Gold: Eliminate the 'Hoover Syndrome'

It seems to me…one of the major problems facing Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania and the other adjacent counties is that they suffer from a disease that affects the thought processes of some politicians in charge of these jurisdictions. This disease when it was first discovered was labeled the “Hoover Syndrome.” Since then it has also been called the “Oreck Effect” and some have even sarcastically referred to it as the “Dirt Devil Disorder.” Whatever name is applied they all mean that those bodies operate in a vacuum. And, currently this seems to be affecting the decisions made in regard to the connector/bypass from Interstate 95 that would go through Fredericksburg’s Central Park and end in Spotsylvania County on Route 3.

For anyone that has been a regular commuter or even seen the evening rush hour parking lot along I-95 that extends from Stafford County to the off-ramp at Exit 130 to Route 3 they know how serious the problem is and how frustrating it must be to know they will face this every evening. For a short time there was hope from the proposal to build a connector/bypass that would siphon off those cars going west on Route 3 and relieve the resulting backup on Route 3 from I-95 to at least Salem Church Road. This backup affects not only traffic coming off I-95 but local traffic that needs to use Route 3 west.

While most of the attention is centered on Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County traffic, folks in Stafford County are also affected by the nocturnal delays especially at the U.S. 17 west exit. Staffordians who live in communities west and east on U.S. 17 are delayed because of the Route 3 backup. It also is probably safe to assume that traffic on U.S. 1 is impacted by commuters who leave I-95 along the way to avoid the rolling parking lot ahead. Those familiar with Cowan Boulevard know that evening traffic going toward Central Park has noticeably increased because commuters have used U.S. 1 south to avoid the Route 17 and 3 backups and then use Cowan Boulevard as their connector/bypass to get to Route 3 west.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see what happens in all of this traffic when an accident or emergency arises on any stretch of I-95 between U.S. 17 and Route 3 or on both these routes near their interchanges.

The newly-elected Spotsylvania supervisors have made it clear they oppose the connector/bypass and may have killed any chance of it being developed. It is fair to say that Stafford’s board of supervisors have been supportive of the project and should be commended for seeing the bigger picture and supporting this project, which would help reduce the “trafficitis” in, at least, three jurisdictions. But this “trafficitis” is more than just an evening rush hour problem. What about the people who are considering moving to this area? Does what happens during the evening rush hour affect their decision and does it encourage those who have an opportunity to move from this area?

Any thinking person has to realize that when — and it will happen sooner or later — the housing market gets healthy and more homes and apartments are built and more industry comes, the snake-like lines of cars that writhes in a stop and go fashion will not only get worse but will begin earlier and end later every day.

Local officials have to move out of the vacuum of their parochial thinking and realize that we no longer hitch up the old horse and wagon to visit cousin Bertha in the next county or downtown Fredericksburg. In 2012 we are now a steady stream of ants going from the nest to somewhere and back every day and if they don’t remove the roadblocks they set up at the line their jurisdiction begins we will continue to be more like Northern Virginia during rush hour.

Whether they believe it or not, we have become part of the East Coast megalopolis where jurisdictional borders begin to disappear and even though these individual jurisdictions still exist, they have to get rid of the “Hoover Syndrome” and start thinking about everyone’s best interest.

Harvey Gold is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.