The Arlington Coalition on Transportation (ACT) is a citizens group formed to oppose the construction of

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is a 76.32 mile east–west Interstate Highway in the East Coast of the United States, eastern United States. The highway runs from an interchange with Interstate 81 in Virginia, I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its w ...

through

Arlington Arlington most often refers to: *Arlington, Virginia **Arlington National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery *Arlington, Texas Arlington may also refer to: Places Australia *Arlington light rail station, on the Inner West Light Rail in S ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. The focal activity of ACT was the conduct of a lawsuit filed against the

Virginia Department of Transportation The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the U.S. state, state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Buildin ...

in 1971 in

district court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

. This small citizen's group, founded by Jim and Emelia Govan, actually defeated the powerful Virginia Highway Commission, as the agency was then known. After considerable further legal and technical struggles, a compromise solution was reached to create a scaled-down highway segment, including a

transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1980 film), a 1980 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (1986 film), a Canadian short film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countrie ...

element.

Early history of the I-66 conflict

In the year 1956 the Virginia Highway Commission (later the

) proposed Interstate 66 to link Washington, D.C. to the planned

Interstate 81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40, I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee, Dandridge, Tennessee; its nort ...

, a total project length of 76 miles. The citizens of Arlington were concerned about the impacts of this project through their county, especially with regard to

air quality Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

and community disruption. In 1971, ACT was the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

in an action against the Virginia Highway Commission, having filed a suit in the U.S. district court. ACT won this case after a decision by the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...

, ''Arlington Coalition on Transportation v. Volpe'', 458 F.2d 1323 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1000 (1972). The court paid special attention to the plaintiff's expert calculations and testimony projecting that air quality levels would violate Federal ambient air quality standards as set forth in the Clean Air Act and violate

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

guidelines for

ambient noise Background noise or ambient noise is any sound other than the sound being monitored (primary sound). Background noise is a form of noise pollution or interference. Background noise is an important concept in setting noise levels. Background no ...

. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', which paid little attention to the conflict, suddenly became a supporter of Arlington Coalition on Transportation after their stunning victory in the Fourth Circuit. Studies of air quality and noise continued under the direction of ESL Inc., who this time were working directly for the Virginia Department of Transportation under the agreement reached between

and

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

. These studies, part of the court-mandated

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

, led to further highway design mitigation, particularly related to acoustical impacts. The conflict continued into the mid-1970s, until

Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

William T. Coleman intervened to mediate the dispute and arrived at the "Coleman Decision," which amounted to a reduced four-lane highway with a

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

element.

Events to current times

The four lane version of

was completed through

in the year 1982. Tinkering with variations of

High occupancy vehicle A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and at least one passenger, ...

lanes occurred in the 1980s, and in 1999 Virginia Governor Gilmore announced a plan to widen both directions of I-66 within the

Beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

. Soon thereafter a new organization, ''Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation'', was formed to oppose further widening of I-66. This successor group to ACT questions the break in precedent from the intent of the "Coleman Decision", the lack of integrated transportation planning in the corridor, and further environmental impacts to Arlington.

Bibliography

* Bill Peterson, "For the Govans, the Road to Victory Is Unpaved". ''

'', August 21, 1975 * C. Michael Hogan and Harry Seidman, ''Air Quality and

Acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

Analysis of proposed I-66 through

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

'', ESL Inc. Technical Document T1026, Sunnyvale, Calif. (1971) * Jim and Emilia Govan, ''Oral Histories'', Arlington County Library * Mirriam A. Rollin, President of Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation, ''Comments at the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Hearing at the Commonwealth Transportation Board of

'' October 5, 2000 * Virginia Highway Commission, ''Design Plans for Interstate 66'', (1970) * Stephen J. Lyntona, "Long Road: Bitter Fight Against I-66 Now History I-66's Final Shape A Tribute To Its Opponents' Tenacity", ''The Washington Post'', December 22, 1982 * Jack Eisen, "Citizen Groups Attack Plans for Freeway", ''The Washington Post'', September 7, 1972

External links

*
Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arlington Coalition On Transportation Transportation in Arlington County, Virginia