Editor, The Smithfield Times:

Oh Carrollton, your forests and wildlife are rapidly disappearing, the traffic on our two-lane Route 17 (south and north which narrows to one lane at Suffolk bridges) and the James River Bridge have become unbearable with our only way to travel to our designations. 

The Carrollton retaining ponds that the Virginia Department of Transportation built are too close to Route 17, creating a hazard. Some of the mass developments are being built too close to the highways (Routes 258 and 17) and thus, VDOT won’t even be able to widen some areas. Will we eventually need overhead highways and overpasses? Where’s the developers’ planning common sense? 

North Suffolk and Isle of Wight County seem to be competing on who can build the most crowded residential developments and raze all of the life-breathing trees. My nephew moved away from Carrollton’s rapid overgrowth. My neighbor who had custom built his Carrollton home in the 1990s moved to another county, and a Carrollton friend is seriously looking into other counties to regain serenity and peace. 

Isle of Wight County approved an expensive bike path, but apparently, it won’t help to extend well needed (optional) sewer connections to the old Carrollton taxpaying neighborhoods that want to convert from their old, impractical and expensive septic tanks to sewer. 

We’re excited to get a new hospital, but how will we drive the route at certain times of the day to safely arrive there with the now so common traffic jams and accidents? I read the daily complaints about all of the overdevelopment that overcrowds our schools, highways and services, but have these vast amounts of folks spoken to our Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission, written letters to the editor, or written or spoken to our Virginia state legislators?

Maybe our state legislators could adopt new “common sense” laws to protect our remaining forests/marshes and get some control on this terrible traffic, especially on Route 17 and on our small Isle of Wight and Suffolk roads. 

Oh Carrollton (and Smithfield), will we soon need flying cars to make our appointments on time?

 

Elizabeth Coburn

Carrollton