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3 urban boulevard. Mr. Pratt said businesses in the area need to be considered, and he hopes Council will be forward thinking as well. Ms. Kathy McCue, Cambridge Circ le, supported further study of grade separated interchanges, and said that the western bypass is not the answer. Ms. McCue said she empathizes with business concerns, but does not think gridlock will help them either. Ms. Deborah Murray, an attorney rep resenting the Southern Environmental Law Center, supported the resolution. She said she thinks the study is vital to avoid gridlock, but feels that VDOT's former design was too massive in scale. Ms. Murray said that in principle you can have interchanges and save businesses. Ms. Murray said a study is critical now given the proposed new development. She said that the study should reflect pedestrian, bike, and mass transit options. Ms. Murray suggested establishing a steering committee to include repres entatives from citizen groups. Mr. Greg Jackson, 613 Belmont Avenue, said that he works with urban design and supports the study as a design process for what could be a gateway to the City. Mr. Jackson said Council needs to be creative in finding soluti ons, and he supports a collaboration with the City, County and University. Mr. Tim Hulbert, 2246 Brandywine Drive, President of the Chamber of Commerce, thanked the Mayor for meeting with Chamber members last week and for slowing down the process. Mr. H ulbert said he feels that construction of the Meadowcreek Parkway and North Grounds connector will have a dramatic impact on traffic on Route 29 and said Council needs to move quickly on those. Mr. Hulbert said he has experience with roundabouts and while they can work, they only work with certain levels of traffic. Mr. Hulbert requested that more time be given to allow additional feedback from Chamber members. As there were no further speakers, the public hearing was closed. Mr. Lynch said he fully s upports the proposal and said the Hydraulic intersection is known as one of the most congested in the area. Mr. Lynch said this is just one piece of a comprehensive strategy dealing with traffic. Given the projected growth in the area, he said we have to find solutions or the neighborhoods will be strangled. Mr. Lynch said he likes the idea of roundabouts. Mr. Lynch also said that a southern parkway is needed. Mr. Caravati said he feels a salient point is that we do not forget the neighborhood. He sa id it is real important to get a feel from all our constituents so we can address all their issues. Mr. Caravati said he does not think it was fair to have a public hearing in August when many people are on vacation. He said he feels the resolution has a lot of holes in it. He said we need to figure out what are the benefits to the City and then define a scope of study. Ms. Richards said that she thinks the need for a study is demonstrated every day. She noted that the resolution requests study of des ign alternatives. She said the MPO has been studying many road projects, and feels this area should be studied in conjunction with the entire corridor. Ms. Richards said she thinks the resolution is a good one. She said a revised origin and destination study also needs to be done, but she believes it will show that the traffic is still primarily local. Ms. Richards said she looks forward to receiving input on how the scope of the study can be improved. Mr. Schilling asked what would be an adequate tim e table for the Chamber to provide further feedback, and Mr. Hulbert said the Chamber membership meets on th September 24 . Mr. Schilling suggested that consideration of the resolution be postponed beyond th September 16 to allow the Chamber to provide feed back. Mr. Schilling said it is a difficult intersection and businesses and residents need to be considered. In looking at any study, he said we need to know what we want to accomplish and what are the goals, such as how many cars are we trying to accommo date and what level of service is acceptable.