I support the renewal of the Shenandoah Rail corridor to serve the highest and best public use, which I believe is the Shenandoah Rail Trail, a 49-mile multi-use path between Broadway and Front Royal. 

The nine towns, three counties and partners along the corridor have carefully planned the project for over six years. The state's study says a rail-trail is feasible, an economic impact study found it will bring over $30 million in annual visitor spending, and a VDOT survey received over 9,000 responses (the most they've had for any project), 94% of which indicated they would use the trail if it were built. Valley legislators championed the Shenandoah Rail Trail in Richmond and allocated $35 million to VDOT to purchase the corridor for the trail project. 

If that funding is to be reallocated to a different concept, I insist that equal transparency and due-diligence be performed to ensure taxpayers dollars will support the project with the most public benefit.