Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Stick a Fork in Virginia Beach Light Rail. It’s Done.

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The Tide light rail in Norfolk won't be extended to Virginia Beach any time soon. Image credit: Railfan Guide
The Tide light rail in Norfolk won’t be extended to Virginia Beach any time soon. Image credit: Railfan Guide

The vote didn’t get much attention outside of Hampton Roads, but one of the big losers in state-local elections yesterday was Virginia Beach light rail. Voters decisively renounced a proposed extension of The Tide rail from Norfolk to Virginia Beach’s Town Center in an advisory referendum: 57% opposed the project, as opposed to 43% in favor.

While that vote did not bind Virginia Beach City Council, Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne announced yesterday that he was pulling the plug on $155 million to help pay for the $243 million project, reports the Virginian-Pilot.

Wrote Layne in a letter to Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms:

As demonstrated by yesterday’s referendum results, and comments made by you and other City Council members, there is no political or local financial support forthcoming for the project. We respect this outcome.

These monies have been tied up for over two years while the City Council debated action on this project. There are many other pressing transportation needs in the Commonwealth that can immediately move forward with these funds. A further delay in reprogramming these monies is not justified.

Virginia Beach light rail is not dead, but it is on life support. The state had allocated the funding for the project before implementing its Smart Scale methodology which prioritizes transportation projects on the basis of safety, congestion reduction, accessibility, land use, economic development and the environment. Now the project will have to undergo the same scoring process as all other transportation proposals — if it doesn’t die a quiet death first.

Virginia Beach owes the state $20 million granted to help purchase the proposed light-rail corridor. Layne told Sessoms that he’s giving the city six months to explore mass-transit alternatives such as Bus Rapid Transit that could make use of the right-of-way before asking for the money back.

Bacon’s bottom line: Transportation policy will go down as one of the great positive legacies of the McAuliffe administration. Virginia has shifted from a politically driven approach for allocating transportation construction dollars to a metrics-based approach. When McAuliffe was elected, I feared that he would bring his wheeler-dealer style to transportation policy. But the governor has stayed out of the fray, empowering Layne, the sole Republican in his cabinet, to implement a technocratic regime for setting spending priorities.

From now on, all transportation projects must be scored. A governor advocating a low-scoring project for political reasons will find it much harder to win the approval of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which has the final say-so.

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4 responses to “Stick a Fork in Virginia Beach Light Rail. It’s Done.”

  1. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    What WILL be Interesting from now on – is how ANY Transit project will score in the new Smart Scale system.

    This is the FIRST TIME – that we have a process for scoring and ranking that includes both transit and road – though I don’t think they’re rated the same way… maybe worth an interview with Mr. Lane.

    I suspect light rail of any flavor would not score well… including this one.. but who knows..

  2. TooManyTaxes Avatar
    TooManyTaxes

    I would agree the McAuliffe administration has generally done a good job on trying to keep transportation as objective as possible, in significant part, because the Governor has deferred to Layne. I also commend McAuliffe for being open to compromise on the I-66 Inside-the-Beltway plan by accepting road widening. I don’t think the idea to avoid all tolls on the reverse commute side made sense or was fair. But consensus involves compromise.

    And scoring projects is a step forward from transportation decisions being made in the name of economic development, when it’s too often really enriching well-connected landowners or satisfying quasi-religious beliefs as smart growth.

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    we had a road improvement down our way that scored well and got funded in HB2.

    But when the BOS found out that median cross-overs were not in the design – they asked VDOT to put them in – to which VDOT responded that the project would then have to be re-scored and likely would score so low that it would lose it’s funding.

    Shock and consternation ensued… followed by some unflattering comments about VDOT and what they could do with their new scoring process… since before – the BOS could have just directed VDOT to put in the median-cross-overs…for THEIR project.

    no more… those median cross-overs – according to VDOT can easily be demonstrated to increase congestion and cause accidents.

    but they did show flexibility in the I-66 issue and for tolling the Hampton tunnels – they essentially reduced tolls on low income commuters… will be interesting to see if they do something like that for NoVa tolled roads.

  4. Lift Avatar
    Lift

    I wish that the No vote on VB light rail had been followed up quickly by a more forward-thinking alternative. It’s not that citizens oppose public transportation, it’s that light rail seemed too late, too retro. With the rapid arrival of driverless cars, drones, and alternative fuel vehicles, I’d like to see a more innovative approach. In the meantime, dedicated bus lanes would be a much less expensive, flexible solution to provide better pathways for service. When the needs shift, you can abandon lanes, sell busses, regroup. Costs are not sunk in a rail line.

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