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 1 · column 2 of 4 · from the scan, no model involved
By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON
Rappahannock New§ Staff Writer
Contrary to claims from Friends of Old Route 211, the Virginia Department of Transportation has not ordered a halt to dissemination of value engineering studies.
According to Ken Phillips, the assistant location and design engineer at the department’s Richmond headquarters, VDOT did not issue a memo last week forbidding the release to the public of value engineering studies. If there were such a memo “it would have been generated by the Attorney General’s office,” he said.
Rumors of a “ban” memo reached him last week, Mr. Phillips said, adding he’d checked with his superiors and found no one who knew anything about the alleged prohibition. And if a directive relating to VDOT procedures had been sent by the Attorney General’s office, “I certainly would have seen it,” he maintained.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office in Richmond said that she could find no record of any memo relating to the dissemination of VDOT value engineering reports. She said, however, that the assistant attorney general responsible for Rappahannock County would investigate and and inform the Rappahxinnock News of his findings. At press time, he had not yet contacted the newspaper.
The inquiry to VDOT headquarters was prompted by charges from a member of the local organization which opposes the dual-laning of Rt. 211 between Washington and Sperryville. The individual, who asked not to be identified, also reported to the Rappahannock News that members of the value engineering team which reviewed the Rt. 211 project take issue with Mr. Phillips’ depiction of their report as a classroom exercise which gives inaccurate cost projections. Further, the caller to the newspaper contended that a value engineering study is a requirement for highway projects receiving federal funds.
The study done in May by VDOT engineers has been cited by opponents as compelling evidence against the proposed dual-laning. According to the handwritten conclusions in the study workbook, a copy of which was obtained by the Friends of Old Route 211, accident history and traffic volume increases do not demonstrate a need for a four-lane divided highway between Washington and Sperryville. As an alternative to the $9.6 million project fftr constructing 4.1 miles of dual lane, the engineers recommended simply widening the pavement and shoulders on the existing two-lane road at a cost of just $1.4 million.
See VALUE STUDY, p. 14
93.4%