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By BURKE DAVIS III
Anindel Newspapers Staff Writer
A western bypass around Washington will increase traffic overall while offering only “some relief’ to congestion on the existing Capital Beltway, a study commissioned by the Virginia and Maryland highway departments concludes.
The $1.5 billion to $3 billion project would also disrupt land-use planning in several jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia, the report finds, and drive up population and employment figures throughout the region. The impact on Fauquier and Loudoun counties would be significant.
The long-awaited study conducted by the Vienna engineering firm Bellomo-McGee Inc. lists numerous benefits of a bypass: a reduction in truck accidents, an increase in commmerce between Maryland and Virginia, better access to Dulles International Airport, and the forging of a commercial link between the Midwest and Virginia.
A western bypass would also provide “some relief” to U.S. 15 in Loudoun, to the existing beltway, and to the American Legion Bridge, the study shows.
The BMI environmental impact statement that arrived in the Warrenton VDOT office late Tuesday afternoon studies in detail three alternative eastern corridors and three potential western corridors. It also projects the effect of an apparently favored option — building both a western and an eastern bypass around Washington.
The study and impact statement were conducted to federal standards because the two states share a faint hope that federal funding will help pay for the bypass. Federal participation at this point appears unlikely, however.
Two of the three western corridors in the study pass through Fauquier County. The two routes follow identical paths in Fauquier, diverging in northern Loudoun County. The third western alternative begins at 1-95 near Route 234, strikes through Prince William County and makes a beeline for Dulles International Airport in eastern Loudoun.
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