Lee Frame, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said most people had questions and comments about transportation.

"I think people were interested," he said, "but they were waiting to digest what they'd heard."

Zann Nelson, president of the Friends of the Wilderness Battlefield, agreed.

"There was a tremendous amount of information to absorb in one sitting," she said. "There were some positive questions and some concerns."

Suzanne Brady, who is challenging Frame for the District 5 seat on the Board of Supervisors, noted that the Route 3 corridor was "zoned and poised for growth."

Brady said that when the consultants were asked who owned the land they were planning for, "they wouldn't or couldn't say. The questions weren't hostile, but skeptical."

The consultants didn't have much regard for local history either, according to Orange County historian Frank Walker.

"The Wilderness Coalition and Hill Studio are going to be the latest recipients of the 'I'm From Out of Town and This Is Your History' award," he said.

He was particularly irked by what he calls "drag-and-drop history." He defines this as including things in a study that didn't happen in the defined study area.

"The Rapidan River and Fort Germanna are not in the study area," he noted, "but even more importantly, the new Walmart isn't in the study area."

The development suggested by the study is in the area bounded by State Route 3 where it intersects State Route 20, north to the Wilderness Shores subdivision, then east and south along the Rapidan River and Wilderness Run at the Spotsylvania County line.

According to Glenn Stach, project manager for Hill Studio, the consultants will study the comments from the public and present a finished product in four to six weeks.

Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net