Starbuck
04-26-2007, 05:10 PM
This is a copy of a letter I sent to the organizations listed below in effort to get Mission Road extended. Anyone who is interested and also concerned can copy this text and sign your name. I would appreciate it, however, if you would let me know you are doing so. That way, if I do receive a response, I can let these people know this in our conversation. Thanks!
West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Building 1, Room EB-80
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305
Barbara Miller, Coordinator
Jefferson County Office of Homeland Security
124 East Washington Street
Charles Town, WV 25414
Darrell G. Penwell, Director
Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management
PO Box 208
Charles Town, WV 25414
Ms. Miller, Mr. Penwell, et. al:
I am writing to express my concern at the lack of roadway alternatives for those residents living in the eastern portion of Jefferson County, West Virginia.
Currently, there are two main arteries for vehicles coming west from Washington, DC: Route 7, a four-lane highway running through Virginia to Winchester, and Route 9, a two-lane highway running through West Virginia to Charles Town, Martinsburg, and Berkeley Springs.
In the event of an emergency, DC traffic will be using these two roads as westward egresses. Congestion on these routes is well-documented during rush hour traffic – I can only imagine the traffic woes resulting from a disaster situation.
In this situation there will be backups on each road. The residents of feeder roads – Hostler Road, Keys Ferry Road, and Mission Road, to list several examples – will undoubtedly be negatively affected in a situation such as this. In the event of an emergency on Hostler or Keys Ferry Roads, however, emergency services teams have alternate avenues to reach these residents, for these roads also intersect with Route 340. Residents of Mission Road, however, have no such egress.
Mission Road has no other point of entry/exit than the Route 9 exit. So for these residents, an emergency at the entrance of Route 9 effectively leaves them stranded. Accidents routinely make the route impassable for those above the accident scene; if the accident is particularly severe, these conditions can exist for up to three to four hours. While this is only a minor inconvenience, I hate to think what these residents would do in a disaster situation. If a forest fire or plane crash occurred at the Mission Road/Route 9 intersection, these people would be completely stranded.
The solution to this is to build an egress from Mission Road to Beechwood Lane/Retreat Road in Virginia. The right-of-ways already exist for this road in both West Virginia and Virginia. Indeed, this exit point was serviceable in the 1960s and 1970s, and was only recently allowed to close. A gravel road passable by all automobile traffic would provide residents of Shannondale, John Brown’s Farm, River View Park, Rolling Ridge, Mountainside, and Shenandoah Retreat (a Virginia community) an alternate route in the case of a disaster. More importantly, this provides an alternate route for emergency services to assist residents of these communities in the event of a road closure.
In fact, these areas of Jefferson County are growing, and as more people move to this area, more will be in need of emergency services. Shannondale is the largest unincorporated community in the state of West Virginia, and it seems negligent to leave such a large community uninvolved and isolated in disaster planning.
Completing Mission Road requires a joint effort with Virginia. Indeed, Requirement 201.4.b, as documented in the West Virginia State Mitigation Plan, requires “coordination with other State agencies, appropriate Federal agencies, interested groups…” West Virginia and Virginia must cooperate to get this avenue open for egress on both sides as mitigation for a potentially disastrous situation for residents of Shannondale, John Brown’s Farm, River View Park, and Shenandoah Retreat.
I urge you to coordinate with the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies to mitigate this potentially disastrous situation for the residents of these communities. I am very interested in further communicating with you regarding this situation. Please contact me at (Phone Number Removed). You can send correspondence to:
Name and Address Removed
I look forward to your response.
Thank you,
Signature
West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Building 1, Room EB-80
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305
Barbara Miller, Coordinator
Jefferson County Office of Homeland Security
124 East Washington Street
Charles Town, WV 25414
Darrell G. Penwell, Director
Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management
PO Box 208
Charles Town, WV 25414
Ms. Miller, Mr. Penwell, et. al:
I am writing to express my concern at the lack of roadway alternatives for those residents living in the eastern portion of Jefferson County, West Virginia.
Currently, there are two main arteries for vehicles coming west from Washington, DC: Route 7, a four-lane highway running through Virginia to Winchester, and Route 9, a two-lane highway running through West Virginia to Charles Town, Martinsburg, and Berkeley Springs.
In the event of an emergency, DC traffic will be using these two roads as westward egresses. Congestion on these routes is well-documented during rush hour traffic – I can only imagine the traffic woes resulting from a disaster situation.
In this situation there will be backups on each road. The residents of feeder roads – Hostler Road, Keys Ferry Road, and Mission Road, to list several examples – will undoubtedly be negatively affected in a situation such as this. In the event of an emergency on Hostler or Keys Ferry Roads, however, emergency services teams have alternate avenues to reach these residents, for these roads also intersect with Route 340. Residents of Mission Road, however, have no such egress.
Mission Road has no other point of entry/exit than the Route 9 exit. So for these residents, an emergency at the entrance of Route 9 effectively leaves them stranded. Accidents routinely make the route impassable for those above the accident scene; if the accident is particularly severe, these conditions can exist for up to three to four hours. While this is only a minor inconvenience, I hate to think what these residents would do in a disaster situation. If a forest fire or plane crash occurred at the Mission Road/Route 9 intersection, these people would be completely stranded.
The solution to this is to build an egress from Mission Road to Beechwood Lane/Retreat Road in Virginia. The right-of-ways already exist for this road in both West Virginia and Virginia. Indeed, this exit point was serviceable in the 1960s and 1970s, and was only recently allowed to close. A gravel road passable by all automobile traffic would provide residents of Shannondale, John Brown’s Farm, River View Park, Rolling Ridge, Mountainside, and Shenandoah Retreat (a Virginia community) an alternate route in the case of a disaster. More importantly, this provides an alternate route for emergency services to assist residents of these communities in the event of a road closure.
In fact, these areas of Jefferson County are growing, and as more people move to this area, more will be in need of emergency services. Shannondale is the largest unincorporated community in the state of West Virginia, and it seems negligent to leave such a large community uninvolved and isolated in disaster planning.
Completing Mission Road requires a joint effort with Virginia. Indeed, Requirement 201.4.b, as documented in the West Virginia State Mitigation Plan, requires “coordination with other State agencies, appropriate Federal agencies, interested groups…” West Virginia and Virginia must cooperate to get this avenue open for egress on both sides as mitigation for a potentially disastrous situation for residents of Shannondale, John Brown’s Farm, River View Park, and Shenandoah Retreat.
I urge you to coordinate with the appropriate local, state, and federal agencies to mitigate this potentially disastrous situation for the residents of these communities. I am very interested in further communicating with you regarding this situation. Please contact me at (Phone Number Removed). You can send correspondence to:
Name and Address Removed
I look forward to your response.
Thank you,
Signature