By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 27, 1998; Page B01

RICHMOND, Feb. 26—The Virginia Senate voted overwhelmingly today to halt all state action on a proposed $1.3 billion western bypass around the Capital Beltway.

The 32 to 7 vote -- on a rider as the Senate's version of the $40 billion state budget was approved -- dealt a potentially major blow to the 50-mile bypass, which would carve a path from Route 7 in Loudoun County to Interstate 95 in Stafford County.

The House version of the budget does not include such a provision, and when differences between the two are worked out in a conference committee, the road's supporters hope to revive it.

Bypass backers, particularly Northern Virginia builders and promoters of Dulles International Airport, assailed environmentalists for waging an "outrageous" last-minute campaign to delay the project with the help of Sen. John H. Chichester Jr. (R-Stafford), co-chairman of the Finance Committee.

After years on the drawing board, the western bypass has run into serious resistance in Richmond, not only from GOP lawmakers but also from increasingly powerful conservationists. They mounted a well-financed campaign to derail what they say is an unnecessary highway that w ill spread suburban sprawl farther into the Virginia countryside.

The Senate measure inserts a two-sentence paragraph into the budget barring the use of any state money on the bypass until the National Park Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Marine Corps and Environmental Protection Agency approve a study of the project.

Virginia transportation agencies have completed a study of the highway, which has been a priority of Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R) and his predecessor, George Allen. But federal regulators say Virginia ignored legal requirements to include them in the study and they dispute the usefulness and environmental impact of the freeway.

Chichester said he wants federal agencies involved in the study, and he predicted future legal challenges to the project and delays if they are not.

He cited state studies that show the bypass would take a negligible amount of traffic off the Capital Beltway.

But bypass supporters said the measure will delay the project by up to five years and will cripple the Washington region's ability to plan for development and continue its economic growth. They cited statistics that show 267,000 vehicles a day travel through the Beltway interchange with I-95, designed to carry just 65,000.

"All you do is delay the inevitable, just what happened for years and years on I-66 when Arlington opposed it," said Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax). "Those of you who believe if you shut this down there won't be development, you're living in a pipe dream."

"We have to realize Northern Virginia is the economic heart and soul of Virginia . . . the golden goose of Virginia," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Warren E. Barry (R-Fairfax). "That goose is starting to feel the unhealthy effects of congestion."

The vote split the 10-member Northern Virginia delegation, with Sens. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William), Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington), Patricia S. Ticer (D-Alexandria) and Chichester voting for the freeze.

Leo J. Schefer, president of the Washington Airports Task Force, which promotes Dulles International and Reagan National airports, called the decision "tragic" and a "wake-up call to the region" about the influence of wealthy conservationists.

"We're seeing a few very wealthy landowners in Fauquier County seeking to impose their will against the public," Schefer said.

Christopher J. Miller, executive director of the Piedmont Environmental Council, which led opposition in 1994 against a Walt Disney Co. theme park in Prince William County, said the state should have followed its own planning process. He pointed to a General Assembly audit that faulted Virginia for excluding federal input.