Alternative Energy Draft EA - NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Flight ...

3.3.6 Transportation
Affected Environment
The Eastern Shore of Virginia is connected to the rest of the State by the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge-Tunnel. The primary north-south route that spans the Delmarva Peninsula is U.S. Route
13, a four-lane divided highway. Local traffic travels by arteries branching off U.S. Route 13.
Activities at Wallops Island and Wallops Mainland generate traffic along Route 803. Primary
access to WFF is provided by Route 175, a two-lane secondary road. Traffic in the region varies
with the seasons—during the winter and early spring, traffic is minimal; during the summer and
early fall, traffic increases due to the number of tourists in the area.
Wallops Main Base and Wallops Mainland are connected by approximately 10 kilometers (6
miles) of the paved, two-lane Route 679. A NASA-owned road, bridge, and causeway link
Wallops Mainland to Wallops Island. Hard surface roads provide access to most buildings at
WFF and are maintained by NASA and its tenants. Most organizations at WFF own and maintain
a variety of vehicles ranging from sedans and vans to trucks. There is no public transportation on
the facility. Many WFF employees carpool to and from the facility.
3.3.7 Aesthetics
Aesthetics is referred to as the study of sensory or sensory emotional values, and as a result is
subjective by nature. There are no State or Federal regulations for aesthetics.
In order to assess aesthetics, a viewshed, which is the area that is visible from a fixed vantage
point, must be defined. The viewshed from areas surrounding WFF is generally consistent due to
the flat topography of the region. The general aesthetic character of the area is that of a rural and
small-town landscape with little to moderate urban development. The horizon is typically
defined by trees or water when a view of the ocean or estuaries is available. The foreground of a
viewshed is typically the main focal point and after a few hundred feet, objects in the
background tend to fade into the viewshed background, which around WFF is the open sky due
to the absence of tall buildings or other elements that rise above the tree line. Photograph 1
below provides an example of the viewshed from Arbuckle Neck Road, located approximately
3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) southwest of the proposed wind turbine site on Wallops Island.
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