Jennings Gap President
John Hutchinson was invited to participate in the 2008 Virginia
Preservation Conference Preserving for the Future: A Capital Idea!
The conference, co-sponsored by the Virginia Department of
Historic Resource, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities / Preserve Virginia
was held in Richmond
in early October. It explored creative
solutions that historic preservation is bringing to the challenges communities
across Virginia
face.
As part of an ambitious agenda that addressed a variety of
subjects including sustainability, rural and urban planning, cultural, and
cultural landscapes Mr. Hutchinson made a presentation regarding his work with
various organizations to derail plans by the Virginia Department of
Transportation to massively expand Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah
Valley.
Hutchinson
also participated in a panel discussion that addressed how conservation and preservation
groups have successfully battled a $14 billion plan to create a tolled, eight
to 12 land truck highway on I-81 through the historic Shenandoah Valley and
southwest Virginia. Hutchinson
worked with Valley residents, truckers, poultry growers, and many other allies
to block a road project that was so costly and destructive that the I-81
corridor was named one of Virginia’s
Most Endangered Historic Sites by APVA Preservation Virginia in 2006.
Hutchinson’s
presentation focused on his successful leadership of a coalition that lobbied
the General Assembly to withhold funding for the worst aspects of the proposed
construction project during the 2008 legislative session.
Learn more about the I-81 lobbying effort>
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