Unison Virginia

To The Editor:

The proposed Bi-County Parkway, or Outer Beltway, seems to me to be a very poor use of scarce transportation funds.

Our roads are jammed with traffic going toward and back from Washington DC. That is, our problems are a lack of east-west capacity. These jams extend into our secondary roads making even local driving a problem. But, the proposed Bi-County Parkway will run North South and will be located west of Dulles Airport. If anything, it is likely to dump even more traffic onto our clogged roads – especially as the areas near the new road become more developed, as is inevitable.

Further, the argument that this new road is needed to boost the fortunes of Dulles airport is odd. Have studies shown that the lack of passengers is due to north south road congestion? I think not. More likely, it is the ease of getting to Washington National or Baltimore vs the lengthy trip to Dulles. And, with the Metro coming to Dulles soon (at great cost), the real issue of accessibility is likely to be addressed. We certainly don't need to spend yet another billion dollars on a dubious road project until we can see if Metro addresses the real issue – which is likely.

Finally, there have been arguments that we want more freight traffic in and near Dulles. Is that really true? Do we want hundreds more giant trucks on our local roads? Do we want hundreds of acres of featureless warehouses on our landscape? Do we want droning cargo flights overhead all hours of the night? And remember, freight handling will produce few good jobs, and if most of it is done on airport grounds, no tax revenue to Loudoun either.

We need our tax money spent wisely on projects that are likely to improve our own commutes and our local trips. Not on projects designed to hurt us while benefiting a few special interests.

Our local officials should be looking out for our interests. Contact them and let them know what we really need. Not this expensive boondoggle that wastes our money and makes our lives worse.