Harvey Simon

Harvey SimonVice President

Treasurer's Report: Wendy Ault and Harvey Simon
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VP Comments: Harvey Simon (Ph. 670-3277)

"I don't consider him a major threat to the battlefield, but certainly it's an unwarranted source of unwanted noise right on the edge of the battlefield," said Harvey Simon, vice president of the Friends of the Manassas National Battlefield Park.The group is dedicated to preserving the integrity and historical value of the battlefield.

People come to the park to visualize and honor the events of 140 years ago, and the noise from the tracks would be a major distraction, preservationists said.

Harvey Simon, vice president of Friends of Manassas National Battlefield Park, said he'd prefer a mall--one of the many intrusions Annie Snyder fended off-- to a "very offensive and noisy" bike park.

Harvey Simon Vice Pres:

Harvey Simon, vice president of the Friends of the Manassas National Battlefield, said he's glad to see the Manassas battlefield on the endangered list.

He said the recent Federal Highway Administration draft proposal for a battlefield bypass could destroy tourist experiences if an interchange was built near where the first shot of the Battle of Second Manassas roared through the air.

Traffic is an existing problem, he agreed, but said he's worried that building a bypass that's billed to divert the thousands of commuters could create a startling visual impact on outlying historic sites.

Development, he said, was a mixed blessing, but surrounding the battlefield with highways could turn it into a "central park, an extra large median surrounded by highways."

The park sees about 800,000 visitors annually, but traffic jams that grow from the intersection of Lee Highway and Sudley Road deter others, Simon said.

"It's not only a question of degrading the accessibility, but once you get to the interpretive sites, it becomes a challenge to visualize a 19th century event there when you have a modern traffic jam in your view shed," Simon said.

He added: "Or to try to visualize what it was like to hear the roar of the cannons and cries of the wounded when you're primarily hearing a rattling gravel truck on [U.S.] 29."

Harvey Simon, vice president of Friends of the Manassas National Battlefield, and many area residents agreed that bypass alternative G should be built.

That is the only studied southern route, which would run parallel to I-66 between Centreville and Gainesville to connect U.S. 29 with the Va. 234 bypass.

Instead of just widening the nearby existing Battlefield Parkway and using it as part of the park's bypass, Simon and others recommend building another road to handle the traffic that chokes east-west routes on a daily basis.

The southerly route, with ramps and no traffic lights, would exceed the throughput of the rest of the alternatives.

Simon advocated obtaining "federal money to solve a very real transportation problem," while protecting a park that remembers one of the linchpins of America's history.

Harvey Simon, vice president of the Friends of Manassas National Battlefield Park, said he thinks it's a matter of solving two separate, but related, problems.

Simon said one is to move commuter traffic so visitors can enjoy the battlefield and to also improve commuters' lives at the same time.

"The effort is ongoing to try to solve both problems and restore the integrity of the battlefield," Simon said.

Harvey Simon, vice president of Friends of Manassas National Battlefield Park, said he'd prefer a mall to a "very offensive and noisy" bike park."We're looking at the degradation of a site that is a commemorative site," he said.

Activists also said they were determined to stop the bike park because it would sit next to the property of the late Annie Snyder, a rural and historical preservationist.