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Speak Out On the Southeast Connector Alternatives May 11

The hearing is the last opportunity for public comment on five different Southeast Connector alternatives plus a no-build option. Only one option, Alternative 4, would meet local east-west traffic needs by creating a Stone Spring extension to make it easier to drive east or west across Harrisonburg. Alternative 4 also is the shortest, cheapest and least disruptive option. And it is the only option consistent with the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) long-range transportation plan, which makes it the only one eligible for federal funding.

The other road plans are uniformly destructive. Alternative 1 plows through Cross Keys Battlefield and two agricultural-forestal districts dumping traffic at the doorstep of a third. Alternatives 2 and 2A cut through a large swath of prime farmland. Alternative 3 would essentially create an I-81 bypass. The entire VDOT Southeast Connector study can be found at http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/SEConnector.asp.

East-west
One more time we need to tell VDOT that we want east-west traffic needs addressed. Though locally it is common to use I-81 north-south and Route 33 east-west as reference lines, technically what we have been asking for all this time is a more convenient way to get across Harrisonburg from 33 East to 33 West. When you make your comments consider mentioning the need for a way across the city. VDOT is still interpreting citizen comments for east-west traffic relief to mean getting from Penn Laird to Mount Crawford.

Comments
Comments can be made at the May 11, meeting orally to a court reporter or written and left in the comment box. Comments made to VDOT representatives standing next to the displays will not be officially recorded. Written comments can also be submitted at the web link http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/SEConnector.asp. Comments can also be mailed to:

Earl Robb
Environmental Administrator
Virginia Department of Transportation
1401 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219

The comment deadline is May 26, 2006.