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Speaker
Howell Announces Comprehensive
VDOT Reform Package
--
Innovations, Performance Measures to Bring State
Transportation Agency into 21st
Century--
-- Proposals Require VDOT to Pursue
Private-Sector Involvement, Strengthen
Partnerships with Localities --
-- Reforms Integral to Republican
Approach to Transform, Improve & Invest in
Virginia Transportation --
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RICHMOND, 13
September 2006 – Virginia House of Delegates
Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), and
Delegate Leo C. Wardrup, Jr. (R-Virginia Beach),
Chairman of the House Transportation Committee,
today announced a comprehensive package of
legislation to reform the delivery of
transportation services in the Commonwealth.
The package is integral to achieving the
positive, long-term and ongoing results necessary
for the efficient, safe and reliable movement of
people and products throughout Virginia.
The legislative package – comprising at least 10
bills – continues the ongoing transformation
that House Republicans have been championing and
advancing to reform, streamline and modernize the
operations of the Virginia Department of
Transportation (VDOT), the state agency
responsible for the delivery of transportation
services for the Commonwealth. The
proposals, collectively comprising several key
components of a comprehensive plan by House
Republicans to address transportation, will be
considered when the General Assembly reconvenes
for the final portion of the 2006 Special Session,
scheduled to resume on September 27.
“Although the calendar indicates we are well
into the 21st Century, the agency
responsible for providing Virginians with safe and
efficient roadways continues to deliver its
services in an outdated manner,” remarked
Speaker Howell. “Today, we are proposing a
series of bills to modernize VDOT and better
enable it to provide Virginians with the network
of roads, bridges and transit required to meet
this century’s challenges and seize its many
opportunities. These reforms will improve
the quality of this core government service by
instituting an innovative and effective
performance-based planning, management and
contracting system.
“While ‘on time and on budget’ has become an
oft-quoted mantra for VDOT, the agency has yet to
establish or adopt performance measures to reduce
traffic congestion for the benefit of Virginia’s
commuters, families, businesses, environment and
economy. Our proposals will require that
such measures be enacted, so VDOT can finally
begin to quantify its effectiveness – not just
by how well it meets required deadlines, but by
whether or not specific infrastructure projects
actually improve the daily commutes and travels of
Virginians.
“We will never effectively and affordably
address this challenge without incorporating the
lessons of the private sector, harnessing the
power and creativity of the free enterprise
system, and enlisting them in this process. Our
plan, therefore, includes requiring that the VDOT
Commissioner provide a detailed plan to increase
the role of the private sector in meeting our
Commonwealth’s transportation needs. Despite
Virginia’s pioneering Public-Private
Transportation Act of 1995 having been in effect
for more than a decade, the Commonwealth lags
behind other states in utilizing these cost- and
time-saving opportunities. For a more
vibrant economy and better quality of life for all
Virginians, I want to change that and improve
mobility. I want to open wide the door to
imaginative private-sector solutions that will
help meet pressing public needs in transportation
without adding to the burdens of taxpaying
families.
“These are not the only proposed reforms
we are announcing today. From streamlining
and reforming the bureaucratic process within VDOT,
to requiring legislative approval prior to the
transfer of any Commonwealth transportation asset,
to finally enacting some significant and
long-overdue recommendations proposed by JLARC as
far back as 2001, the multi-faceted approach we
are detailing today will accelerate the process of
improving Virginia’s network of roads, railways,
and transit. Moreover, they will give
Virginia’s commuters relief sooner than adhering
to the failed, status-quo approach of attempting
to tax and pave our way out of congestion,” said
Speaker Howell.
Signaling that additional legislative initiatives
would be announced prior to September 27, Speaker
Howell and Chairman Wardrup made clear that House
Republicans would offer a comprehensive package of
proposals for the Special Session.
“I’ve been working to make VDOT and the
Commonwealth Transportation Board responsive and
accountable ever since I’ve been in the
House,” declared Chairman Wardrup. “Some
of these ideas are new, and some are long overdue.
The upcoming session gives us the best
opportunity since I’ve been here to accomplish
genuine reform and much-needed transformation in
Virginia’s transportation system. If we
can get others to look beyond the one-way-street
of tax increases, we might just be able to make
getting around Virginia a lot easier.”
“The VDOT reform proposals we’re highlighting
today are not the only policy initiatives that
will be considered during this session,” noted
Speaker Howell. “Innovation has become a
hallmark of the House Republican Caucus, and
today’s package represents one important aspect
of the overall solution. I am confident that
the House will act to improve transportation this
session, and it is my hope that the Governor and
the Senate will join us in this promising
effort.”
An overview of the VDOT reforms highlighted today
follow as a separate attachment.
Today’s announcement marked the third time in
less than two years that House Republicans have
advanced proposals to address Virginia’s
transportation challenge. During the 2005
General Assembly Session, House Republicans
initiated and passed the most comprehensive
transportation plan introduced that year –
generating more than $1.0 billion in additional
transportation investments statewide. The
final package agreed to by the Senate and Governor
totaled over $850 million – the largest single
increase in transportation spending since 1986.
During the 2006 Regular Session, House
Republicans introduced and approved a
comprehensive, three-pronged transportation
improvement package, including $1.2 billion in
additional funding in the 2006-2008 biennium on
top of the $4.5 billion Virginia already spends on
transportation each year. Although many of
the House’s proposals were ultimately approved,
Governor Kaine and the Senate would only agree to
$568 million for transportation – not anywhere
near the transportation funding level wanted by
House Republicans, and an amount lower that that
originally proposed by Governor Warner.
