Action Alerts

Act Now: Oppose I-66 Widening in TPB Plan

• The so-called I-66 "spot improvements" involve neither spots nor improvements and are unnecessary, counterproductive, and unwarranted.

• VDOT's proposal is merely a thinly disguised scheme to shoehorn three large segments of a third westbound I-66 travel lane with minimal consideration of the project's adverse environmental and regional travel impacts. Moreover, it disregards clearly superior alternatives, strong local opposition, and the landmark 1977 Record of Decision, by USDOT Secretary William Coleman, that established I-66 inside the Capital Beltway as four managed freeway lanes with Metrorail in the median.

• Congestion on I-66 could be eliminated immediately, permanently, and with almost no construction cost or traffic disruption, simply by expanding the current hours of HOV-2 restrictions which have been overly limited to 2.5 hours Monday-Friday in one direction only.

• Introducing automated, variably priced tolls to I-66 could allow access by all autos at all times, provide an excellent express bus facility, preserve carpooling incentives, and provide much-needed transportation revenue for our region.

• VDOT's own I-66 feasibility study report, issued in March 2005, showed several non-widening, traffic-management alternatives to be clearly superior overall to the report's recommended third westbound lane that Congressman Frank Wolf has been pushing since 1999.

• I-66 widening inside the Beltway is NOT part of ANY adopted local or regional transportation plan, including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's TransAction 2030 Plan.

• VDOT's traffic analyses for the "Spot Improvements" have not adequately or objectively examined how this project would worsen traffic congestion at least five different ways; namely: 1) at the two new bottlenecks along westbound I-66 in Arlington that this project would create, 2) on all highways that connect to westbound I-66, 3) along eastbound I-66 and all connecting highways, 4) at major intersections in Arlington and Fairfax County connected to I-66, and 5) along westbound I-66 in Arlington during many months of construction.

• The proposed widening of I-66 would degrade, not improve, incident management, emergency operations, and traffic safety by creating new bottlenecks, by narrowing travel lanes, and by not preserving continuous wide safety shoulders on both sides of the roadway. The TPB should direct VDOT to expeditously develop an effective and comprehensive emergency operations plan for I-66, instead of introducing counterproductive bottlenecks and shoulder reductions.

• The TPB, in approving a STUDY of I-66 "spot improvements" in January 2006, directed VDOT to "ensure that spot improvements don't preclude a third Metrorail track and express bus operations,..maintain any adjacent parkland or the Custis Trail,...[evaluate] HOV enforcement areas [and] a continuous 12-foot shoulder,...[coordinate] with the ongoing efforts to develop a regional emergency evacuation plan," and not degrade safety; however, VDOT's study has not yet demonstrated that this project would comply adequately with any of these directives.

• Moreover, in January 2006, both the TPB and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority requested funding "for a long-range multimodal environmental document that will address the public transportation needs in the I-66 Multimodal Corridor,...[including] the ability to accommodate third and fourth Metrorail tracks in the median of I-66...[and] study value pricing and relatively low-cost traffic-operation solutions." Previously, in October 2001, the TPB amended the CLRP and TIP so VDOT could conduct a $5 million evaluation of I-66 corridor alternatives, but VDOT failed to initiate that study by June 2003 and continues to show no interest in fixing I-66 traffic problems with demand management.

• VDOT's proposed widening of I-66 would negatively impact the adjacent Custis Trail, public open space, wetlands, forested habit, and other environmental and aesthetic mitigations specified in the 1977 Coleman Decision. Moreover, there would be no protection against further I-66 widening, and a similar eastbound "spot" widening of I-66 could obliterate a critical segment of the adjacent W&OD Trail, now sandwiched between an I-66 noise wall and Four Mile Run.

• Global warming pollution due to human activity is the most profound challenge of human civilization, and climate scientists now say we must cut carbon dioxide emissions 80% by 2050 to avert environmental catastrophes, yet the widening of I-66 would clearly be a step in the wrong direction.

• The TPB should deny this off-year CLRP amendment as premature and ask all implementing agencies to only submit major new projects during its triennial (or quadrennial) CLRP and TIP update. Doing so would not delay the I-66 project because VDOT can't complete preliminary engineering before 2010 anyway, and all preconstruction activities are already approved. The TPB's denial, however, would promote much-needed analyses, transparency, and public participation.

CONTACT YOUR LOCALITY'S TPB MEMBER(S) DIRECTLY to ask them to oppose adding the I-66 widening project to the CLRP and TIP inputs on April 18. For a list of TPB members, see http://www.mwcog.org/committee/committee/members.asp?COMMITTEE_ID=15.

ADDRESS THE TPB ON April 18 @ NOON: We need brief (under 3-minute) public statements from both individuals and diverse organizations (including civic associations) at the TPB meeting on Wednesday, April 18. The TPB meets in DC, near Union Station, at 777 N Capitol St NE 20002, in the Council of Governments Board Room on the third floor. Speakers must be signed up to speak by noon and may call 202-962-3315 to do so in advance. You may bring written copies of your remarks (65 copies) for distribution at the meeting.

RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• Summary of Proposed Significant Changes to the CLRP for 2007

• CLRP Project Description Form for I-66 "Spot Improvement"

• VDOT Project Website

ASK GOV. KAINE FOR A 'WISER, NOT WIDER,' I-66 IN ARLINGTON