Today, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Connaughton issued a press release announcing a study of traffic across the Potomac. While seemingly an innocuous study, the Secretary's intention -- based on the news last spring that Governor McDonnell and Secretary Connaughton had been pressing Governor O'Malley and his staff on new Potomac River Bridges -- is certainly to pursue new upriver bridges.

Contact: Stewart Schwartz, CSG, 703-599-6437 Chris Miller, PEC, 703-507-5790 Jenni Brewer, NTHP, 202-588-6380 Pamela Goddard, NPCA, 202-454-3365 Morgan Butler, SELC, 434-977-4090 Groups Urge Virginia to Stop Unnecessary Highway and Save Historic Battlefield  New Highway Proposed on Site of 150th Anniversary Weekend Reenactment of First Battle of Manassas Washington, D.C. (July

Letter to Secretary Connaughton and the Commonwealth Transportation Board Letter expressing concerns about the Tri-County Parkway, as well as the proposed north-south corridor in Northern Virginia as a Corridor of Statewide Significance.

Seven citizens’ organizations – National Trust for Historic Preservation, Scenic Virginia, APVA Preservation Virginia, Virginia Organizing Project, Valley Conservation Council, Rockbridge Area Conservation Council and Sierra Club – Thursday joined a federal lawsuit to block plans to widen I-81 to eight or more lanes throughout most of western Virginia. (Amended Complaint) Meanwhile, the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates passed bills mandating legislative oversight of I-81 and prior approval should tolls be proposed.