Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 2 · column 1 of 3 · from the scan, no model involved
CITIZENS AND OFFICIALS in counties farther down Virginia’s Piedmont tier are fond of asserting that they’re bound not to repeat the mistakes of their hapless neighbors to the north. None of the suburban mess of Fairfax and Prince William for them, no sir. Too often, however, it seems that nobody’s really been paying attention. The impact on land use planning of highway projects is a current example. There are people in Fauquier who assert, for instance, that 1-66, if it is ever built, wouldn’t transform their pasturelands into subdivisions and shopping centers—because Fauquier has a master plan that asserts otherwise, and because Fauquier is determined to “control growth.” The same assertions can be heard in Rappahannock—criss-crossing road projects in profusion won’t affect us, it’s said, because we’ve got strong controls and a master plan in the works.
People can believe things like that if they want to, but the evidence provided up north isn’t exactly encouraging. Fairfax and Prince William were largely opened up for large scale “development” by superhighway projects. The evidence in that part of Virginia indicates that Interstates and similar roads are not conduits for long distrance travel but commuter corridors that can be tapped onto like a sewer line, and which produce secondary pressures that citizens find difficulty resisting even if they want to resist.
In Prince William, the lesson is particularly strong. Consider an example: The giant Marriott Corporation acquired a chunk pf land next to 1-66 and wants to construct a giant “amusement park.” But they need an interchange, even though there was nothing planned for where they want it. No problem; the Highway Department loves excuses to spend taxpayers’ money, so-it has come up with an elaborate scheme in an attempt to justify the interchange. The justification involves an “industrial access” road which would open up still rural acres of Western Prince William to the same sort of suburban sprawl which has cluttered up much of the rest of the county.
95.0%