Thoughts on the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road I shared with FHWA

Here is the text of a letter I sent today to the Division Administrator of the Virginia Division of the Federal Highway Administration. Given the actions that Charlottesville City Council is considering in moving the McIntire Road Extended project forward to construction I feel it is necessary to get FHWA to review the situation. Perhaps if you have thoughts on the legality or propriety of how these projects are being developed you can share your thoughts with FHWA, VDOT, and Charlottesville City Council, too.

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August 18, 2008

Roberto Fonseca-Martinez
Division Administrator
FHWA Virginia
400 North 8th Street, Suite 750
Richmond, Virginia 23219-4825

Dear Mr. Fonseca-Martinez,

A change in the southern terminus of the McIntire Road Extended project in Charlottesville from intersecting at Route 250 Bypass at McIntire Road to a point 775 feet north of the Route 250 Bypass has recently occurred. Given that this road and its connection to Route 250 Bypass constituted the no-build alternative in the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road – a Federal-aid Highway project – it now appears that there is no basis for using the current no-build alternative in the interchange project.

I and other interested stakeholders in Charlottesville have communicated our concern that these two projects should be combined into one project with the no-build alternative being the current in-place roadway network since the inception of the separate interchange project. With the recent official change in the McIntire Road Extended project design scope, the current FHWA position that these two projects can proceed as independent projects clearly needs to be revisited. The new design scope of the state funded McIntire Road Extended project makes it no longer a road as it only has one terminus that connects to the existing roadway network and clearly is dependent upon the Federal-aid interchange project to provide any transportation utility in the roadway network. The interchange is also the only currently proposed project that if constructed will link the southern terminus of the proposed McIntire Road Extended project to Route 250 Bypass (a National Highway System facility).

I believe that the current projects remaining as independent projects is not in compliance with NEPA requirements regarding project segmentation, and the interchange project is not in compliance with the NEPA requirement of having a suitable no-build alternative under consideration.

I encourage you to review the McIntire Road Interchange at McIntire Road project in light of these significant developments and provide necessary guidance to the project sponsors (City of Charlottesville) as to how they can come into compliance with Federal-aid Highway Program and NEPA requirements.

I am happy to discuss this issue with you or members of your staff further by letter, telephone, or electronic mail. My contact information is provided above.

Sincerely, Peter Kleeman

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McIntire Road Extended Easement Update

As a follow-up to my previous posting, I provide below the listing of all easements proposed by VDOT necessary to construct McIntire Road Extended. The data below are taken from the "Preliminary Right of Way Data Sheet" that is Sheet 1C of the plan sheets for the project. These data reflect data as of three months ago, and apparently some small changes in the amount of temporary easement is necessary for a more recent design update - triggering the need for city council to reconsider the granting of the specific easements to VDOT at the Aug. 18, 2008 council meeting.

The McIntire Road Extended project uses parts of two land parcels - both owned by the City of Charlottesville. One parcel (parcel 001) is land in McIntire Park that is located in the City of Charlottesville and contains 145 acres. The other (parcel 004) is land in McIntire Park that is located in Albemarle County but south of Melbourne Road and contains 3.5 acres.

The agenda material claims that only temporary easements need be transferred to VDOT, but the Preliminary Right of Way Data Sheet contains the following number of acres of easement in each parcel listed by type of easement. I believe the Utility category lists permanent easements, but these easements are to utility companys and not to VDOT. It is not clear to me when and how these easements are granted.

        --------------- Easement Type ----------
Parcel  Permanent   Permanent 
Number   Roadway    Drainage   Utility   Tempory

 001      1.73        2.80      2.79      14.88
 004      0.864       0.029     0.998      1.88

Total     2.6         2.8       3.8       16.8

If these data are current, they indicate that only 16.8 of the approximately 26.0 acres that are to be put under easement will actually be temporary easements with 9.2 acres being granted to either VDOT or utility companies as permanent easements.

And, as mentioned in my last posting, the Constitution of Virginia apparently requires that council needs at least four votes to reach the necessary super-majority for granting these permanent easements in McIntire Park.

The entire process of proposing to use only easements (whether temporary or permanent) is not the usual path taken by VDOT. My understanding is that VDOT typically acquires title to the land necessary for the construction of a road, and then after completing the project returns all of the land VDOT does not require for maintaining the road to the municipality. The McIntire Road Extended project may well be the only VDOT project that is following this process.

If you are interested in what is going on here, I recommend you bring your concerns to council on Monday Aug. 18 and present your thoughts at the public hearing scheduled early in the meeting. The meeting starts at 7:00 pm and the public hearing will likely begin about 30 minutes after the start of the meeting.

Late summer arrives - and again the city will consider giving away McIntire Park land to VDOT

If it is summer, then watch for some controversial action on the McIntire Road Extended project at city council. On July 16, 2007, city council last considered granting a temporary construction easement of roughly 22 acres to VDOT to construct the McIntire Road Extended project. A public hearing was held, but no council action was taken until October 1, 2007.

