By: Dennis Roooker
In the Oct. 21 Daily Progress, George Will’s column included the following: “America’s bold premise is the possibility of dignified self-government — people making reasonable choices about restrained appetites” (“Finding the seeds of our dysfunction”). Yet The Progress ignored that premise in its editorial of the same day endorsing the U.S. 29 Western Bypass.
While The Progress points out several of the most obvious shortcomings of the bypass, it fails to even mention its $245 million estimated cost.
Having reviewed the engineering plans that are the basis for the construction bid awarded to Skanska by Virginia Department of Transportation, I expect that there will be another $100 million added to the cost of the project in change orders, bringing the final cost to about $350 million.
For example, the Skanska design for the southern interchange saves tens of millions of dollars, but is completely non-functional with two stoplights and a 11.4 percent grade. The Skanska design for the northern interchange fails to include the third lanes between Polo Grounds Road and Ashwood Boulevard.
Skanska’s traffic projections state that in the project design year traffic exiting Forest Lakes South to travel south will have delays of up to 12 minutes. The proposal assumes that there will be no noise protection for neighborhoods, the Colonnades or the seven impacted schools.
These are just a few of the glaring problems with the low-bid design that VDOT accepted so that it can publicize that the project will come within the $245 million estimate. Of course, the change orders and final cost of this boondoggle will not be known until the current administration is out of office.
Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-profit organization that has been dedicated to eliminating waste in federal expenditures for more than 17 years, just selected the bypass as one of the eight most wasteful transportation projects in the entire United States. This information was not part of the editorial.
In this time of severe fiscal challenges, we would do well to heed George Will’s advice to make restrained choices.
Original Publication URL: http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2012/nov/04/missing-info-made-weak-points-ar-2336397/
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