Category: Transportation
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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
As the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently reported and summarized, the Northam administration has introduced a comprehensive bill covering a wide range of transportation issues. The proposal is being carried in the House by S[eaker Eileen Fuller-Corn (HB 1414) and in the Senate by Sen. Saslaw of Fairfax (SB 890). This bill (the introduced House and Senate…
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Yet Another Tax Increase Proposal
Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond, has submitted a bill, HB 1541, that would raise taxes in Central Virginia by 2.1% on wholesale fuels (about 7.6 cents per gallon of gasoline) and 0.7% on the sales and use tax to fund regional transportation projects. The taxes would raise an estimated $168 million a year. Fifty percent would…
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2020 Assembly May Not Vote on Carbon Car Tax
By Steve Haner It now seems unlikely the 2020 General Assembly will act directly on Virginia’s membership in the proposed Transportation and Climate Initiative, an interstate compact to cap, tax and then start to ration fossil fuels that add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Virginia would be the southernmost member. While six pieces of pending…
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Will Charlottesville Regulations Kill the Scooter Market?
by James A. Bacon Of all the places in Virginia to favor “dockless micro-mobility devices” — e.g. scooters and bicycles — you’d expect Charlottesville to be at the top of the list. After all, the city is home to thousands of University of Virginia students who could benefit from the boost to mobility, and local…
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At Last: Zoning Restrictions on “Middle Housing” Are Coming Under Scrutiny
by James A. Bacon Arlington County plans to study the “missing middle” in its housing market: homes that fall between apartment-sized units and single-family dwellings — in its housing market. Ninety percent of the county’s residential land is zoned for detached, single-family houses. The median housing price in the county falls between $530,000 and $640,000,…
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Can a Cap-and-Trade Tax Salvage Mass Transit?
by James A. Bacon While social engineers plot ways to increase the cost of driving single-occupancy vehicles and push people into low-carbon transportation alternatives like bicycles and mass transit (see the previous post by Steve Haner about the Transportation & Climate Initiative), Virginians stubbornly stick to their cars. Mass transit ridership is down sharply across…
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The Carbon Car Tax Nobody Is Discussing
By Steve Haner So far there appear to be about six schemes before the 2020 General Assembly to save the Earth and its inhabitants from the fiery holocaust of climate catastrophe. The one that is going to cost you the most money in the shortest period of time is still missing in action. Finally we…
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Keep the Inspections
Tucked into the Governor’s transportation package is a relatively little item that is shortsighted. He is proposing to eliminate the requirement for an annual vehicle inspection. This idea has been floated before, but defeated. One justification offered is financial. The argument seems to be that the elimination of this requirement will result in savings for…
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Bacon Bits: Guns, Tolls, Evictions
You’ll have to pry my gun from… More than 90 governing bodies in Virginia have voted to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, reports WDBJ. Ninety! Unbelievable. Thousands of citizens have appeared at board meetings across the state to demonstrate their support for the resolutions. Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip Van Cleave said the sanctuary…
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Bacon Bits: Adventures in Transportation Policy
How “complete streets” helped revive a small town. Hopewell, best known for its kepone spill in the James River, is nobody’s idea of a progressive community. But perhaps it should be. The city of 22,000 is leading the way in designing bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly “complete streets,” writes Greater Greater Washington‘s Virginia correspondent. Three years after…
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Watch Out! Here Comes a Gas Tax Hike!
by James A. Bacon Bacon’s Rebellion predicted that the change of political power in the General Assembly from red to blue would bring a raft of proposals for tax increases and revenue enhancements. Because the General Fund is expected to see healthy revenue growth in the next biennial budget, I speculated that the Northam administration…
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Reasonable Regulations for Scooters
by James A. Bacon So, I was sitting at a stoplight the other day, and some guy came hauling butt through the intersection on a scooter. Like a bicyclist or motorcyclist, he leaned hard left as he took the left-hand turn. I can’t say how fast he was riding, but if he took a spill,…
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Metro in the Age of Crazy
by James A. Bacon The chronic problems of the Washington metro system can’t be blamed entirely upon its dysfunctional, multi-state governance system or even the poor choices of its governing board. Any realistic appraisal of the Metro must take into account the fact that the country is increasingly populated by friggin’ lunatics! The Metro board…
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Chesterfield’s Slow-Motion Suburban Suicide
by James A. Bacon The traffic engineers, it appears, have won. Chesterfield County is doubling down on suburban sprawl with plans to build a series of “superstreets” at a cost of tens of millions of dollars over the next decade. While the massive infrastructure investment likely will reduce traffic accidents and improve traffic flow on…
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Republicans Must Find a New Way Forward
by James A. Bacon Virginia is a blue state now. Not only do Democrats occupy all statewide elected positions — two U.S. senators, governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general — with yesterday’s election, they control both houses of the General Assembly. Republicans got their booties kicked. And the butt-stomping is not likely to subside. The…