Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Has the Transportation Issue Peaked?

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

I don’t want to read too much significance into this event, but it does make me wonder: Has the transportation issue peaked in Northern Virginia?

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine held a town hall meeting in Ashburn — ground zero for traffic congestion in Northern Virginia. People asked him about the environment, about energy, even about the proposed Dominion coal-burning power plant in Wise County. But nothing about transportation.

Writes reporter Erika Jacobson:

The absence was so noticeable, in fact, that Kaine himself asked the audience where the transportation questions were.

“Does nobody want to ask about transportation?” he said with a laugh.

It’s hard to imagine that Northern Virginians don’t have transportation on their minds. But, at the very least, the Ashburn audience made it clear they don’t find the issue as all-consuming as the developers, construction companies, engineering firms, home builders and other rent seekers might have us believe.

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  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Or maybe they have given up.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I would submit that few, if any,”ordinary” citizens believe that the Commonwealth truly intends to help fix transportation problems. The stranglehold of big-contributing developers, builders, contractors, etc. over transportation funding decisions in Virginia is well understood by most residents of NoVA — at least at the gut level.

    Tim Kaine also blew his opportunity to make a major paradigm shift when he quickly abandoned his campaign position of restricting development where the roads are inadequate to one of business as usual. Kaine is just another Virginia politician, such that, when the chips are down, he will side with the real estate industry. The same holds true on transit issues.

    Virginia is like Pakistan, with the real estate industry functioning as Al Qaeda and Tim Kaine (and every other elected official) functioning as General Pervez Musharraf. At one level, Musharraf wants to stop Al Qaeda; but at another and more practical level, simply is not willing to devote the resources to do so. When push comes to shove, Kaine will battle our own Al Qaeda at the edges, but won’t support policy changes or make decisions that would balance the interests of existing residents with those of the development industry.

    TMT

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Whew. Don’t be afraid to tell us what you really think.

    😉

    RH

  4. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    TMT:

    One of your best posts!

    I say Bangladesh, you day Pakistan. How about Bangistan?

    Did someone say Fundamental Change?

    EMR

  5. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    I believe that those of us in NoVA have some hope (perhaps forlorn) that the local BoS’ might address the broad issue of transportation. This broad issue includes zoning, mass transit, etc.

    We have no such hope for the state legislature or governor. The best we can hope from the state government is that they will contain their spending binge so that we don’t have yet more money taken from here to be used elsewhere. We have no hope that they will effectively address any of our problems. In fact, our most feverent hope is that they will go back to “Richmond” and stay there never to darken our door again. We tithe enough in taxes to “Richmond” today. We do not want their help, we do not want their “plans”, we do want them – pretty much period.

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Hang on a second I still want them

    Instead of a regional tax I would prefer a state wide gas tax

    It looks like we are going to end up with both

    NMM

  7. Jim Wamsley Avatar
    Jim Wamsley

    “Ashburn — ground zero for traffic congestion in Northern Virginia”

    Those that may agree with VDOT that Ashburn is ground zero will never solve the problem. Ashburn may better be described as the headwaters of a transportation flow toward the District. This means putting more destinations in Ashburn, just as we put in more permeable surfaces and holding ponds to reduce run off, and increasing transportation capacity down stream.

    Under funding the METRO maintenance budget is just one example of misdirected priorities.

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Exactly

    Ashburn is actually a fairly decent location

    What really needs to happen is Lessburg needs to become the next Tysons Corner and while we are dreaming big make Fredricksburg into the Fed Gov land 2.0

    Its amazing seeing the nonexistant traffic heading the other direction during rushhour on Route 7 and the Toll Road I-395 I-95 etc. The existing road capacity is already there and we should make every effort to use it.

    NMM

  9. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    NMM:

    “Hang on a second I still want them

    Instead of a regional tax I would prefer a state wide gas tax

    It looks like we are going to end up with both”.

    So, we should have one tax but we’re going to get two. Tell me again, why do you want them?

    Care to wager what percentage of the total collect from tolls, regional tax and NoVA’s share of the gas tax will be spent in NoVA?

  10. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    NMM:

    Asynchronous traffic management is a practical and relatively inexpensive (repeat: relatively) way to relieve congestion. The express lanes on I95 are reversed each day (northbound in the morning, southbound in the evening). Why can’t the same be done on Rt 7? Three lanes eastbound in the morning (with one lane westbound) and three lanes westbound in the evening (with one lane eastbound)?