On Oct. 1, 2007, a resolution by council was passed 5-0 to grant a temporary construction easement to VDOT (in return for $1 payment). The relevant - and exact- wording included in the resolution passed by city council on October 1, 2007 is as below in italics:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia that this Council hereby authorizes the City Manager to sign the following document, in form approved by the City Attorney, upon (1) certification from the Virginia Department of Transportation that the Commonwealth has acquired title to or a permanent easement over 49.1 acres of real property that will be dedicated for use by the City as replacement park land; (2) review and approval by City Council of the final design of the storm water drainage plan; and (3) written confirmation from the Virginia Department of Transportation that this temporary construction easement will not be used to construct an at-grade intersection at the intersection of U.S. Route 250 Bypass and McIntire Road Extended:

Agreement between the City of Charlottesville, as "Grantor" and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as "Grantee", granting a temporary construction easement across and through McIntire Park for construction of McIntire Road Extended, and related utility and drainage work.

On Aug. 18, 2008, another resolution to grant a slightly modified temporary easement to VDOT is under consideration and a case is to be made that all of the conditions from the previous resolution have been satisfied.

But, some issues are unresolved. Given that council has never approved a final design of a storm water drainage plan (only the concept was approved). And, the official southern terminus of the McIntire Road Extended project was moved from Route 250 Bypass to approx. 775 feet north of Route 250 Bypass. The project was shortened by approximately one-third in distance and the project only connects the roadway network at Melbourne Road. Clearly, McIntire Road Extended is dependent upon the so-called independent Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project. Yes, the interchange project is considered to be totally independent of the McIntire Road Extended project. I believe that VDOT is required to hold a new design public hearing when such a significant change in project terminus occurs - and when a project connects at only one point in the roadway network. This constitutes a significant change in project design scope. In fact a new design public hearing was held because of a change in design scope for Meadow Creek Parkway (in Albemarle County) when the project alignment changed after the Jones and Jones consultant's design was approved by Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. With all the changes to the McIntire Road Extended project, there hasn't been a VDOT location or design public hearing on this project since 1999.

It is troubling that the city council resolutions only discuss temporary construction easements. On the most recent VDOT plans for McIntire Road Extended, land is clearly identified with proposed permanent easements as part of the storm water management plan. If city council approves the proposed resolution, it appears that only the temporary easements will be granted. Perhaps city council should consider this issue along with the final storm water design before they authorizing granting of any easements.

Charlottesville resident Stratton Salidis has spoken often at city council about the need for council to have a super-majority vote to grant permanent easements as apparently required by the Virginia Constitution. I believe he is correct. This would mean that a 4-1 vote in favor of granting a permanent easement would be required on council.

Lastly, the condition council passed about not using the granted easement to build an at-grade intersection has become moot due to the change in project terminus. McIntire Road Extended might better be called something else in that it no longer even connects to McIntire Road. This is our local equivalent of the Alaska bridge to nowhere project although that proposed bridge actually connected to something. As of now, there is no commitment to build an interchange to bridge the gap. Technical and funding problems are yet to be resolved, and preliminary engineering and interchange designs are not yet complete. The environmental review of the project is still underway and no final action is likely to occur until late spring 2009. Council may well be building a multi-million dollar road to nowhere through McIntire Park.

I expect better attention to detail on project development from the city, and VDOT when so many millions of dollars and over 22 acres of McIntire Park are in jeopardy - plus added community noise, air pollution, and loss of or impact on natural, historical, and cultural resources.

I hope you will consider the details of this and the related projects and share your thoughts on this project with VDOT, and the city council and staff. There will be a public hearing on this matter early on the Aug. 18 council agenda. The resolution being considered on Aug. 18 is as follows:

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE OF A TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION EASEMENT IN MCINTIRE PARK TO THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

WHEREAS, the City of Charlottesville is the owner of McIntire Park; and,

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia, through its Department of Transportation, has requested a temporary right and easement to use approximately 22.2 acres within McIntire Park for the construction of McIntire Road Extended, also known as the Meadow Creek Parkway, and related utility and drainage work; and,

WHEREAS, by Resolution adopted October 1, 2007 City Council authorized the granting of the easement upon the fulfillment of certain conditions; and,

WHEREAS, in accordance with the prior Resolution the Virginia Department of Transportation (“VDOT”) has certified that it has acquired title to or a permanent easement over 49.1 acres of real property that will be dedicated for use by the City as replacement park land, and that this temporary construction easement will not be used to construct an at-grade intersection at the intersection of U.S. Route 250 Bypass; and,

WHEREAS, the storm water drainage system has been designed in accordance with the concept previously approved by the Council.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council for the City of Charlottesville, Virginia that this Council hereby authorizes the Mayor to sign the following document, in form approved by the City Attorney:

Agreement between the City of Charlottesville, as “Grantor” and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as “Grantee”, granting a temporary construction easement across and through McIntire Park for construction of McIntire Road Extended, and related utility and drainage work. The approximate location of the easement area is shown on a drawing dated June 23, 2008 and entitled “Proposed McIntire Road Extended U000-104-V02, PE-101”.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution is enacted with the expectation that Albemarle County, in response to the granting of this temporary construction easement, will:

1) Commit to a continued and substantial increase in funding for public transit;
2) Commit to making extensive pedestrian and bicycle improvements within the urban ring;
3) Commit to building a transportation connector between Sunset Avenue and Fontaine Research Park/29-250 Bypass that would divert traffic from Old Lynchburg Road; and
4) Commit to continued development of alignment and funding scenarios for the Eastern Connector.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Charlottesville City Council requests that the Virginia Department of Transportation use any means at their disposal to ensure that Albemarle County is capable of meeting the City Council’s expectations as expressed herein.