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Stafford's misplaced transportation spending.

Date published: 12/13/2005

STAFFORD'S PORK has got to go.

No, I'm not talking about the Virginia Barbeque pig. I mean pork as in pork-barrel transportation projects.

A recent Free Lance-Star editorial ["Where's the pork? You needn't look really hard to find it," Nov. 13] criticized the spending of federal highway dollars on a "highway to nowhere" in Alaska while Fredericksburg-area residents sit in traffic because of lack of transportation funds.

But you needn't look as far away as Alaska to find misplaced priorities in government transportation spending. It's happening right here in Stafford County, with the approval--even urging--of elected officials.

Few citizens have ever heard of FAMPO (Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization). The elected officials and administrators from Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford who sit on this regional body allocate the area's transportation dollars.

While fixes for problems like the Massaponax exit, the Falmouth interchange, Fall Hill Avenue, State Routes 3 and 610/Garrisonville Road go begging for funding, our elected officials on FAMPO voted on Dec. 7 to spend millions on a relatively little-used eastern section of Stafford County's Courthouse Road.

Spotsylvania Supervisor Bob Hagan was the only elected official with the courage to oppose this project.

The stated goal of the Stafford Courthouse Road project is to increase VRE ridership at the Brooke Station by improving the road that leads to the commuter rail lot. The estimated cost of this multiphase project is currently $18.2 million (and climbing).

There are just a few problems with this plan. First, VRE is already operating above capacity. The Brooke station parking lot is full. Riders must stand on trains because all the seats are taken.

And VRE officials have publicly acknowledged that parking and train capacity will never keep up with ever-growing demand.

Second, our elected leaders are proposing to spend millions for improvements to a secondary road that, according to VDOT, has only 3,500 vehicle trips per day (compared to the 60,000 that clog the Falmouth interchange)--and one that is relatively safe, with on average less than three accidents per year, none fatal, and only six in a five-year period leading to injuries of any sort.

Date published: 12/13/2005