# # #
Transforming the Delivery of
Transportation Services in Virginia
1) Integrate performance measures,
specifically on congestion, into the Statewide
Transportation Plan
- This reform
will require Virginia Department of
Transportation (VDOT) and the Commonwealth
Transportation Board (CTB) to focus
transportation investments on projects
designed to relieve traffic congestion. By
directing funds to improvements that optimize
the capacity of existing roadways and
transportation infrastructure, VDOT will more
efficiently use available resources.
- By evaluating
improvements based on performance criteria,
such as delay reductions or travel time
improvements (achieved through better traffic
signal synchronization, faster accident
management, more telework opportunities, or
other means), VDOT can move beyond
“on-time” and “on-budget,” and focus
on delivering transportation improvements that
achieve direct benefits for commuters and
travelers.
2) Develop a detailed Action Plan to
increase the role of the private sector in the
development of transportation projects in Virginia
as well as the use of public-private partnerships
- This reform
will require VDOT to become more pro-active in
identifying opportunities for private sector
involvement in transportation improvements.
This is important to expand the
potential investment from the substantial
market of private equity available to enhance
transportation assets.
- Currently,
VDOT has taken too passive of a role in
expanding private-sector involvement in public
infrastructure, simply waiting for proposals
to be submitted to them instead of soliciting
private sector expertise to solve identified
and prioritized transportation problems.
3) Direct the CTB to increase private
investment in transportation infrastructure and
maximize private capital through the PPTA or other
innovative financing measures for large
projects
- This reform
will maximize private investment in
significant projects by requiring VDOT to
consider public-private partnerships as an
option for all projects valued in excess of
$100 million.
4) Shift hiring authority for the VDOT
Commissioner to the CTB, and include General
Assembly appointed members to the Board
- This reform
will provide greater stability and
accountability by increasing Commonwealth
Transportation Board responsibility for
VDOT’s successes and failures as well as
provide for oversight of the transportation
decision making process.
- This change
also seizes the opportunity for increased
continuity and performance from a professional
Commissioner (much like Virginia Information
Technologies Agencies, or VITA). Oftentimes,
it is challenging to attract quality
professionals to the VDOT Commissioner
position if it is limited to a four-year
tenure and subject to changes in gubernatorial
administrations.
5) Streamline state environmental
review process for transportation construction
projects
- This reform is
designed to eliminate onerous and duplicative
regulatory hurdles while ensuring appropriate
environmental stewardship of Virginia
resources.
- Currently, the
process is cumbersome and unnecessarily
difficult. By consolidating requirements
under one lead agency, the Commonwealth can
ensure greater responsiveness, more efficient
project delivery and increased performance.
6) Direct VDOT to re-align its
administration road classification system so that
the classification matches the functional purpose
of Virginia’s roadways
- This reform
will ensure that roadways of statewide or
regional significance are part of the state
primary roadway system and that decision
making for local roads is made by local
governments. VDOT’s existing
classification system is based on decisions
made in the 1930s and often does not reflect
today’s driving patterns. VDOT already
routinely provides functional classification
data to the federal government but currently
does not use those rational classifications as
a basis for action.
- This also is
an important step toward ensuring
transportation decisions are made by those
most impacted by them, and a precursor to any
substantial devolution of transportation
control to local governments
7) Require that VDOT optimize all
state-owned or operated toll roads for electronic
throughput and submit plans to increase vehicle
throughput on existing toll roads
- This reform
will require VDOT to expedite its efforts to
install technologically advanced tolling
mechanisms – thereby enhancing mobility and
improving traffic flow on existing roadways.
- The majority
of congestion on existing toll roads is caused
not so much by excessive traffic, but by the
unnecessary delays at toll booths. Use
of devices like “Smart Tags” on dedicated
and gate-less toll lanes provides substantial
opportunities to alleviate congestion on toll
roads by maximizing existing capacity.
8) Prohibit conveyance or transfer of
any Virginia Department of Transportation toll
facility or its operations without General
Assembly approval
- This reform
will ensure that complete and proper
consideration is given to all available
options before VDOT relinquishes any of
Virginia’s many valuable transportation
assets. This is important in assuring
that the Commonwealth is receiving the highest
value and greatest return for its assets.
- There are
great opportunities to increase investment in
our transportation infrastructure through the
expanded use of public-private partnerships
and concession opportunities. Additional
legislative oversight is needed to ensure
Virginia receives the best deal before
entering into a long-term agreement.
9) Institute competitive outsourcing
in VDOT with decision making at the District
Administrator level
- This reform
will require VDOT to competitively bid all
functions thereby ensuring that activities
that could be undertaken more efficiently by
the private sector are shifted to the private
sector, while allowing VDOT employees to
continue to perform functions it can undertake
more efficiently and effectively.
- By ensuring
– on a regional basis – that work is most
efficiently distributed among the government
and private sectors, VDOT can better focus and
direct its efforts to those things it can do
best and make the most use of existing
transportation funds.
10) Create a legislative
Transportation Accountability Commission
- This reform
will establish an oversight commission to
ensure accountability on the transportation
decisions impacting the commuters and
businesses of Virginia. This is
important in securing a responsive and
accountable transportation service delivery
organization.
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