VDOT has announced a public meeting for August 5th. The VDOT announcement reads:

"You are invited to a public information meeting for the Western Transportation Corridor Study. This meeting will focus on the results of an analysis of a New Facility option, the "Quantico Excursion," which approximately straddles the perimeter of the Quantico Marine Corps Base. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 5, from 5:00 to 8:30 PM at the North Stafford High School, which is located at the intersection of Routes 610 and 648 (Garrisonville Road and Shelton Shop Road) in Stafford County. Staff will be available throughout the meeting to answer questions regarding the study. This meeting will be an open house information meeting. Written comments from citizens will be accepted and a court reporter will be available for any citizen who wishes to provide oral comments concerning this Study. Written comments may also be sent within 10 days of the meeting to:

Travesky and Associates
3900 Jermantown Road
Suite 300
Fairfax, VA22030

In the July 21st edition of the Prince William Journal, it was reported that VDOT and Quantico can not seem to agree on an alignment such as the Quantico Excursion. According to the report, the Marine Corps does not want to give up its base and mission to the Western Transportation Corridor. The paper quoted CARD´s own Martha Hendley as saying that the idea of going forward with the EIS without Quantico´s support as "science fiction."

"I think it´s a shame to continue spending all this money on something that, according to VDOT´s own studies, will not relieve gridlock in Northern Virginia,"

"Going ahead without Quantico buying into it is as foolish as going forward with no bridge into Maryland."

Perhaps the most amazing part of the story in the paper was the report that Robert McDonald, VDOT Project Manager, stated that instead of resolving the problem of a lack of an acceptable route acound Quantico, he was going to recommend to Transportation Secretary Martinez that the commonwealth should instead just go forward with the Environmental Impact Study.

Now, we probably don´t catch on to things quite that fast out here in the country, but we are sort of wondering how you can perform a credible Environmental Impact Study when you don´t really have any particular environment in mind.

Perhaps the only way you can conduct an Environmental Impact Study without a defined route is if you already know what you want the result of the study to be...

The Army Corps of Engineers, The Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Park Service have all gone on line pointing out significant problems with the project, as well as no demonstrated need for it. See the list of what´s wrong with the Western Transportation Corridor.

CARD urges all citizens to attend this meeting if at all possible. Tell VDOT you don´t understand how you can determine Environmental Impact with knowing what the Environment is. Tell them you don´t want your tax dollars wasted while they try to do just that. Tell them No Build! Just Say NO!

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