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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The Virginia Department of Transportation announced this week that U.S. 17 will be reopened to tractor-trailer trucks when the last stretch of four-laning between Warrenton and Marshall is completed on June 29.
“That’s great news,” said Rappahannock County Administrator John McCarthy. “I’m extremely pleased that the Commonwealth Transportation Board stuck to its guns even though it got a certain amount of heat from the folks around Warrenton.”
The Transportation Board, which oversees V DOT’s operations, ordered U.S. 17 closed to heavy trucks in November, 1985 after several fatal accidents involving the big rigs. At that time the board said the ban would be lifted when the four-laning was completed.
Many Rappahannock County residents, including the members of the Board of Supervisors, contended that the closing of U.S. 17 shifted truck traffic west to U.S. 522, which crosses the county from Chester Gap to the U.S. 211 intersection at Massies Corner.
That increase in truck traffic, they charged, merely moved the dangerous conditions west along with it, to a narrow hilly road passing through a densly populated area w hich was not suitable for the heavier traffic. However, attempts to persuade the Transportation Board to reverse its decision were unsuccessful.
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