Supervisors scowl at proposed north-south traffic reroute

Supervisors don't always agree, but when it comes to VDOT's idea to route a major north-south arterial state highway directly through Orange County, the board is unanimous with a resounding "No!"
Interim Planning Director Debbie Kendall said state transportation planners proposed to alleviate current congestion and travel problems on Route 29 by re-directing north and southbound traffic at Cismont in Albemarle County on Route 231, then generally following Route 15 from Gordonsville, through the Spicers Mill area, and around the Town of Orange. The route then proceeds through Rapidan where the current roadway would be converted to four lanes of travel, over to Route 522 and onto Route 3.
In June, a representative from the planning firm VDOT used for the Route 29 Corridor study appeared before the board to explain just how future statewide transportation problem-solving might feature Orange. Supervisors didn't like the idea when it was presented to them earlier in the year, and they aren't going for it now, either. Back then, they sent a letter to VDOT higher-ups explaining their position on the proposal and their dismay at the very idea.
Nonetheless, VDOT forged ahead with the study, and sent the project on to the Commonwealth Transportation Board-the next step in their process. The CTB will weigh in on the re-routed road idea, and then issue an official report. Then, with a green light from the CTB, VDOT would visit each locality affected by the map-rearranging to solicit feedback. Then the plan goes before the General Assembly. State legislators, if they choose to, could enact laws requiring localities to amend individual comprehensive plans to include this potential new line on the map of Virginia, and comply with the large-scale, north-south travelway directly through Orange.
But, Kendall assured supervisors, "There are many things that need to take place before anyone starts talking about a corridor or an alignment."
Actually, Kendall said she's gotten a tip that the realignment of Route 29 through Orange has already been taken off the radar, "But that remains to be seen," she cautioned.
Until then, supervisors will ink their second letter to VDOT officials to "solidify" their stand on the prospect of seeing Route 29 traffic mainlined around the Town of Orange and on through Rapidan.
District 1 Supervisor Mark Johnson suggested the content of the letter should be thoughtful and specific, with a "focus on the parts of this plan that appear to be not very well thought out." Johnson predicted VDOT might find themselves the recipient of voluminous correspondence on the topic. The letter from Orange, he reasoned, ought to stand out as more than simply a statement of protest.
It would not, then, be appropriate to suggest VDOT planners and consultants had been under the influence of hallucinogenic substances when they Sharpie'd four lanes of highway through Rapidan? District 3 Supervisor Teel Goodwin confirmed sardonically.
In all seriousness, clearly VDOT had failed to take into account several characteristics of the Orange County area when they mapped out the realignment option: like topography and existing land use, Goodwin pointed out.
Johnson said he thought it would be appropriate to compare notes with the towns of Gordonsville and Orange, "and find out what they think before we go unilateral."
In the meantime, while county and town officials choose sides on VDOT's potential plans for a major Orange County north-south route, Charlie Rasnick, VDOT project manager for the corridor study, has been invited to speak to county officials at an upcoming board of supervisors meeting.