D.C.'s Outer Beltway Plan Draws Ferocious Opposition, as Business Leaders Cry For More Lanes

[marmar]

A plan to add roadways to the D.C. suburbs is drawing fierce opposition. The so called "outer beltway" project stole the show at a recent public meeting, hinting at the ferocity of resistance in store for the plan to build a 45-mile, north-south corridor in the western suburbs of Washington.

At a public hearing on Virginia's six-year, $15 billion program to fund road and rail projects this week, about 200 unhappy residents turned out to condemn the plan to build a "north-south corridor of statewide significance."

"I double dog dare you to try to put this kind of a road through Loudoun County's non-development area. They would have you all tarred and feathered," said Mary Ann Ghadban, a resident of Gainesville, where 100 homes could potentially be condemned in the highway corridor. "We are not going to stand for this in Prince William County. It's our rural crescent. It's our historic district."

The new road would connect I-95 in Prince William County to Rt. 7 in Loudoun County, arcing west of Dulles Airport and rubbing the western fringe of Manassas Battlefield National Park. On a map, the corridor looks like part of an incomplete circle, leading opponents to refer to it as an "outer beltway." ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/transportation-nation/2013/may/31/dcs-outer-beltway-plan-draws-ferocious-opposition-business-leaders-cry-more-lanes/

[msongs]

1. put in bike lanes instead, or trolleys/light rail nt