Bogus Road Plans, Public Deception, Hidden Agendas and a Secret Road Plan.
Part 2. Is the Road Plan Fact or Fiction?
The Mine Road extension that is proposed to be approved in the Comprehensive Plan on Tuesday proposes a four Lane Road connecting Centerport Pkwy to Enon Road, Truslow Road and Plantation Drive. This road connection to the Centreport Interchange will significantly increase Traffic on Enon Road, and Plantation Dr. A two mile section of the Road will have 20 intersections (In Red). Most of them would not be safe for left hand turns without traffic lights. The crash data on that section of road is already high and will increase if the road is widened with increased traffic.
This connection was originally proposed in 1990, but became outdated and obsolete when Plantation Drive wasn't designed for the extra capacity and didn't line up with Enon Road as it was supposed to do. The question I want to know "Is this a Bogus Plan", because there's another secret Road Plan hidden away in FAMPO documents that $500,000 has already been spent on it for Planning and Engineering.
My email below to County Officials covers some of this issue, but I received no response. My next email will cover what I believe is a Bogus Outer Connector Corridor and another post will cover who benefits from "The Secret Road".
From: jsbrito@aol.com
To: gsnellings@staffordcountyva.gov
Cc: cindylamb@staffordcountyva.gov, CVanuch@staffordcountyva.gov, MDudenhefer@staffordcountyva.gov, MBohmke@staffordcountyva.gov, TCoen@staffordcountyva.gov, TAllen@staffordcountyva.gov, SApicella@staffordcountyva.gov, BRandall@staffordcountyva.gov, DEnglish@staffordcountyva.gov, ABain@staffordcountyva.gov, KBarnes@staffordcountyva.gov, DCummings@staffordcountyva.gov, FMcPherson@staffordcountyva.gov, JHarvey@staffordcountyva.gov, AOwsiak@staffordcountyva.gov, MSmith@staffordcountyva.gov, MZuraf@staffordcountyva.gov, scottm@staffordcountyva.gov
Sent: 11/9/2021 8:37:12 PM Eastern Standard Time
Subject: Part 1 response to Mr. Snellings.
Gary,
Two years ago I contacted the Board with a proposal that I asked to be studied and compared with all river crossings and the Mine Road Extension proposal. At the same time I sent a facebook friend request to all the Supervisors and local elected officials, but you denied my request. I emailed you many times and left messages for you to call me back a few times, but you refused. Now you are asking questions that should have been addressed in the study that you never did.
The Supervisors were instructed to turn your microphones off and not engage during the Planning Commission Public Hearing. When Mr. Dudenhefer began to interrupt the Planning Commission Public Hearing you assisted him in being Out Of Order when you reached over and turned his microphone on.
Over 25 years ago I was on a Transportation Committee that evaluated the Outer Connector Study. Out of the 5 Corridors that were studied you approved Corridor 1. Corridor 1 Cost about 45% more than corridor 3, Corridor 1 Impacted the most Wetlands, Crossed the Most Streams, had Impacts to three Reservoir watersheds, crossed upstream of two reservoir water Intakes on the river, Impacted Battlefields and had the highest impact on the river, because it ran parallel to the river for over a mile.
The study said that approximately 4 times a year the City of Fredericksburg Water Intakes on the river had to be shut done, because of the threat of Chemical Spills on the I-95 bridge. About a year later the City moved their water intakes upstream to Motts Run to avoid the threats.
Corridor 3 had the least impacts and the study showed it would reduce traffic on Route 17 and Route 3 more than Corridor 1. Why did you vote for a corridor that had all those impacts, when there was a better alternative?
I modified the Corridor 3 proposal to reduce impacts. The modified Corridor 3 Plan is the Inner Connector Plan that I'm proposing. The proposal uses 5 existing Roads to reduce costs, Reduce Impacts on Private Property, Reduce Impacts on the Environment and has no impact on the three Reservoirs, Battlefields or the two Reservoir Water Intakes on the River.
The underutilized State Maintained Road of Celebrate Virginia is already built and maximizes the use of existing infrastructure. Connecting a bridge to it would not directly impact a single single home or business between Route 17 and Route 3. The road infrastructure is already in place to diffuse traffic. Silver overbuilt the Road to handle a future River Crossing with multiple intersections on both ends to defuse the traffic. The Route 17 side has 4 intersections and an underpass to diffuse the traffic to flow smoothly. The Central Park side has the two overbuilt intersections to defuse traffic. One of the intersections is 33 total lanes that can handle more traffic flow than any other intersection in the region.