    When you live in a particular place you see things like that. When you live in “Richmond” (meaning the politicians) you don’t.

    Every region should raise their own transportation funds, set their own priorities and manage their own implementation (planning, design, construction, maintenance).

    Inter-regional traffic should be funded by tolls. Intra-regional traffic should be funded by whatever means the region thinks best.

    The state has no place in this effort.

  11. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “This means putting more destinations in Ashburn, just as we put in more permeable surfaces and holding ponds to reduce run off, and increasing transportation capacity down stream. “

    Nicely done, Jim. And I like the analogy.

    Except, I don’t think it actually increases transportation capacity down stream so much as it prevents overload and flooding.

    We keep thinking we can increase transportation capacity, when sometimes all we can do is offer substitutes – I hesitate to call them options. But we CAN prevent overload. If we think there is a maximum sustainable envronmental load for an area, or a maximum raifall load for a stream bed, then the idea that we can only accommodate so much transportation should not be too hard to understand.

  12. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Care to wager what percentage of the total collect from tolls, regional tax and NoVA’s share of the gas tax will be spent in NoVA?”

    NMM and Groveton hit it on the head. We are going to have both and the net downflow and upflow will be the same or worse.

    RH

  13. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Al Qaeda will be supporting both a statewide increase in the gas tax and new regional taxes. Al Qaeda doesn’t care about the impact on NoVA residents or the equity question. Al Qaeda just wants enough money to build roads that go near its property holdings and will work to syphon the money from projects that might actually improve safety or reduce travel time.

    Reversible traffic lanes. Many years ago, I lived in Omaha. One of its main streets running east and west is Dodge Road. That street contained a reversible lane — in during the mornings and out during the afternoons. It seemed to help move traffic.

    TMT

  14. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I’m trying to think of the last guy who got thrown out of office over “congestion”.

    Do people get elected or un-elected over congestion?

  15. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    TMT:

    The best way to fight Al Qaeda is on the ground, close to the enemy. No?

    I am completely with you regarding your disdain for the landowner / developer / politician cartel. I just think “we the people” have a better chance of beating the cartel in the counties of NoVA than in the statehouse in Richmond.

    Our elected officials from NoVA keep chanting the same thing – “We don’t have the votes to change anything in Richmond, we don’t have the votes to change anything in Richmond…”. While I think this is basically hooey, it sounds real enough to mollify plenty of voters.

    If the transportation problem became a regionally managed issue, that same mantra just wouldn’t be accepted – by anybody.

    I know that “localizing” the matter guarantees nothing. However, I think the odds of improvement move in direct proportion to how close the politicians are to the problems they create.

    Death to Dillon.

  16. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Larry:

    In my opinion, Joan DuBois lost her recent Fairfax County Borad of Supervisors election to John Foust based on Supervisor DuBois’ perceived friendliness with the developer community. The voters believed that this relationship between Supervisor DuBois and the developers resulted in over-development and, consequently, a number of problems – including congestion.

    There were certainly other factors in the election but I see over-development / under-payment of costs by developers / congestion as a big reason Mr. Foust is the new supervisor.

  17. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Jim W:

    Good idea!

    As you know creating a Balance of J / H / S / R / A in Greater Ashburn-Broadlands, Greater Cascades-Sterling, Greater Leesburg and Greater Chantilly-South Riding was the core of the Shape of Loudoun County’s Future program in 1998 / 99.

    At the time all were within the logical location for the Clear Edge around the Core of the National Capital Subregion.

    Hopefully the “new” Board can do what the old new Board could not do from 1999 to 2003.

    It will be harder because of what the 2003 to 2007 “any growth is good growth” Board did but it can be done.

    Recall, there are no transport system solutions to transport congestion problems — at least none that could be paid for with known sources of funds, regardless of how they are allocated.

    EMR

  18. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Suprisingly enough NoVa actually breaks fairly even on transportation dollars its education where the disparity occurs

    The problem with switching to an all regional approach is what to do about the people that switch regions.

