As you prepare to have an impact on the 2007 General Assembly, take a moment to think about the story of RAIL Solution and STAR Solutions — referred to by Roanoke Times columnist Tommy Denton as “a splendid example of David-versus-Goliath democracy in action.”

A few years ago, in 2002, STAR Solutions proposed a monstrous eight-lane I-81 tollway along the beautiful mountainous spine of Western and Southwest Virginia. RAIL Solution was the only group organized specifically to oppose this plan.

STAR Solutions is a corporate coalition of enormous power, wealth and political influence. A Halliburton Corporation subsidiary is the lead partner. The giant construction consortium’s other national partners included Ashland Oil, Northrop Grumman, Lehman Brothers, and Salmon, Smith, Barney. State level STAR partners include politically influential construction corporations.

RAIL Solution, on the other hand, is a volunteer-driven organization that just hired its paid Executive Director, Dave Foster, in 2006, and that depends on critical support from grassroots groups like Rockbridge Area Conservation Council, already stretched thin. In the northern Valley, the Shenandoah Valley Network has coordinated action by local groups there. (Other members and partners include the Southern Environmental Law Center, Coalition for Smarter Growth, Virginia Association of Railway Patrons, Virginia Chapter Sierra Club, Virginia Forest Watch, and the Virginia Conservation Network. In addition, as RAIL Solution developed and sought support, it became a program of VOP, with its own independent board.)

The strength of RAIL Solution and its allies was their clear and unflinching message. “We can do things smarter in Virginia, save money and the environment and maybe help pioneer a model for a 21st Century transportation paradigm for the nation,” as Dave Foster said in January of 2006. “Gone are the days when we can address every problem of congestion and growth by building more lanes of highway.”

Following the STAR Solution lead, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) issued 1-81 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in late November 2005. The DEIS was peppered with errors and omissions.

Rees Shearer, chair of RAIL Solution, described the DEIS as “an assault on our pocketbooks, our local economies, our air quality, public health, historic resources, and the Virginia mountain landscape. The DEIS provides scant or no analysis of impacts of millions more trucks on air quality and public health, or tolling impacts of truck diversion to alternative routes, or tolling impacts on local businesses and community economies.”

In response to the DEIS’ flaws, RAIL Solution authored and sought sponsors for a bill before the Virginia General Assembly directing a multi-state rail intermodal feasibility assessment in the 1-81 Corridor. The bill, House Bill 1581, had strong support from the mostly Republican General Assembly members of the Valley of Virginia. In an Assembly session deadlocked over transportation questions, it passed both houses unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Tim Kaine. This bill succeeded.

RAIL Solution members and supporters also attended many of Governor Kaine’s Transportation Town Meetings during his listening tour soon after his election, speaking up and sometimes setting up displays and distributing hand-outs. The Governor began to refer to some of RAIL Solution leaders by first name, and the RAIL Solution executive board met with Kaine’s transition team.

RAIL Solution produced professional-quality handbills, encouraging public comment against the DEIS. These went to thousands of I-81 corridor residents and to those attending the six public meetings in April. Over 90 percent of the public comments to VDOT opposed the DEIS, and most speakers also supported a rail freight alternative for 1-81.

RAIL Solution leaders also met with Governor Kaine and eight of his top transportation and policy officials, urging Kaine to set a new freight transportation paradigm for the nation in the 1-81 corridor, while fixing specific road safety and capacity problems right away. As Michael Testerman, RAIL Solution vice chair, said in October 2006, “We all support quick fixes to dangerous sections of the interstate. Holding I-81 safety fixes hostage to a wrongheaded, long-term plan of border-to-border lane-widening benefits no one.”

Governor Kaine responded positively, and soon issued a new transportation policy for 1-81 along the lines recommended.

In September, VDOT tried again with a resolution for the Commonwealth Transportation Board to approve the 1-81 DEIS plan — before the data from the rail study required by the General Assembly could be included. The CTB was to vote on the resolution at its October meeting in Roanoke. RAIL Solution quickly organized another grassroots effort by members and allied groups to phone, write, visit, and e-mail their CTB representatives, and to speak at the meeting in opposition to VDOT’s proposal. Rail advocates succeeded in modifying the resolution to assure rail study information would be included.

STAR could still come back. The rail study could be compromised or rejected. At VDOT, traditional, highway-centric thinking still dominates as does the suspicion of and aversion to rail alternatives. But we do have a genuine opportunity to do transportation smarter in Virginia — thanks to the grassroots work of Virginians who were there at every step of the process, and made sure their voices were heard, even in the face of Goliath.

Dave Foster is executive director and Rees Shearer is chair of RAIL Solution. For more information visit www.railsolution.org or e-mail railsolution@aol.com.