Month: April 2017

In order to reach a recommendation for the Ashland/Hanover part of the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) the DRPT will be holding a series of meetings starting in May, and continuing for three to six months. A summary of this initiative is provided in this email attachment distributed by Mayor Foley. A Community Advisory Group will be created. It will included the following members (plus others not listed here).

• Town councilor (Mayor Foley), staff member (Manager Farrar) and one Ashland citizen.
• Representatives from western and eastern Hanover.
• Three representatives from Randolph-Macon college.

Some of the meetings will include public input.

One of the themes of this blog is that the proposed “High Speed Rail” project can best be defined by the term “Lack of imagination”. If we are willing to consider new technology (Acela-style technology dates back to the 1950s) then we can achieve true high speed transportation building hyperloop tubes down the I-95 corridor. The trains could carry either passengers or container modules at speeds in excess of 650 mph and there would be no disruption to either the Town of Ashland or the adjacent rural areas.

There has been a flurry of publications in recent days about how quickly this technology is progressing. One of the headlines is from The Verge: The hyperloop is ready for its big ‘Kitty Hawk’ moment — and may be coming to a US city near you. But, as we have already sadly noted  in posts such as Richmond Fails to Make the Cut, the State of Virginia is nowhere to be found in these discussions.