Rail System vs. Highway Infrastructure – Follow the Money – Part 2

In my previous post, I closed by making the point that politicians were not going to admit to continuing to keep the roads congested.

Which could contribute to the trucking industry being hampered to the point point that people will believe that trains are more efficient at moving freight.

Now to move on to the second part of this extensive research that has been occurring, behind the scenes, at Truck Drivers News. Back in 1996 a 325-acre parcel of land in Woodbridge, VA sold for $20 million; it was located on the Occoquan River where that river meets the Potomac River. The developer who bought it built it into a 2,500 home neighborhood called Belmont Bay. That $20 million investment is worth over $1 billion now.

The developer had to put in a new Virginia Railway Express (VRE) station, along with the usual roads, sewers and electrical, but that cost nothing compared to the $1 billion he now enjoys. Here is an article about Belmont Bay.

The next location along the Potomac River to get this treatment will be a place called Cherry Hill. They intend that the Cherry Hill VRE station will serve a $3 billion development. The Banking Crisis of [08] delayed this project, but developers think in decades, not years. They can wait as long a time as necessary as long as no one else comes along and spoils their plans. They know that over 1 million more residents are going to move to Washington, DC in the next [20] years and they will need homes.

And, to keep their land values high, they need to convince folks that commuting from their new VRE station will be the best way to get to work. Folks will only believe that if traffic continues to suck on I-95. By all indications, traffic will continue to be congested and the truckers will continue to be stuck in traffic.

The next location along the Potomac River to get the treatment is called Widewater and it is owned by the guy who owned Belmont Bay. That is going to be a 6,000 residence location, but VDOT has said he can’t build a new VRE station there – he has to let the Cherry Hill guy get his place built first. You see, all of this development is planned decades in advance by the Developers and the Politicians they support. They have all the time in the world. Truckers can’t plan much in advance when they are concerned about dropping off the load they are stuck in traffic with.

The river runs parallel to I-95 and Rt. 1, why don’t we use High Speed Passenger Hovercraft Ferries like England, Norway, Sweden, India, China, etc. and put that commuter traffic on the river and free up space for truck drivers? Because if we do the Maryland side of the river will be opened up to residential development and that will decrease property values on the Virginia side. The developers plan to build up the Maryland side of the river once they have sold off everything on the Virginia side. But that won’t help the truck drivers – ever. This will continue on, so stay tuned.

© 2010, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.