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TRANSPORTATION ISSUES / On Roads, Gridlock or Movement?

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 12:01 CST

By PETER BACQUE

Transportation looks like Topic One at the coming General Assembly.

And that could mean a struggle over money, taxes and land-use powers.

Roads, public transit systems, bridges and tunnels, airport runways and railroad lines are expensive to build. How and where they are built - and what effect they will have on their communities - often unleashes public uproar.

"It's always difficult to generate new money through taxes," said former state Transportation Secretary Whitt Clement.

"You have to be careful that everybody wins," he said, "that you don't have losers at the end of the day, not just regionally, but also by different transportation modes."

Virginia's highways are running in crisis mode, officials and residents say.

The state's population is growing, but the number of autos in the state is growing at twice the rate of population growth, and miles driven has been growing almost three times faster than the population.

As suburbs move farther from core cities, traffic jams clog the big urban areas. Meanwhile, Virginia's rural localities suffer the lion's share of bad roads and deteriorating bridges.

The state's long-range transportation plan says Virginia's needs for all types of transport systems - highway, mass transit, rail, air, seaports - will exceed $203 billion by 2025.

But the state can expect revenue of less than half that amount to deal with the problem, just $95 billion, leaving a shortfall of more than $108 billion.

In the Republican-dominated General Assembly, the House of Delegates has been thinking about such things as highway-toll concessions and "abuser fees" for traffic offenders to pay for transport projects.

The Virginia Senate has shown more interest in raising revenue from taxes linked to travel, which could be taxes on gas, lodging and rental cars, for instance.

Gov. Mark R. Warner is urging the state to infuse $625 million of new money into Virginia's groaning transportation system, which would help cure some of the state's most immediate highway and transit needs.

At the same time, observers and officials said, spending yet more money is not the only answer to the state's mobility crisis.

Land development tends to go where highways and other means of getting around exist, though development can also force how transport dollars are spent.

In Virginia, the power to build roads lies with the state government, while the power to decide how land will be used resides with local governments.

Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine has called for connecting transportation and land-use decisions at the state, local and regional levels, though "frontal assaults" on the traditional local control of planning and zoning issues are candidates for death-in- committee.

"It is time to break from the old pattern of land speculation and influence that drives far too much of our transportation spending," Christopher G. Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, said in a statement.

While Jeffrey C. Southard with the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance, an industry group, conceded that "land-use planning and transportation planning have to go hand-in-hand," he added, "beyond that, we have to look at the details."

WHAT GOV. WARNER PROPOSES

--U.S. 460 rail-and-truck terminal in Prince George County-- .........................$9 million

--Interstate 64-264 interchange in Hampton Roads-- .........................$30 million

--Virginia Railway Express rolling stock-- .........................$15 million

--Statewide bus purchase--.........................$10 million

--State Route 164 rail relocation in Portsmouth-- .........................$15 million

--Public transit capital projects--.........................$57 million

--U.S. 58 Hillsville Bypass--.........................$45 million

--U.S. 460 Coalfields Connector in Southwest Virginia-- .........................$36 million

--State transportation loan repayments-- .........................$229 million

--Required matching funds for federal projects-- .........................$142 million

--Metrorail rail-car storage--.........................$20 million

--Interstate 66 widening inside the Capital Beltway-- .........................$16 million

--Telework initiatives--.........................$1 million

WHAT METRO RICHMOND WANTS

--Richmond International Airport expansion and access improvements

--Main Street Station, high-speed intercity rail and GRTC bus- system improvements

--Widening U.S. 360 east of Interstate 295 in Hanover County and west of Swift Creek in Chesterfield County

--Parham Road-Patterson Avenue interchange construction in Henrico County

--Huguenot Bridge reconstruction

--Interstate 64 corridor and rail improvements from Richmond to Hampton Roads

--State Route 10 widening in Chesterfield

--U.S. 250 widening from state Route 623 to state Route 621 in Goochland County

--Removing tolls from the Downtown Expressway, the Powhite Parkway and the Powhite Parkway Extension

--Widening I-64 to six lanes between I-295 at Short Pump and state Route 288

WHAT THE COMMONWEALTH TRANSPORTATION BOARD WANTS

--$23.2 million for the first of three installments on $53.4 million it plans to spend on rail improvements over the next three years. The money would go into the first dedicated rail fund.

Among the top 12 projects, three are in the Richmond area, including $2.8 million for new track switches in CSX Corp.'s Acca Yard, one of the biggest choke points for freight and passenger trains.

Contact staff writer Peter Bacque at pbacque@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6813.

ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO

MEMO: Special Section: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2006

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

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