    All the people coming up from Fredricksburg would pay into their region even though the majority of their driving is in the NoVa region

    A gas tax allievates this problem

    Also under the current setup construction dollars from the transportation trust are being used for maintanence

    Adjusting the gas tax for maintanence costs would free up construction dollars so ideally you wouldn’t even need a regional tax

    Something tells me that won’t happen though :-p

    NMM

  19. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    NMM – Until Al Qaeda is captured and disarmed (such as by adopting adequate public facilities laws and by requiring every contact with the CTB and NVTA be reduced to writing and posted on the Internet), why should anyone pay higher taxes for transportation?

    Al Qaeda does not want your commute eased or dangerous intersections fixed. They want roads built and rails laid near their landholdings. http://www.nosprawltax.org/media/releases/2002-10-01Robbery.html http://www.nosprawltax.org/02files/maps/HighwayRobbery600x619.jpg

    We need fundamental political reform before we raise taxes or fees for transportion. We need Al Qaeda captured and his REITs put into Chapter 11 — if not Chapter 7.

    TMT

  20. Jim Wamsley Avatar
    Jim Wamsley

    Earlier, I commented that Ashburn was like headwaters. At 12:54 PM, Anonymous
    Asked about downstream improvements. The downstream improvements to prevent flooding are channelization and silt removal. The folks living in the Huntington area know what silt did to Cameron Run capacity. The analogious traffic improvements are transit and congestion tolling. One METRO line can carry ten lanes of traffic. Congestion tolling increases the capacity of a congested three lane highway to an equivalent of four lanes, and it generates income as a side benefit.

  21. Jim Wamsley Avatar
    Jim Wamsley

    At 3:44 PM, Anonymous said…
    “Suprisingly enough NoVa actually breaks fairly even on transportation dollars its education where the disparity occurs”

    Dollars is not the right metric to measure transportation improvements. When to goal is accessability or the number of destinations within 45 minutes, you find that increasing density does wonders. When you measure trip cost you find that adding transit reduces both trip plus parking costs and air pollution. When you measure new capacity in lane miles you find that unused lane miles in rural areas are cheaper then congested lane miles in NoVa.

    As long as the allocation formula measures the wrong thing increasing spending will not solve the transportation problem.

  22. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “When you measure new capacity in lane miles you find that unused lane miles in rural areas are cheaper then congested lane miles in NoVa.”

    OK, now I’m confused. What does this relly say?

    I read “When you measure new capacity” to mean when you compare construction costs of a new road.

    But I don’t know what to make of the second part. Does that mean that once built the new rural road will be unused, but the new NOVA road will be congested?

    We already have unused (and generally dangerous) rural roads: they are basically free, except for the necessary upgrades. It’s hard to argue with the statement, but it’s hard to understand what it means!

    But then there is the question of cheaper for whom? EMR would say that if the people who presently live in rural areas had to pay for those roads they would be very expensive indeed. the problem with this is that it ignores the value of those rural roads to urban areas.

    ———————————

    “When to goal is accessability or the number of destinations within 45 minutes, you find that increasing density does wonders.”

    I’ve tried to find information on this and come up blank. I don’t doubt that this is true in a technical sense, but somehow it doesn’t fit my experience, or only partially.

    I think of living in Upper Georgetown, where I went and how often. then I compare it to living in (suburban part of) Alexandria, or visitng my brothers place in Ballston, compared to, say, living on Martha’s Vineyard or Fauquier.

    I just don’t get it. The number of places I could get to in 45 minutes by bus from either Glover Park or my Alexandria address might be 10 or 12. If they were places I ever wanted to go.

    So, yes, if you just draw a 45 minute circle and count the places inside the circle, this is right, particularly if you are driving or biking. It might still be true with public transit, but not so much.

    And there is the value of the destinations. Sure, if you live in Adams Morgan there are a lot of destinations, but how many bars and restaurants do you need? The grocery in Adams Morgan is more problematic, as is the lumber yard, plumber, etc.

    The last time I dined with my brother, we agreed to meet at a place equidistant. It took me half the time to get there as him.

    I don’t doubt that increasing densit does wonders, I just wonder what they are, exactly.

    —————————–

    I know you beleive adding transit reduces air polllution.

    I think that if you add up the total miles driven by a bus over its lifetime and calculate the pollution emitted, and then divide that by the total number of passenger miles carried, then you might find a number that looks a lot different than one calculated from passenger miles and revenue miles only.

