Issue Position: Traffic

Issue Position

The top issue we face in the 13th District is fixing Route 28 so morning rush hour isn't unbearable. It was awful in 1992 and it's awful today. It's time to change it.

My proposal calls for the NVTA reallocating the $300 million it's set for improving the Interstate 66/Route 28 intersection so the money moves further south for other improvements-- like widening 28 to six lanes just south of U.S. 29, removing stop lights where appropriate (and the residents find useful) and coming up with multi-modal traffic options so people aren't stuck having to only choose vehicles -- if the private conglomerate likely to install tolls on I-66 follows through on its pledge to put $300 million into the I-66/28 intersection.

Let me be clear: I oppose all tolling of roads in Northern Virginia as it is a form of double taxation when we have to give up general access lanes in order for private companies to profit from toll revenue.

Yet I'm also pragmatic. The time to defeat toll road proposals is the conception stage. So rather than relitigate with the state, my position is we take the next-best option and use the $300 million the private conglomerate is pledging for the Route 28/I-66 intersection as a means to reallocate the NVTA's $300 million for further road improvements south.

That means we can fix the roadway without raising taxes; it just takes political leadership to accomplish it.

I've also called for extending Godwin Drive to Centreville through public right-of-way easements as long as it is constructed in an environmentally sensitive way near Bull Run and does more good than harm for the residents who live near there by restricting cut-through traffic in Yorkshire and Manassas without lowering property values.

While I support extending Godwin Drive if the environmental and land-use issues are mitigated, I fervently oppose the Bi-County Parkway, which would run north from Interstate 66 along Pageland Lane all the way to Loudoun County. There are so many reasons to oppose this idea but they all come down to one idea: keep the Rural Crescent rural. Leave it alone.

I also oppose Dominion Virginia Power's proposed above-ground power towers from Gainesville to Haymarket in order to power up Amazon's data center. Like the Bi-County Parkway, the project was conceived without first asking residents what would be acceptable and unacceptable before developing a policy proposal. Before developing roadways and large utility structures, residential input needs to be gathered first through door-to-door knocking, not sending out flyers or phone calls. The residents should be told what the issue is and be asked what are acceptable and unacceptable ways to achieve the desired result. Then, incorporate what they tell you into your policy position. That's the only way to develop a consensus.

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