Traffic Wars: Oppose Legislation Aimed at Taking Away Arlington Authority

Adding asphalt has been tried and failed. Increasing capacity has simply resulted in people taking advantage of that capacity to live further away and shift the cost of commuter transportation on others (like those that live close in). The solution is not more lanes to support more foreign-petroleum-dependent-$5-a-gallon-single-occupancy cars -- the solution is smart growth. Trains. Subways. Bike paths. Living closer to where you work. Telecommuting.

Arlington has invested decades in establishing a smart growth, smart transportation system. We do not need Arlington turned into a gigantic asphalt mixing bowl for the convenience of those who work in Washington DC but want to have a mansion an hour west of the city.

Oppose these two bills....

Coalition for Smarter Growth

Taking Away Your Power in Northern Virginia

Take Action by 2pm Thurs, Feb 10 -- Two Bad Bills in Transportation Committee

There are two bad bills crossing over from the House to the Senate Transportation Committee in the Virginia General Assembly, and we need your help to stop them.

These bills -- HB 1998 and HB1999 -- would require Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to make widening highways a higher priority than smart land use and transit solutions. They would also undermine the authority of local elected officials to make decisions. Our local elected officials travel our roads, walk, bike and ride transit with us, and are best equipped to determine the range of transportation solutions for northern Virginia.

Voice your opposition to these bad bills by emailing the Senate Transportation Committee.

HB1998 – This bill, spearheaded by highway lobbyist Bob Chase, would ignore the plans and priorities set by local elected officials in their long-range transportation plan for northern Virginia. It would apply a very narrow performance measure and a new round of traffic modeling that would favor unaffordable widening of highways across northern Virginia. The bill would also revive controversial Potomac River bridge proposals through neighborhoods in Fairfax and Loudoun, rejected in a number of studies since 1989.

HB1999 – Also spearheaded by Bob Chase, this bill would make funding of highway widening a higher priority than land use, transit and local road solutions in northern Virginia, further undermining decision making by local elected officials. Proponents of the bill use homeland security to argue for the bill, implying that evacuation of D.C. is both likely and possible, and highway widening is necessary for this purpose. In the mean time, there hasn’t been a single security study citing the need for a massive evacuation of the District.

Take action here