    Transit might reduce pollution a little, but not by very much. Again, it depends on the location and passenger load of the transit, which depends on density. Overall, there are too many variables for me to accept this as a blanket statement.

    ———————————
    “reduces both trip plus parking costs and air pollution”

    If you pay for parking. Then again, while the car is parked, it isn’t polluting at all, is it? meanwhile, that bus you might have ridden is riding around saving parking costs, while balefully searching for a passenger to ride it. And, it stops and starts every few hundred feet wasting energy every time.

    This stikes me as one of those things that might be true, but marginally so, and it appears to depend on double counting, or counting in opposite directions for cars vs transit.

    Kind of like when transit is really succesful, it’s jammed to SRO, and we point out how wonderful that is that people choose this mode. But when an auto route is jammed fender to doorjamb, we count that as a grat failure.

    Mind you, I agree (sort of) with what you say, but I think we are still measuring the wrong things.

    Anyway, if what you say is right, breaking even on transportation dollars isn’t eneough, because those congested lane miles are a lot more expensive.

    If they are three times as expensive and they get used ten times as much, are they still expensive?

    RH

  23. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Asked about downstream improvements. The downstream improvements to prevent flooding are channelization and silt removal.”

    Now I get it. I was confused by the direct mention of the upstream improvements. I didn’t see how they improved the downstream flow. Now I see you were referring to improvements in both areas.

    I still like the analogy. What is the traffic equivalent of channelization and silt removal?

    Would that be like completng 395 through washington and taking out all the residential speed bumps?

    |:-).

    RH

  24. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    “All the people coming up from Fredricksburg would pay into their region even though the majority of their driving is in the NoVa region”

    Excuse me???

    Geater Frederickburg a Community well within the Natinal Capital Subregion and the Washington-Baltimore NUR.

    So in Greater Winchester and Greater York etc.

    Otherwise all those folks would not be driving and riding VRE, etc to jobs.

    NUR’s by definition have a greater Balance of J / H than would show up in “all those people driving…”

    So did Consolidated Metropolitian Areas until pandering politicians forced Census to change their definitions.

    EMR

  25. Darrell -- Chesapeake Avatar
    Darrell — Chesapeake

    Sounds to me like the GA is declaring a GWOT.

    A Global War on Taxpayers.

    You will know we are in trouble if Kaine starts sounding like McCain, advocating a 100 year occupation in order to achieve the objectives of a 30 year Transportation Improvement Plan.

  26. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    EMR,

    I definitely agree that Fredericksburg is part of NOVA. My personal definition of NOVA is any part of Virginia north of I-64.

    LB

  27. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    In the news this morning:

    “HAMPTON – Local residents and commuters gave lawmakers a three-pronged to-do list Wednesday night during a public forum on transportation:

    • Finish off the financially impotent Hampton Roads Transportation Authority.

    • Relieve congestion at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

    • Make any solution a statewide fix.

    http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-local_transtownhall_0403apr03,0,4660308.story?track=rss

    I continue to wonder if the folks who advocate for a statewide gas tax for regional/local funding have bothered to look into the numbers.. or for that matter.. why these public forums are held without at least providing a simple fact sheet that shows the basic numbers…

    such as…

    Each Penny will generate roughly 50 million – STATEWIDE – … BEFORE it is sliced and diced (allocated) to places like HR/TW.

    if one does a simple calculation by population – HR/TW would stand to get maybe 6.5 million per penny.

    and that is consistent with what was printed in the media a few days ago:

    “How much can you raise by increasing gasoline tax a penny in Hampton Roads alone?

    About $8.2 million a year, based on the typical driver consuming 527 gallons a year and applied to the 12 municipalities that make up Hampton Roads.”
    http://hamptonroads.com/2008/03/road-funding-itll-take-more-raising-gas-tax

    It’s true the state does not allocate on population alone but the numbers still work out pretty close… errors are in the range of 1 to 2 million not ten times that.

    in other words, neither HR/TW nor NoVa would net substantial funding from a Statewide Gas tax increase – and yet the popular belief persists.

    Perhaps I have this wrong so I would invite others to weigh in and explain what this approach “works” despite my inability to understand.

