Not Many Are Sure Roads Plan is Enough

said they support a part of the transportation plan that allows regions to recognize and fund local transportation authorities. expressed a “negative” view of the “abusive driver ” fees. said they believe more money will be needed for the state transportation plan. By Tom Holden

The Virginian-Pilot

Fewer than one of every five Virginians believes the transportation plan passed by the General Assembly this year will raise enough money to fix congestion in the state’s biggest metropolitan areas, according to a poll released Monday.

Sixty-one percent of those polled believe more money will be needed, 18 percent said the state has enough money for transportation and 21 percent said they didn’t know if the $500 million statewide plan was enough, according to the Christopher Newport University poll.

The survey from the university’s Center for Public Policy of 700 registered voters was conducted Sept. 27 through Oct. 1 . The margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

The poll found that the responses from residents in Hampton Roads were similar to those in the statewide sample.

A slightly smaller majority of those polled support a controversial component of the transportation plan that allows regions to recognize and fund local transportation authorities.

Fifty-five percent support the concept of regional authorities, while 38 percent considered transportation to be primarily a state responsibility.

Those surveyed in Hampton Roads were more evenly split on having a local authority.

“Hampton Roads seems to be more ambivalent than I thought it would be,” said Quentin Kidd , director at the university center .

Northern Virginia respondents tend to favor regional authorities more than in Hampton Roads, he said, possibly “because they accept that if they want to get anything done on transportation, they will have to do it on their own,” said Kidd, who is an associate professor of political science.

Voters continue to be upset about the “abusive driver ” fees that are part of the statewide transportation plan, with 58 percent of respondents having a negative view of the fees and 38 percent statewide seeing the plan in a positive light.

Abusive driver fees are a new category of fines the state is collecting from habitually bad drivers and those who drive under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.

Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, Tom.Holden@pilotonline.com

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