The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is holding a public meeting this Wednesday evening, September 26, 2007, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, in the Washington-Lee High School cafeteria (1300 N Quincy St, near Ballston Metro) to provide a status report on the preliminary design of it's I-66 "Spot Improvements" project.

Various aspects of this project, including right-of-way drawings, will be displayed in an open-house format, and a brief presentation and question-and- answer session will begin around 7:30 PM. Once again, VDOT has released very little project information in advance of this public meeting.If arriving by auto, use the parking deck above I-66, where a pedestrian bridge connects to Entrance #7 of the high school. The Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation (ACST) will be stationed in Room 126, immediately outside the cafeteria.

If this construction is ultimately approved, this $76 million project could add four miles of a third westbound lane to I-66 at three disconnected locations: from the Spout Run (Lee Hwy) entrance to the Glebe Rd exit, from the Fairfax Dr (Glebe Rd) entrance to the Sycamore St exit, and from the Washington Blvd (East Falls Church) entrance to the Dulles Connector Road exit.

Please attend the VDOT meeting to learn about this project and how it would impact our community. Also, please submit written comments describing your concerns and criticisms for the public meeting record.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please visit ACST's website [http://www.acstnet.org] and blog [http://www.acstnet.blogspot.com] . VDOT has a new project website at [http://www/i-66spotimprovements.com] and a project
telephone "INFO" line (1-888-643-3266), but the previous Idea-66 feasibilty study and the 2006 traffic modeling study remain posted at [http://www/idea66.com] .

PLEASE SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS, no later than October 10, 2007, to: Mr. Jeff Daily, P.E., Project Manager, Virginia Department of Transportation, 14685 Avion Parkway Chantilly, VA 20151 Phone: 703-383-2205, Email: Jeff.daily@vdot.virginia.gov .

UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETINGS: Speak out for a wiser I-66 at the following additional meetings. Partial funding to build the I-66 "spot improvements" is already included in VDOT's current Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP) and is proposed for the Washington region's FY08-13 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Please voice your opposition to this wasteful and destructive use of scarce transportation improvement funds.

1) Thursday, October 11, 7-8 PM, public forum on the FY08-13 TIP for the Washington Metropolitan Region, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 777 N Capitol St NE, Suite 300, Washington DC 20002 (near Union Station Metro). Learn more at [http://tinyurl.com/2nf7d2] .

2) Tuesday, November 13, 6:30-8:00 PM (briefings begin at 5 PM), Commonwealth Transportation Board fall public input meeting for FY09- 14 SYIP, Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax 22035. See VDOT news release at [http://tinyurl.com/35gnd2] .