  28. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Larry feel free to correct me if I am wrong but from reading what you have said isn’t Fredrickburg in a seperate transportation district

    Even if it isn’t what about all the people coming in from Maryland and West Virginia I know for a fact they wouldn’t be part of the NoVa regional taxing authority

    A gas tax everyone shares equally a regional tax allows other people from outside the region to unfairly benefit. Why should I pay to subsizide long haul commuters when they dont have to pay. They are the reason we have congestion in the first place.

    Ok off soap box :-p

    NMM

  29. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    NMM – indeed you are correct.

    The Fredericksburg area is a separate MPO and a separate VDOT District.

    And I agree with you about the Fredericksburg (and other) commuter use of NoVa roads…

    .. but raising the gas tax not only will not bring in very much money but in the case of many commuters – they typically buy fuel where they live especially if it is cheaper and so those gas tax revenues would go to the Fredericksburg Area rather than NoVa.

    But that money… even if NoVa were to fight for it would be so minuscule – on the order of 2 million or so.. per one penny.

    That’s the whole point of going through the gas tax numbers…

    Once cent on the sales tax would generate about almost a billion dollars statewide verses one penny on the gas tax.. 50 million.

    and here’s the other point.

    What would place like NoVa or HR/TW expect DIFFERENT of ANY tax – gas or sales that was levied statewide and allocated verses gas/sales levied regionally and all of it kept?

    Would NoVa or HR/TW … EXPECT to come out BETTER for any tax that was levied Statewide and allocated than having the same tax levied regionally and kept in the region?

    am I making any sense here?

    if would seem to me that the only way that NoVa and/or HR/TW would come out ahead on statewide levy’s is if somehow they expect the allocation formula to benefit them.

    My primary motivation is that it would be better if everyone better understood the funding dynamics because it appears right now to me that expectations are not in line with the realities…

    p.s. the BEST way for NoVa to capture transportation revenues from the non-NoVa residents is TOLLS. Agree?

  30. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Ok Larry you called me out

    Here is how I think NoVa comes out ahead

    The current issue is maintanence costs. Because the gas tax wasn’t indexed properly maintanence costs have been increasing faster than revenue coming in. To make up for the maintanence costs money is being drained from the transportation trust fund which is supposed to be for construction only.

    So the maintanence costs should be paid by increasing the gas tax statewide or maybe the sales tax STATEWIDE :-p (NoVa comes slightly ahead)

    This will free up more money for the transportation trust fund for construction. (I have a hunch that NoVa comes out ahead in terms of new construction)

    So there you go the maintanence issue is solved (by taxing the whole state) and there is more construction funding available (which benefits NoVa)

    I am not a member of the NVTA but I agree with alot of what they are doing

    http://www.nvta.org/index.asp

    Now a sales tax to raise more construction funds… as a realist there is no way that will pass the house at this time and to be completely honest I don’t trust NoVa to select what needs to be constructed. Trolleys and bike paths and sidewalks are fine to a point but It think the current plans go a bit overboard in the reduction in roads which over 80% of people use even in NoVa

    With you on the toll issue however where do you draw the line at Prince William, Stafford? How do you prorate for the person that goes all the way to Tysons (or into Maryland) vs the person that stops at Woodbridge? (Nitpicking I know but still legitimate questions)

    NMM

  31. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I agree with a statewide for maintenance.

    I have questions as to WHERE the trust fund money comes from.. where do the trust fund revenues come from?

    I think some of them come from the Fed tax but my understanding is that the Fed also pays for Interstate maintenance and it’s got the same problem .. not-indexed.

    the 1/2% statewide sales tax is dedicated for construction – about 400 million…

    As far as tolls. Jim W pointed out that in a congestion pricing scenario that the tolls start out low at the fringes and increase progressively with congestion and NoVa centric so long-distance commuters.. would be paying substantial tolls to NoVa…

    .. as would out-of-state folks…

    re: sales tax – I agree.. no state-wide sales tax but I’m betting than there will be local-option 1/2 or 1% for designated regions – NoVa HR/TW and perhaps other urban areas…

    but I can sense the dynamics in the GA right now.. along the lines of …”well if NoVa is going to get 1 to 2 billion a year from tolls.. they won’t need more money”….

  32. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Perhaps I have this wrong so I would invite others to weigh in “

    The weakness in your argument is that it is basedon a penny. Pennies are so worthless we may not even have them soon.

