify its decision. The change meant the project would now address through-traffic, a complete change from the original purpose of solving local traffic. The report states: "However, the decision not to construct the interchanges will leave the congestion problem on existing Route 29 unresolved."
No public consideration
In 1991 and 1992, the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the University of Virginia and VDOT all agreed to resolving traffic on 29 in three phases. But without notifying local officials or the public, the Commonwealth Transportation Board in 1995 rescinded the agreement and moved ahead with the bypass in direct contradiction to the agreement.
A majority of citizens who have addressed the bypass have opposed it. In 1990, VDOT held a hearing where they recorded 3,212 opposing the bypass and only 51 supporting it. At another public hearing in 1997, VDOT received 7,108 comments against the bypass and 1,101 in support a ratio of 6-to-1.
Every year since 1996, the regional Metropolitan Planning Organization has voted to withhold federal funding for the bypass until the three-phase agreement is reinstated. In response, VDOT has threatened to stop work on other road improvement and construction projects in the area.
Better solutions
VDOT uses an A-through-F grading system to determine a particular road's capacity to handle traffic, with A being free-flowing and F being gridlock. By 2010 - in eight years - Route 29 will be an F with or without the bypass.
VDOT's own studies show that an overpass at Hydraulic Road - one of the most congested and dangerous intersections in the community - would bring the level of service on Route 29 to a B. In March 2001, SELC released a study by a national expert showing how an attractive, well-designed overpass at Hydraulic Road and U.S. 29 could dramatically improve traffic flow in the area with minimal impact on businesses.
