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2002 SESSION

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022909820
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 127 Offered January 9, 2002 Prefiled January 9, 2002 Memorializing the Congress to appropriate funds for support of volunteer rescue squads and fire departments adjacent to the federal highway system. ---------- Patrons-- Rapp, Dudley, Landes, Orrock and Wright; Senator: Ruff ---------- Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety ----------

WHEREAS, over 3,345 miles roads in the national highway system that traverse the state including Interstate Routes 64, 66, 77, 81, 85 and 95 and several other primary roadways; and

WHEREAS, these roads include some of the most heavily traveled highway corridors in the United States; and

WHEREAS, several of the localities through which these important roadways pass are rural or sparsely populated; and

WHEREAS, these communities depend largely on the volunteer rescue squads and fire departments to provide emergency medical services in response to the traffic crashes that occur on these roadways; and

WHEREAS, the volunteer rescue squads and fire departments in these communities depend to some extent on donations from local residents and businesses for financial support; and

WHEREAS, a very high proportion of traffic on these interstate roadways consists of travelers that do not live in the adjoining localities as well as heavy trucks and other commercial vehicles; and

WHEREAS, this large number of automobiles and heavy vehicles contributes to traffic congestion and increases the number and severity of highway crashes along these corridors; and

WHEREAS, local volunteer rescue squads and fire departments located in the localities adjacent to these corridors are finding that an increasing number of their calls are in response to traffic crashes on these major highways rather than the local roads; and

WHEREAS, the increases in responses to accidents on Interstate Routes 64, 66, 77, 81, 85 and 95 and other primary roads have the potential to drain local resources and bases of financial support to meet what are, in many respects, important transportation and safety needs that are regional and national in scope; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the United States Congress be hereby memorialized to appropriate additional funds to support the local volunteer rescue squads and fire departments serving localities adjacent to the roadways of the federal highway system; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Virginia Liaison Office is encouraged to place a high priority on identifying monies and other resources that would be available to assist in this effort; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the Virginia General Assembly in this matter.