Some people in the Del Webb community want a river crossing, so they can be 3 miles closer to the Hospital and currently with 11 traffic lights less than driving Route 17 through Falmouth. That subdivision makes four 911 calls on average a week and the assisted living facilities on Berea Church Road make six 911 calls per week. Transporting them across the river would reduce Transport times and get the ambulances back to Stafford, back into service sooner. As the neighborhood gets older and built out the 911 calls will increase.
Some people want their property value to increase and better access to many destinations.
The only way locally we are going to get out of the congestion is to have a regional Plan with connectivity. I proposed a plan that connects 5 existing Roads to form a new Road with a Trail.
The new Road will connect to 20 existing roads that will provide over 100 different driving alternatives to allow drivers to avoid and relieve traffic on the busiest roads.
You represent the entire Hartwood District, but refuse to address the gridlock issue. The Transportation Plan you support is more costly has been outdated, unsafe and Obsolete, but you criticize the Inner Connector Proposal without having data to back it up.
The Mine Road extension that was originally planned in 1988 will increase Traffic on Enon Road and Plantation Drive through existing neighborhoods that have far more people in them. The Plan became obsolete in the late 90's when Plantation was built and did not line up with Enon Road like the plan called for. Plantation was never designed to be a 4 lane Road.
The connection of Centreport Pkwy, to Enon Road, to Truslow Road, to Plantation Drive, would add more traffic to those two highly traveled roads and create more accidents. The Crash Data from 2018 show 12 accidents on Plantation and 5 accidents on Enon. Adding more traffic and widening the roads to 4 lanes would make it worse, but if Mine Road was connected to a reconstructed Berea Church Road instead it would reduce traffic on Enon and Plantation Roads. Plantation Drive only has a 65' right-of-way in one spot. It needs at least a 100' right-of-way to be widened to 4 lanes like the plan calls for. The construction impacts during road widening would be a nightmare to drivers and walkers that would loss the use of the trail.
Enon Road has over 40 access points between Route 1 and Truslow. There will also be a need of at least 10 traffic lights on the two mile section of Road. All of those Intersections and access points make the original Mine Road extension plan unsafe, costly and functionally obsolete.
The Outer Connector river crossing you left in the Comp Plan is from a 1990 Stafford study. It was never studied as a feasible alternative by FAMPO as an Outer Connector Alternative. Spotsylvania supervisors would never support it, because it Impacts too many houses, Businesses and probably a Church on the Spotsylvania side of the River.
The proposed Outer Connector Corridor crosses over at least two new subdivisions in Stafford that would have a direct impact on at least 35 houses in Stafford alone. Some of those houses sold for over $900,000, which would make it very costly to condemn all the houses, pay closing costs and pay for moving expenses. That Outer Connector Proposal would cost at least 3 times as much as the proposed Inner Connector. The Outer Connector River Crossing is a Red Herring and you know it.
When you come up with a real Transportation Plan please let your constituents know. We desperately want driving alternatives that will get us out of gridlock.
Sincerely,
Joe Brito
In a message dated 10/23/2021 11:07:32 AM Eastern Standard Time, gsnellings@staffordcountyva.gov writes:
Good morning,Joe I agree we do need a plan however this is not the right one. Please answer a few questions about “ your plan”.
1. How much will it cost?
2. Who will fund it?
3. Has the City of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County agreed to it?
4. Has VDOT, FAMPO, The Corps of Engineers agreed to it?
5. Do the residents of Celebrate Virginia realize that your plan will divert appx 25,000 vehicles a day from Rt. 17 thru their neighborhood.
6. Have you notified the citizens that believe you want the golf course to be a park, that a four lane highway will split the park in two?
I have a lot more questions but I’ll wait until I get answers on these before I provide you more.
This is not a plan it’s an idea and not a very good one. Unfortunately thru social media you have a lot of people convinced this will work.
Look forward to your response to my questions.
Best wishes,
Gary
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 22, 2021, at 10:51 PM, jsbrito@aol.com wrote:
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Take a look at our future. I am not going away and neither are the 3,700+ supporters and growing.
Supervisor Dudenhefer was out of order with his comments at the meeting.
It was the Planning Commission's turn to ask questions at the meeting. He barged in with comments instead of asking questions. The Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors are to refrain from making comments until after the Public Hearing.
The conduct of the Supervisors at the meeting was unprofessional for some of you to be rolling your eyes, making faces and giggling while the Planning Commission was speaking is childish.
The Planning Commission did the Job you asked them to do. It was the Board that rushed the Planning Commission and then you criticize them for a better Plan than the current one.
It's unacceptable to not have a Plan for an Alternate Route for local Traffic. Show me a better Plan that impacts less people. The Stafford Board of Supervisors is Failing the Citizens you are suppose to serve.
Sincerely,
Joe Brito