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Troubling start
Here we go again.
For the second time in a little over two months, the people overseeing Virginia's planned toll lanes on the beltway are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The HOT lanes project, a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Transportation and contractor Fluor-Transurban, will add two new toll lanes in each direction of the highway for 14 miles between Springfield and the Dulles Toll Road. Construction is slated to last five years.
The hope here is that the last 57 months of the project go more smoothly than the first three.
Last week, project managers ruffled more than a few feathers by clearing vegetation near Little River Turnpike in Annandale that served as a habitat for at least five active barn swallow nests. In a letter signed by members of the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society, Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer was asked to delay clearing of the site for three weeks, enough time for the affected fledglings to fly off on their own.
VDOT opted against the delay and tractors began clearing the site, which will be used to store construction materials, on July 16.
Back in April, hundreds of McLean residents were stunned to see crews clear-cutting a three-acre plot near the intersection of Georgetown Pike and Balls Hill Road. They later learned the area would be used to store vehicles and equipment related to the HOT lanes project. Even more troubling is that nearby residents weren't the only ones operating in the dark. The list also included Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, Board Chairman Gerry Connolly and administrators at the middle school directly across the street from the site.
Project officials certainly had the right – and permits – to move forward. In the road-construction business, lost time translates to lost money.
That said, each of these “flare-ups” might have been avoided with better communication, better planning and a little more respect for the residents this project will ultimately serve.
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