I attended a TDM/Transit training session in Blacksburg yesterday, during the course of which the
Statewide Rail Plan was again mentioned. The public comment period is now over, but you'll be glad to hear that of the several statewide public meetings held over the course of the summer, the meeting in Roanoke at the Salem Civic Center was said to be the best attended of the lot of 'em. Dan Rudge, Chief of Planning for DRPT, said that over 150 people came to the Roanoke meeting, and that the vast majority of them took the time to speak up. If I recally corrently, I left the meeting about about two hours and there were still quite a few people waiting their turn at the podium, and at that point there had not been a single voice in opposition to passenger rail in the area.
In contrast, Rudge said the Northern Virginia meeting was attended by about 10 people. He may have been exagerrating a, but the point is clear: The folks in the Roanoke region (and many of the attendees were from much farther away than Roanoke, actually) are passionate about this issue, they want to see passenger rail back in the Valley, and they showed DRPT that they cared. I think they heard.