A community in Northern Virginia is upset, because their road was repaved. It is an unusual sentiment, but they said the new surface around their homes is kicking up all sorts of dust and debris and ruining their quality of life.
A road in Amissville, Virginia, in Culpeper County, was fine the way it was, according to residents in the area. However, the Virginia Department of Transportation came in and started putting down tar and gravel, called chip and seal pavement, which met with disapproval from those living along the road.
"You've got dust that's 30, 40, 50 feet in the air, just plastering you," said John Beck.
"We are very upset about this. Absolutely," said Thomas Ketcham.
In rural communities, the road really matters, because there aren't many sidewalks. With the bumpy, gravel-filled pavement, things like riding a bike pushing a stroller or walking a dog became a little harder.
"We really want to be made whole again,” Ketcham said. “We want the roads replaced as they were before, as we've been living on for the last 15 years.”
Residents said they were given no notice by the state the road work was going to happen. A lot of these people said they just walked out of their houses, and the road was different.
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VDOT said it did fail to have the contractor notify the residents of the work and apologized. They said the work was necessary to keep the road in good shape.
Alexia Groser, who has asthma, has been leading a charge to get VDOT to explain more fully why they did this. She said she can't spend a lot of time outside in her neighborhood since the new road was put down.
“I'm wondering why did they put this down on road that was already in good shape?” Groser said. "I (used to) look forward to going for a walk with my daughter. We used to go for a mile and a half around the neighborhood, but now, we don't do it anymore. I've got asthma, and I don't want to breathe in all the dust."
The community said VDOT told them in a few weeks, the road would go back to a dust free environment. It's been a few weeks already, and there's still the dust.
