Double whammy for Va. project

Just days after Secretary of Transportation Homer Pierce announced that there was a delay in the public-private partnership that would construct three HOT lanes in the middle of the I-395/I-95 corridor due to a failing bond market and other concerns, Arlington (Va.) County filed a lawsuit against the project.

On Aug. 19, a suit was filed that asks the court to order an environmental review to determine whether creating the HOT lanes would increase air pollution.

As expected, the Sierra Club was quick to support the move.

“It is particularly important that the Arlington lawsuit also focuses on the air quality impact of the HOT lanes project and the increased number of vehicles adding pollution to nearby neighborhoods,” Ann Prados of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club said in a statement.

Robert Chase, executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, told the Washington Post that the lawsuit is “another example of a local government in northern Virginia acting to impede a project of major regional importance.”

The I-395/I-95 route is one of the most congested highways in the region