From this morning’s Virginian-Pilot: “A group of Republican delegates backed a proposal Friday that calls for the creation of a Hampton Roads Transportation Authority, with the power to toll new and existing roads, increase annual licensing fees, and add a half-percent “local lodging fee” for area hotels and motels.”
The tax package would raise about $235 million annually, shy of the $275 million that regional leaders say is needed to fund top-priority road- and bridge-building projects.
Among the more controversial elements might be a proposal to impose a $30 annual fee for passenger cars and pick ups, $40 for panel trucks, $20 for trailers, $15 for motorcycles and $25 per axle for larger trucks.
A one-time local fee on any first-time registration of a vehicle also is being considered. The fee would be equal to three-quarters of a percent of the vehicles’s retail value. An additional 2 percent local fee on car rentals also would be imposed.
Instant reaction
: This plan attacks transportation entirely from the supply side. There was no mention in Tom Holden’s story about any initiative to restrain the demand for new transportation capacity.
If Hampton Roads leaders decide that the region must raise revenues, it do so through congestion-pricing tolls that have the virtue not only of raising revenue but inducing motorists to switch to alternate modes of transportation or drive during off-peak periods. (I won’t even get into the subject of stimulating more compact, mixed-use redevelopment projects such as Virginia Beach’s Town Center or Oyster Point in Newport News that could offset future demand.)
I find the mule-headed inability of legislators to curtail the demand-side of the transportation equation absolutely astounding.