To our ReThink9 community:
The Town cares deeply about our local economy along the corridor and in the northwestern region of the county and has publicly been a strong advocate of needs of our rural businesses.
Contrary to misleading press reports, no decision on a full closure of Rt. 9 in the Town of Hillsboro has been made by VDOT. The Town, which is managing the project, is working collaboratively with VDOT, the agency that must approve the project’s Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) plan, on revision of the current plan to complete the project in the most time- and cost-efficient manner—and with the least impact on residents, businesses and commuters as possible. Under the currently approved MOT, the 0.6-mile length project’s construction duration is estimated at 31 to 36 months and adds substantial costs, diminishes final product quality and impacts residents, businesses and commuters for an untenable length of time. Further, other local and regional road projects that will rely on a fully functioning Rt. 9 are set to begin in the next 12-24 months, necessitating the earliest completion possible. The Town is fully engaged with VDOT on a data-driven analysis of all of the options available to accelerate delivery of this project in the shortest duration possible—taking into account the varying needs of all the stakeholders.
The Town is representing the needs of our local businesses and has always and will continue to be a major advocate, be it via the Comprehensive Plan, the push to save rural agricultural land, transportation planning that helps not harms our rural economy, and not to impose untenable signage restrictions on our rural businesses. Now with this needed infrastructure project, we are exploring alternative ways to keep part of Rt. 9 open as much as is technically feasible to facilitate access to our businesses in town and in the western region—and shortens the duration of construction as much as possible.
Sincerely,
Mayor Roger L. Vance
