Letter To The Editor: Response To Board's 495 NEXT Endorsement

The following letter to the editor was submitted in reference to the April 13 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors endorsement of a letter supporting the I-495 Northern Extension Express Lanes Project. The opinions expressed are the author's own. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor on a local topic, email Emily.Leayman@patch.com or sign up to post on Patch.

Yesterday, on April 13, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved Action Item #5, a Letter of Endorsement for 495 Next to move forward…before Maryland. It’s inconceivable. A day of infamy.

Bravo Brave Supervisor Foust and Supervisor Alcorn for holding firm. The Board of Supervisors made clear in December that to go forward without a commitment to build with Maryland would be highly destructive, and that the costs outweighed the benefits. To change position now and endorse the forward movement of the 495 Next plan, with no material changes, and before Maryland commits to a decision, is an egregious breach of citizen trust.

How nice, the Board of Supervisors wants to “support Maryland.” How nice, the Board of Supervisors bends to developers. How heartbreaking for the community and region. Let’s be clear: VDOT will move a choke point, not fix a choke point. Only those few in Lexus Lanes will see mere minutes of improvement. They will join us in the same bottleneck a few minutes faster. Hooray. Everyone else sits in more congestion. Check VDOT’s own traffic studies.

Not surprising that there has been 1 Public Meeting that moved straight to a Public Hearing in the shroud of Covid. A Public Meeting only in McLean. Why? To hide these and other troubling facts? Like the woefully inadequate DRPT Transit Study and Funding, which only demonstrates that despite the money, only approximately 1,200 cars will be taken off the road. The desire to ride buses is not there.

Let’s be clear: a ruse is a ruse. The private partner is in the business to make money from our congestion, not reduce congestion. We pay with our roads, our environment, our community, our time, our tolls, and the next generation's future. We pay with our public assets.

Is this looking to the future as one claimed in today’s meeting? Who’s future? The end of the generations to come future! Climate change, the destruction of the beauty of the gateway of Virginia, the added pollution to the Potomac, the destruction of parks and community. Twice the width, twice the concrete, twice the noise, twice the air pollution, and twice the runoff for 4 additional middle Express Lanes that McLean residents will only be able to access from Tysons Corner or the GW Memorial Parkway. The estimated stormwater volumes from surface runoff for 3 miles of additional pavement is 3,453,120 square feet…that’s 616 Olympic sized swimming pools. 616! Into the Potomac and Chesapeake Watershed. With an alarming 80 percent unable to be mitigated. An old solution for a modern world. Inconceivable! Unacceptable.

It is time for Governor Northam to stop the advancement of 495Next until the Public-Private Benefit is proven, as required by law (the PPTA). This project should not move forward until it is improved so that it benefits people, not corporations. This project should not move forward until Maryland is moving forward. There needs to be a true solution that provides benefit to all. The few are literally bull-dozing the many. It must stop. Our legislative representatives should intervene for Citizens. It is not a done deal. We all have a voice. Now is the time to use it.

Debra Butler, President, Northern Virginia Citizens Association

president@novacitizensassociation.org