    Now, if you were talking a penny for evey year since 1987, the last time the tax was raised, then you have different argument. now you are talking 20 pennies.

    If you were talking about raising it since 1987 based on inflation plus population growth, then it is probably more than 20 pennies.

    AND

    you need to trow in a few extra just because of all the years of deferred maintenance, you have a big catchup bottle to fill.

    RH

  33. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “They are the reason we have congestion in the first place.”

    I don’t think so.

    Suppose you moved them all 20 miles closer. You think that would REDUCE congestion? Ever watch what happens around the Vienna metro station?

    RH

  34. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    We could solve many of our problems if we had more good-paying jobs outside the inner-tier of counties in NoVA.

    What would happen if DHS and DoD both were to complain that too many of their contractors were located too close to WDC – a single point of failure or disaster or attack?

    TMT

    P.S. For Groveton — Save Fairfax; Pave the Piedmont!

    TMT

  35. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    someone proposed to put up a million sq ft of class A office space in Warrenton and the county had a fit. — They were afraid people might want to live near the jobs.

    Never heard any more about it. It may have been an April Fools joke designed to show the counties true colors.

    RH

  36. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    ….”If you were talking about…”

    actually.. we were talking about

    …. the financial realities…. based on what one penny will generate.. not what some think should have been done or “ideas” that the “fix” should be an increase of 20 cents a gallon fuel tax.

    One can go ahead and advocate 20 or 30 cents gas tax increase… but what good does that do ?

    The average person, as poll after poll shows.. is not interested in higher gas taxes unless the road they drive every day is improved.

    They have no interest in paying higher gas taxes for roads elsewhere.

    I think this is the problem that the GA is having with many of the public in general.

    Polls consistently show that 75% are opposed to an increase in gas taxes much less one on the scale of 20 – 30 cents.

    How serious is the transportation issue – politically ?

    How many folks will be thrown out of office for NOT raising the gas tax?

    How many folks mired in NoVa congestion are going to toss elected out of office for that congestion?

    What does it take for a politician to be perceived by the public as in favor of transportation improvements?

    .. very simple – you get up in front of everyone and say “I am in favor of transportation improvements to relieve congestion” and then you go on with business…

    works every time…

    🙂

    show the the last guy it backfired on…..

  37. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    “Regional lawmakers backed expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on Thursday but acknowledged they have no plan to pay for it or billions of dollars worth of other transportation improvement.”

    http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/regional-lawmakers-support-hrbt-expansion-have-no-pay-plan

    The Transportation scam is alive and well.

    1. – advocate for projects of which they KNOW they do not have funding

    2. – blame the State for “not doing their job”

    3. – refuse to tell their constituents that if they want those projects – much of the funding will have to come from them.

    This is why you don’t see fact sheets with these financial realities circulated at these transportation forums…

    … that’s not what the public wants to hear…

    .. if you tell the public the ‘honest injun’ truth about how much money the gas tax actually will generate , the public will know the truth – and then they’ll blame you for telling them the truth…

    … so.. the safest path is to blame the state for not raising the gas tax .. then stand back out of the way…

    “we desperately need these projects and the State refuses to fund them because they haven’t got the guts the raise the gas tax statewide.

    and what is hilarious about this is that the very politicians who make such statements – themselves will not vote for an increase in the gas tax – because if they believe the polls 3/4 of their own constituents would punish them for doing so.

    Has the Transportation Issue – Peaked?

    well.. only if you count the tops of the politicians heads…

  38. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Again, while a great forum, very sad to see Jim Bacon latch onto any faint anti-transportation or “that evil pro-transportation group” whiff coming out of media drivel like the RTD. Wow, a forum for the Governor and noone complained about transportation – sounds like a mandate to me!

    I’ll say it one more time – I truly hope that Jim Bacon is posting in five years and can look back on his archived blog records when NOVA is an urban rat hole, easy interstate travel is only a dream, and Virginia’s economy struggles with great port capacity, but no outlets.

    Maybe some satisfaction when he says – how could we let this happen?

    (but wait! this is what we want to happen…..)

    It’s a darn shame that all the lawyers in Richmond couldn’t do a thorough enough check of the 2007 regional authority legislation to make sure it would hold up in court.

    The truth will set you free.

    TL

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