kellyjasper.com

It’s always interesting to me which of my stories generate the most traffic.

As I’m sure it is with most jobs, sometimes work that I’d call brilliant will just sit there while other projects that are just initially blips on the radar screen will generate enormous response. So it was with this, which more than a week after running in the Daily News-Record, still is one of the Web site’s most popular articles.

The odd thing is, we broke this story before any other paper in the state … but the story only reached it’s top rankings once other papers started reporting on it. I don’t get it. Someone, enlighten me?

From Thursday’s Nov. 2 Daily News-Record:
VDOT Facility Closing?

By Kelly Jasper

HARRISONBURG — The Virginia Department of Transportation could announce on Thursday the closing of its Chimney Rock regional maintenance headquarters, and several other rural offices around the state, according to several local officials.

On Tuesday, VDOT said it couldn’t confirm the content of that announcement but only that an announcement would come.

Valley political leaders say they are concerned about the impact the Chimney Rock closing could have on the safety of roads in Rockingham County.

The Chimney Rock facility serves roads across the county but focuses on northwestern communities like Fulks Run, Bergton and Criders.

A Lack Of Communication?

Pablo Cuevas, a member of the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors, said he first broke the news to other local officials three or four weeks ago.

In response, Del. Matt Lohr, R-Broadway, wrote a letter to VDOT Commissioner David Ekern on Oct. 16. On Tuesday, he said he still has not received a response to his request for more information.

“That’s part of my frustration,” Lohr said. “They haven’t contacted us.”

Lohr followed up his first letter with a letter on Tuesday. Both urge VDOT to reconsider any plans to close the facility.

“I respect the efforts to examine your budget and work at ways to make adjustments to benefit the taxpayers of Virginia; however I ask that you please consider the impact of this closure,” Lohr wrote in his latest letter to Ekern.

Cuevas said that local officials have received so little information that it is difficult to judge if any of VDOT’s plans would save money.

“It’s disturbing to me, ” he said. “Somebody needs to explain what they were intending to do.”

Cuevas said he was told that VDOT would close the facility, but transfer its employees to an office in Mauzy. Cuevas refused to say who gave him that information. Equipment would also be left at the Chimney Rock facility, leading him to believe that the equipment would just be traveling further to do the same work.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, who also wrote a letter to the commissioner, calls the potential plan a “reshuffling of deckchairs.”

He said he received a response from the commissioner, which Obenshain says only relayed the message that a decision had already been made and would be announced on Thursday.

Several VDOT officials referred specific questions about the potential closure to the Harrisonburg Residency office on Tuesday. The office did not return phone calls by press time Tuesday. VDOT officials in Richmond were also not available for comment.

Sandy Myers, a spokeswoman for VDOT’s Staunton District, said more information would be available, but it’s not clear when that will be.

“We’re just not ready to say anything yet,” she said.

Legislators Say Possibility Harmful

Opposition to the closure extends beyond its possible financial implications, government officials said.

Three legislators released a joint statement on Tuesday detailing their opposition on the potential closure.

Lohr, Obenshain and Del. Steve Landes, R-Weyers Cave, signed off on the release, which says that the change could hurt area schools, the poultry industry and all residents of the county.

The Chimney Rock facility is “largely responsible for keeping roads open, safe and well maintained,” Lohr stated in the release.

“I think you’ll probably see more school closings,” if the facility is shut down, Cuevas said.

In addition to school buses, poultry and feed trucks also need to safely drive those rural roads, he said. Without a maintenance facility in the area, Cuevas said Rockingham County roads might not receive the same attention.

Cuevas says he has contacted the county school’s superintendent, John Kidd, as well as leaders in the Valley’s poultry industry. He says reaction has been negative across the board because of the potentially adverse economic and safety consequences.

Legislators also reached the same conclusion, Lohr said. The plan has the ability to render communities “even more remote, isolated and unsafe,” Lohr said in the statement.

“Richmond can say they are going to close things down … but it’s the local folks who are going to have to deal with it,” Lohr said.