Careful consideration

Careful consideration

On Monday, the county’s Board of Supervisors will consider amendments and additions to the Virginia

^Department of Transportation’s six-year secondary road plan.

At the top of the department’s project list, according to Robert Moore, the county’s resident engineer, is the widening and four-laning of Rt. 211 between Washington and Sperry ville. Although the project is already a part of the highway department’s schedule, with construction on the first phase (Washington to .2 miles west of Rt. 622) set to begin sometime in 1989, we urge the supervisors and the highway department to give the plan careful consideration.

During the past few months, a number of residents have written “Letters to the Editor” outlining arguments both in favor of and against the proposed widening. Both sides have persuasive arguments.

In favor of-the plan, it’s hard to argue that there are not times when an additional lane would smooth the flow of traffic from Shenandoah National Park to Washington. And the large trucks which ply the road would cause less anxiety if they were separated from oncoming traffic by a median strip. > On the other side, there’s no denying that the estimated four years of construction would entail traffic delays which would probably be worse than those now limited to a few fall weekends. The right-of-way acquisition would also gobble up some of the roadside beauty along the way.

What would be the effect on the roadside stands between Washington and Sperryville if drivers were travelling a fourlane highway rather than a scenic rural road? And wouldn’t high-traffic areas like the Farmers’ Co-op and the high school still require acceleration and deceleration lanes for traffic entering and exiting the highway?

How about the speed limit? It’s human nature to travel faster on divided highways than on two-lane roads. Will that increased speed make the road more, rather than less, dangerous?

What about the effect of the construction itself on the scenic beauty of the county? One of the reasons people visit Rappahannock is for its unspoiled beauty. There’s precious little of that in a construction project. Will our visitors feel like they’ve somehow taken a wrong turn and ended up back on the never-completed Capital Beltway?

And would a four-lane highway really draw more traffic to Sperryville? Those drivers interested in the fastest route to the Valley already drive 1-66 to Front Royal. The people likely to stop and enjoy Sperryville are probably those who enjoy a leisurely drive through the country on what’s left of two-lane Rt. 211.

Then there’s the cost of the project. Is the estimated $13 million to widen the six-mile stretch really the best use of the money for the county? Would it be better to spread the money around to improve some of the county’s existing secondary roads? There are still stretches on Rt. 522 north of Flint Hill which could use help, particularly since trucks still use it as a detour around the construction on Rt. 17 in Fauquier County.

That’s another point. When that project is finished — which is soon, we hope — Some of the truck traffic which now makes Rt. 211 so dangerous will again use that route from I66, rather than the detour across Chester Gap.

There are convincing arguments for widening the highway. We, however, counsel the supervisors to consider the project carefully. Proposed development is something to . which they, as the county’s leaders, always give careful consideration, and highway expansion is development just as sure as a subdivision project is. Will the project, over the long term, really benefit the county?

Development is also something which, once done, can never be taken back. Is this really a development project whose time has come?

Save our dirt roads