The morning after the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted 3-2 to move forward with the Western Bypass, Albemarle County Chairman Ken Boyd—a longtime supporter of the project—expressed his satisfaction.
“This is a huge amount of transportation money that we haven’t seen in many, many years, and in addition to the Bypass we will get funding for some projects in the Places29 Master Plan that needed to be done,” Boyd said, during an interview in his office.
Boyd said he trusted a letter from Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton that included a recommendation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board to fund the widening of 29N as well as other important local road-building priorities.
Boyd said he was disappointed that the vote was split, but he said he didn’t feel the vote of the MPO members reflected their party ideologies.
“I don’t think it’s locally political. Certainly on the state level, it’s political because we didn’t ask for this,” Boyd said. “They came to us and said ‘We want to build that Bypass because it’s been a hole in our system for a long time.’”
With his own re-election campaign in its final stages, Boyd said he decided not to consider the impact of the Bypass issue on his political career.
“People are trying to make it a campaign issue, but I honestly believe this is the right thing to do, so I’m disregarding the effect it has on the election,” Boyd said.
Boyd said Gov. Bob McDonnell made it clear during his time as attorney general that he felt the $47 million in federal funding used to purchase right-of-way for the project would be rescinded if the Bypass wasn’t moved forward. The total right of way expenditures on the project are expected to be around $71 million.
Boyd said the region needs the state money and moving the Bypass forward was a smart, practical decision that didn’t contradict his ideological position as a fiscal conservative.
“This is going to sound like pork, but it’s not. If we don’t take this money, it’s not going to be returned to the state’s coffers. It’s going to go somewhere else,” Boyd said.
Boyd said fears that the design of the Bypass would be out-dated or fail to include local input were unfounded.
“No one trusts government anymore. But there is a process you have to go through and the only thing determined at this point is the route between the northern and southern terminus,” Boyd said.
Boyd said VDOT’s new planning processes insure that they “are not going to build things in a vacuum anymore.”
Furthermore, he said his relationship with VDOT’s Culpeper District Administrator Jim Utterback gave him the confidence the department would deliver on its promises.
“Personally because I’ve known Jim Utterback for so many years I feel confident that he’s going to build us a road that improves the quality of life all along the route,” Boyd said.
Boyd said he believed the road could be built without disrupting the Forest Lakes community, whose residents have been vocal in their concerns about the project.
“The engineers say they can design this so it won’t affect Forest Lakes at all and it will all stay west of 29. We can work with them and design this so it won’t disrupt their neighborhood,” Boyd said.
Ultimately, Boyd said yesterday’s vote cleared the way for a long, collaborative effort to make a better transportation corridor.
“It’s going to be a design/build process and that gives us time for plenty of public input and plenty of input from the city and the Board of Supervisors. And we’ll all be part of the process of making the road the best it can be. That’s what VDOT has promised and I believe them.”