Editor – Times Dispatch: The latest recommendation of the hearing examiner to adopt the Carver Road route for the proposed Amazon extension in Haymarket came as a total surprise. No one — not even Dominion — recommended that option.
The Carver route would not only be unsightly, but its course would run very close to two elementary schools. The examiner’s reasoning was a non-sequitur. After citing almost 50 pages of evidence in favor of the hybrid route, he then recommended the Carver route. Why? He said that (1) there are many houses along I-66 (but there are almost as many along the Carver route, with a few homeowners possibly displaced) and (2) what if Interstate 66 needs further widening (even Dominion didn’t think that was a problem, since they recommended the I-66 route)?
In any event, both concerns go away if the hybrid route is selected, so the only real consideration is up-front cost. That cost, which itself is debatable, should be recovered very quickly, making the hybrid route the cost-effective choice in the long run. This latest recommendation comes as a sharp stick in the eye to homeowners, business people and elected officials who have worked so hard to persuade the SCC to make the only sane choice — the hybrid route. It’s the only option that makes sense for everyone.
Dana Roper.
Gainesville.