WHEREAS, the Western Transportation Corridor Advisory Committee is expected to make its final recommendations to the Commonwealth Transportation Board this year;

WHEREAS, it has been widely reported that the so called "power line alignment" has been determined to be the preferred alignment;

WHEREAS, the "power line alignment" for the Western Transportation Corridor through Loudoun County, as described in the study documentation, terminates on Route 7 one mile east of Leesburg;

WHEREAS, the Leesburg Town Council adopted a resolution on November 12, 1996 stating that the "Town Council adamantly opposes any alignment...that terminates at Route 7;"

WHEREAS, a Resolution adopted by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on November 20, 1996 supporting the "power line corridor" did not envision this new highway dead-ending at Route 7;

WHEREAS, the additional traffic added to Route 7, especially during commuter hours, would result in major traffic gridlock on the east side of Leesburg;

WHEREAS, this additional traffic would also cause severe damage to Route 15 north of Leesburg as well as on the Route 7 bypass around Leesburg;

WHEREAS, such a Western Transportation Corridor ending at Route 7 would seriously affect the safety and well-being of a large number of citizens of Loudoun County; and

WHEREAS, the people of Loudoun County cannot accept with a reasonable level of confidence assurances of a follow-on Western Transportation Corridor with unknown recommendations appropriate to a Potomac River crossing.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, in their determination to protect the best interests of the people of Loudoun, wishes to supplement its November 20, 1996 Resolution and to emphasize that it opposes a Western Transportation Corridor that terminates at Route 7 and would require instead that an alternative be created to Route 15 to accommodate the growing volume of north-south traffic and would also require that improvements to Route 15 north and south of Leesburg be limited to addressing safety concerns and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors requests in the next phase of the MIS study, that the study be expanded to include the concerns of the citizens of Loudoun County by addressing the need for a new river crossing east of Leesburg to serve the growing volume of Maryland and interstate traffic passing through the County.

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