RELEASE: CONTACT:

IMMEDIATE Sandy Myers 540-332-9201 Stauntoninfo@Virginia.DOT.org Eric Gorton 540-332-9264

STAN-113 July 7, 2004

PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING TO BE HELD FOR HARRISONBUR SOUTHEAST CONNECTOR LOCATION STUDY

STAUNTON – The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold a public scoping meeting regarding the Harrisonburg Southeast Connector Location Study. The meeting will be held on Thursday, July 22 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Turner Ashby High School located at 800 North Main Street in Bridgewater. The meeting will take place in the high school commons area.

Citizens can come in during the meeting hours and discuss the study on a one-on-one basis with VDOT officials and planners. Written comments can be submitted at the meeting or within 10 days after the meeting date to Mr. Jim Clarke, Virginia Department of Transportation, 1201 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Oral comments can be recorded at the hearing with the assistance of a court reporter.

A scoping meeting is an early component in the location study process, which follows the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Some components of this process include:

Ø Scoping
Ø Purpose and Need
Ø Alternatives Development
Ø Evaluation of Impacts

Scoping provides an early and open process for determining the range of issues to be addressed in the study and for identifying significant issues. The Purpose and Need describes the transportation problems identified through traffic and other related studies. Alternatives Development consists of two sub-components--Preliminary Alternatives and Candidate Build Alternatives. Preliminary Alternatives will be developed and presented at a Citizen Information Meetings next year. A wide range of preliminary alternatives will be presented for review and comment, including No-Build, Low-Build, and Improve-Existing options. After the Citizen Information Meetings, the Preliminary Alternatives are reduced or refined based on screening criteria to create Candidate Build Alternatives. The study team will conduct an Evaluation of Impacts for these alternatives. The resources analyzed include but are not limited to:

Ø Air Quality
Ø Historic Properties
Ø Hazardous Materials
Ø Indirect Impacts
Ø Wetlands and Streams
Ø Threatened and Endangered Species
Ø Noise
Ø Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
Ø Social and Economic Impacts

After the resource impacts have been analyzed for each alternative, they are documented in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Draft EIS is then made available to the public for review and comment and a Location Public Hearing is conducted.

Once the public hearing is held and the comments are received on the Draft EIS, the Commonwealth Transportation Board will select an alternative. After Commonwealth Transportation Board action, a Final EIS is prepared that documents the action of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and responds to substantive comments received on the Draft EIS.

The Final EIS is presented to the Federal Highway Administration, who reviews it and issues a Record of Decision. The Record of Decision is a public document that reflects the Federal Highway Administration decision, the rationale behind that decision, and commitment to monitoring and mitigation.

Some important milestones for the Harrisonburg Southeast Connector Location Study include the public scoping meeting in the summer of 2004, a citizen information meeting in early 2005, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in mid 2005, a location public hearing in fall 2005 and action by the Commonwealth Transportation Board in late 2005. The Final EIS and Record of Decision are anticipated in mid-2006.