A Virginia Department of Transportation study counted 4.4 million trucks traveling through the Shenandoah Valley each year. In 2004, Norfolk Southern estimated that an expenditure of $875 million could take 500,000 trucks off Interstate 81 each year, but it can’t justify making the entire investment itself. “The capital investment will be greater than the benefits…

On the campaign trail, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine popularized the disconnect between transportation and land use planning. As I chronicled in “Seventy-five Years” in a previous edition of Bacon’s Rebellion, that disconnect did not occur overnight — it stemmed from the inability of Virginia’s governance system to adapt to changing human settlement patterns over the…

Trade associations and lobbying groups have been strangely slow to adapt to the blogging revolution. Policy Soup, the first-rate policy blog maintained by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, is one of the few I can think of. But now comes Growth is Good, published by the Richmond Home Builders Association. Tyler Craddock, who runs…

The October 23, 2006, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion is now online. Don’t miss a single issue — subscribe here for free. This week’s columns include: The Devolution SolutionAny meaningful transportation reform would make fast-growth counties responsible for their secondary roads. The trick is coaxing them into going along.by James A. Bacon Catching Crayfish CraigUnderstanding how…

As Virginians, we approach the debate over transportation, land use and taxes with tunnel vision. We are captive to the way we’ve always done things, mentally shackled by our institutions of governance and business groups with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. I’ve always found remarkable the lack of interest — even in…

Now comes word that construction of the Rail-to-Dulles project will be delayed a year. Fairfax County officials are blaming the Kaine administration, citing the five months it took to study the option of running the heavy rail line underneath Tysons Corner. Writes Lisa Rein with the Washington Post: Exploring the tunnel no doubt cost planners…

From the Va4Marriage: Harrisonburg Man Fired for Supporting Marriage Amendment RICHMOND – A Harrisonburg man was fired from his job last week apparently for displaying a sign in his personal vehicle that showed his support for Virginia’s Constitutional Amendment defining marriage. “It appears that Mr. Padilla’s civil rights have been violated in an egregious act…

Ken Vigil, York County Citizens for Historical Holidays, had this open letter in the Yorktown Crier/Poquoson Post (Oct. 18, 2006): Dear York County Citizen, Please contact your York County School Board District representative and ask for a ‘No’ vote and a simple, fair fix to the change to the policy on Religious Instruction and Released…

The WaPo profiles author Karrie Jacobs, a New York freelance writer who drove her VW convertible around the country in search of a dwelling she could afford — and wanted to live in. Jacobs, a founding editor of Dwell magazine, has just published a book based on her journeys, “The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip…

What do Virginians think about taxes and transportation? It depends on who you ask — and who’s doing the asking. The Washington Post thinks Northern Virginians want to raise taxes: “A large majority of Northern Virginia residents want the state to spend more money to fix the region’s roads and rails, and more than three-quarters…

My wife and I took our annual tour last weekend through the beautiful Virginia countryside to partake of fall foliage, lovely vistas, wine tasting, fine dining and the Commonwealth’s rich historical heritage. It just so happens that the area we love the most — the rolling hills between Charlottesville and the Potomac River — overlaps…

This issue will bear watching: Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach has scolded the chief justice of the Virginia Supreme Court for overstepping his authority in seeking to reform the state’s mental-health laws. Covering a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, Bill McElway with the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports: Stolle wondered aloud if the Supreme Court has become…

The case seemed so compelling: Dr. Christopher S. Walsh, operator of a cancer-treatment clinic in rural Westmoreland County, pleaded with a legislative/citizen commission to require insurance companies to cover a novel radiation therapy known as solid compensator Intensity Modulated Radiation Treatment. He lined up expert witnesses to testify on his behalf and cancer survivors to…

The Washington region is third only to New York and Chicago for the percentage of workers with “extreme commutes,” defined as 60 minutes or more each way, according to “Commuting in America III,” published by the Transportation Research Board. (For a snappy summary of the findings, read the coverage in the Washington Post.) The study…

I’ve heard of subdivisions built around golf courses, but not subdivisions built around equestrian centers. But NASCAR driver and Lynchburg-area land developer Stacy Compton is planning just such a thing — a subdivision of 300 luxury, single-family houses on 1,200 acres, according to the News Advance. Lot sizes will range between two and 10 acres.…