Feds void environmental impact plan for Southeastern Parkway

The Federal Highway Administration has revoked approval of an important document required for the Southeastern Parkway, a 21-mile toll highway that would link Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

Last year, the highway administration gave its "prior concurrence" on a preliminary environmental impact statement for the parkway. The decision to revoke it came after further discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers.

"It's something that happens in extreme cases," Doug Hecox of the highway administration said. "The circumstances have warranted another look. Not every project survives the environmental review process."

The federal action is the latest challenge for the road, which has been talked about since 1986 and could cost upward of $2 billion. A plan to compensate for the wetlands, habitat and stream impacts could cost $127 million alone, documents show. The project also has no funding. The proposed source for the cash disappeared when a regional transportation authority was struck down last year by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Virginia Beach City Manager Jim Spore called the reversal a "major setback" to the project, which officials have been planning for more than 20 years to relieve Interstate 64 traffic and provide a more direct route between two of the commonwealth's largest cities.

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake sent representatives to Washington this week to meet with highway administration officials who were concerned that federal environmental agencies won't sign off on a project that could destroy 170 acres of wetlands.

Alice Allen-Grimes, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers environmental scientist who has worked on the project since 1987, said her agency reviewed a preliminary environmental impact statement several years ago and decided the wetlands impact appeared to outweigh traffic benefits.

The EPA has rated the project unacceptable three times - in 1989, 1994 and 2005 - said Barbara Rudnick, an agency scientist.

"It may not be worth the environmental impact," she said.

The main concerns are the wetlands around Stumpy Lake, Gum Swamp, West Neck Creek and the North Landing River. Rudnick called them "a high-value contiguous resource important from a hydrology and habitat point of view."

At a meeting Thursday, officials said the highway administration offered to pay for a mediation process among Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and other agencies, including the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"We're not giving up on this project, but we've got to find some middle ground," said Hecox of the highway administration. "The wetlands in this area are high-quality. We've got to be extra careful."

The route of the Southeastern Parkway is similar to Elbow Road, a winding and narrow rural street that many people consider the most direct path from Chesapeake to Virginia Beach. Since 2006, at least four people have died after car crashes on a four-mile stretch of Elbow.

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake officials are hopeful that mediation will help move the project forward.

Bob Matthias, an assistant to Spore, said, "We've been arguing through e-mails about the project, and mediation is an excellent chance to get all the concerns out in the open."

Mike Saewitz, (757) 222-5207, mike.saewitz@pilotonline.com

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com