CAP plays a unique role in Rockingham County in its analysis of local, regional and state transportation plans and the potential impacts on the county's rural landscape and agricultural economy.
Interstate 81
Virginia's Department of Transportation (VDOT) in 2007 approved an $11 billion plan to widen I-81 throughout the corridor. The plan calls for a new highway bypass around Harrisonburg, through Rockingham County's most important agricultural lands and Civil War battlefields. CAP salutes the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors for approving a resolution supporting alternatives to destructive and costly widening: Reasonable Solutions for the Future of I-81, such as spot safety improvements, improved local road connections and expanded rail freight capacity.
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is responsible for regional road planning, a process that is frequently mirrored by planning efforts at the Virginia Department of Transportation. CAP was founded in response to VDOT and MPO plans for a north-south loop road around Harrisonburg.
CAP's analysis of the region's road issues show that there is a much greater need to address east-west transportation problems, through projects like the Southeast Connector and Route 33 access improvements. CAP also showed that a bypass highway through the county's Agricultural Reserve is in direct conflict with Rockingham's Comprehensive Plan for future growth.
In 2005, the MPO adopted a Vision Plan that called for the north-south loop road, but dropped the project from its final Constrained Long Range Plan, due to lack of funding. The Long Range Plan must be updated every five years, a process now underway. Unfortunately, the loop road remains a feature of the Vision Plan, which is used as the foundation for the Long Range Plan.
CAP will carefully watch the MPO Long Range Plan process, including two studies that could be used to justify a loop road; a Route 11 South corridor study and a North Valley Pike study. We will keep our members and the public informed about opportunities to comment on local and regional road planning. MPO Website
Bridgewater Bypass
The MPO approved this bypass around Bridgewater in 2009. CAP looked closely at VDOT's report on the likely impact of the new road. Buried in a obscure section of the report, CAP found that VDOT's data make it clear that the Bridgewater Bypass would actually make Main Street traffic worse in Bridgewater! Unfortunately, CAP's input in the planning process was ignored, as town officials pressed for a new road through a prime agricultural area where they hope to spur commercial development. This sprawl is in conflict with the county's plan to keep growth close to existing towns. Plans for the bypass will proceed. CAP Bridgewater Bypass Letter
The
state requires local governments to work together on regional rural
road plans. CAP will work to ensure the plan avoids costly, destructive
loop roads, which fragment working farms and fosters sprawl
development, and focuses on efficient, affordable improvements to
existing road networks. CAP commented on the draft rural roads plan in
2008 and will continue to watch and encourage public participation in
the process in 2010.
