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VDOT calls 4-lane
best alternative
By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
“The situation is like Rt. 17 north of Warrenton,” said Assistant Resident Engineer Mike Moon. “You can make improvements at intersections, but you can never make a (two-lane) facility as safe as a four-lane because of the median strip.”
The reply came to a question Tuesday afternoon at the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Warrenton office, as Mr. Moon explained the proposed dual-laning of Rt. 211 between Washington and Sjierryville. The Rt. 17 project is a similar conversion of an existing two-lane primary artery to a four-lane, divided highway.
Mr. Moon was addressing the allegations of opponents of the four-lane project, who contend that the needed safety improvements on the five-mile stretch can be accomplished at far lower cost and less disruption that the estimated $13.3 million the dual-laning project will cost.
Even if shoulders are widened and the hills and curves are regraded, Mr. Moon continued, there is still a limit to the safety improvements which can be made because the traffic is still travelling on the same pavement, with only a lane marker separating oncoming traffic. “You can’t compare that to a divided highway with a median strip separating the traffic,” the engineer said.
As to how the traffic will be handled during the construction, Mr. Moon said that the usual procedure for such projects is for as much of the
See PROJECT, p. 16
74.4%