Looking for Allies to Battle HOT |
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Bob
New Slug Joined: 14 Dec 2001 Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Posted: 29 Oct 2004 at 11:17am |
I would like to request any information that slugs may have on potential allies in our fight against HOT, (at least in its current form). I am not a federal worker and am not real familiar with this, but I was thinking about the EPA, for example which controls air quality regs. I think that by adding thousands of cars, HOT will have a big negative impact on air quality. I have also thought about the various "green" groups such as Sierra Club which should be pro HOV. At one time I wrote a letter to AAA, which often takes political positions, but they never wrote back, so they may be pro HOT. On another occasion I wrote to Omniride, but unfortunately got a pro HOT response. There must be some allies we havent identified.
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sharonji27
New Slug Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Since Tuesday is election day that could be a way to send a message. Are any of the people who voted to approve HOT lanes up for re-election??
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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No one's voted on anything yet. The project is just a proposal. But it's likely to be approved by all the counties along the corridor and by VDOT and that may be all it needs.
Voting is a good idea, but it tends to work from the backside (California's Davis notwithstanding.) I mean that a vote against a candidate because of that candidate's voting record, is a vote that comes too late: it arrives AFTER they've already inflicted their damage. |
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Bob
New Slug Joined: 14 Dec 2001 Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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And HOV traffic opened up right after the minor paving work on 395. That must be part of it. But I wonder if a lot of singles are diving into the HOV lanes when the regular lane backups get bad. I thought this may be the case but looked around and did not see a lot of cheaters.
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adjguy
New Slug Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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What are some other options of paying for another hov lane, and extending it to Fredburg? We voted against the transportation tax a few years back, and Virginia is broke.
Any solutions? |
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spacefan
New Slug Joined: 18 Jun 2003 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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If we don't start a letter-writing campaign RIGHT NOW, HOT lanes are going to be a fact of life. A large group of vocal people can do wonders--I was witness to this several years ago when my community beat back an attempt to locate a cell tower immediately adjacent to our community.
The whole point of HOT lanes is nothing more than increasing revenue. Well, then we need to push other avenues of revenue. Why not awaken the notion of the sales tax increase, BUT PROMOTE IT DIFFERENTLY. Any time someone hears "tax increase" they think property tax. Sales tax increases are nothing more than an increase in consumption tax like gas tax increases. If promoted properly, a sales tax increase referendum could pass if the alternative is more air pollution, more roads in disrepair, more gridlock, etc. I think you see where I'm going with this. Of course Omniride is pro HOT lane because they know that HOT lanes will drastically impact slugging because of the drop in drivers picking up slugs, so they think their ridership will be up. The fact of the matter is that Omniride cannot possibly absorb the number of riders that might head their way if slugging is seriously impacted. Can Omniride absorb even half or one quarter of the 20,000 or so people who slug into DC and elsewhere everyday? Of course not! They couldn't possibly run enough buses to support the increased number of riders (thereby adding to the gridlock and air pollution) and the complaints would be endless about the packed buses. If the subject were broached to Omniride in these terms, they might be more supportive of our viewpoint. The number of hybrids on the road is seriously impacting traffic in the HOV lanes NOW. Why hybrids are allowed in the HOV is beyond me because I thought the point was carpooling, not rewarding single drivers for supporting the automotive industry and circumventing the notion of mass transit. Besides, hybrids are not fuel efficient at high speeds--they burn gas at speeds exceeding 30-35 MPH--the electric only works at low speeds. The only benefit to owning a hybrid is driving in the HOV without passengers and less frequent visits to the gas station. How does that benefit MASS TRANSIT? We need to organize NOW because the HOT lane train has left the station and we're watching it depart. |
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goober
New Slug Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 2 |
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adjguy, It can't be that expensive to re-mark the existing HOV lanes to create another lane which is what is being proposed. Conceptually, if it's not too costly, can't the counties come up with some funding to pay VDOT for just this kind of change? I'll help promote this idea.
Extending the HOV will definitely be costly, and this is where the "considerate" contractors will pay for the work. But, can't that extension wait or is it clogged with traffic badly down to Fredricksburg? I get off at Horner so I have no idea how bad it is further south. IMHO, in general, if going further south means accomodating more new housing development, those developers should cough up higher proffers to pay for the extension. Goober |
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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The extension to Fredericksburg is the big carrot Fluor is using to ram this thing through. They're dying for more pavement down in Stafford and F'burg. Or so we've heard.
But Fluor's proposal says they will get around to extending the lanes "when we're bloody well ready to and not a minute before we have installed the toll booths between 14th St. and Dumfries." (OK, so I paraphrase -- we sponges do that sometimes.) Want to see where they say that? Take a look at page 46 of the Fluor proposal. Also note that the lanes won't be extended to 610 until the summer of 2008. |
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goober
New Slug Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 2 |
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Sponge, Where is page 46 of the Fluor proposal that you refer to, is it in "Tab 2 - Project Characteristics"? I'm looking at the post on the VDOT web site which is referenced in the slug-lines site.
Thanks. Goober |
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Oh, my bad. I should have said Tab 2, page 46. It's a timeline under Project Characteristics.
(Pass me a Tums!) |
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