Shenandoah Valley Open for Business

Nuclear blasts worry more than just the government. According to a recent story in the Washington Post, the possibility of a nuclear attack on Washington, D.C. is contributing to a rash of businesses and government agencies moving toward towns in the I-81 corridor, including Harrisonburg.

Winchester sits just outside the predicted blast radius of 50 miles. This allows for both safety and a close proximity to Washington, D.C. in the event that employees occasionally need to travel into the city.

The leaders of the flight from the capitol are government agencies. The FBI is planning on moving its Northern Virginia field office from Tyson's Corner to Manassas, and the military recently unveiled a plan to move 22,000 jobs to Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County. The much-maligned FEMA is also creating an operations center on the outskirts of Winchester. Harrisonburg is also receiving government interest, specifically from the Department of Homeland Security.

I-81 itself contributes to the area's desirability for businesses. Because truckers have begun to shy away from the traffic jams of I-95, I-81 has become a key pipeline for resources on the East coast.

Many other factors make the area desirable. Property costs are lower throughout the Shenandoah Valley, as is labor. Also, agencies that move are perhaps lowering transit times, as more and more people that work in Washington commute from areas as far away as West Virginia. Obviously, Winchester and the other towns along I-81 are closer to the new residential areas farther east. For this reason, the reaction to the shift from urban planners is mixed. While it is generally agreed that it will not likely cause transit problems for D.C., some argue that the fact that many businesses are buying land outside of towns will cause sprawl within the Valley.

Despite the mixed reactions, many agree that there is a strange lack of debate on the topic. The amount of shift, especially if driven by security concerns, is unprecedented. As Stewart Schwartz, director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, argues, agencies remained in Washington throughout the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear attack was arguably higher than it is now.

Undeniably, the government's interest in the area is having a marked affect on the Valley. Developers are taking interest, preparing for growth in the local economy. This is partly due to the fact that the agencies moving are also adding jobs to the area and strengthening a local economy. This means that there will be openings that need to be filled by non-locals, possibly causing growth in all sectors, from population to the economy.