Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Virginia’s Urban Crescent Needs Transportation Funding, Say Mayors and Chairs

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by

James A. Bacon
in , ,

Inaction on growing traffic congestion in the state’s urban crescent is undermining the state’s quality of life and its economic competitiveness, warn 38 “mayors and chairs” of Virginia local governments in a letter to Governor Bob McDonnell and leaders of the General Assembly.

“The Urban Crescent’s economic health is vital to the Commonwealth, and without new investments in multimodal transportation, each of our regions’ economies will decline, resulting in less revenue available to meet the myriad of Virginia’s needs,” stated the letter. The state’s diminishing competitiveness was reflected in Virginia’s decline from the No. 1 spot in CNBC’s “America’s Top States for Business” to No. 3 this summer, caused primarily by a plummeting score for “Infrastructure and Transportation,” which plummeted from No. 1o to No. 33.

In June local elected officials met to discuss Virginia’s transportation challenges. This letter “is an attempt to call attention to an important issue,” says Bryan Pennington, in Norfolk’s office of intergovernmental relations. “It really is at a crisis level.”

The letter did not propose specific solutions, focusing instead on documenting the severity of the problem. Among the key points made:

  • State secondary and urban system construction funds have been eliminated.
  • By 2017, no state funds will be available for highway construction, and the Commonwealth will be unable to fully match federal funds.
  • Approximately 26% of state-maintained roadways are in poor condition. The percentage is 39% in Northern Virginia, 36% in Hampton Roads and 31% in Richmond.
  • Only 66 percent of Virginia’s secondary roads currently meet pavement performance targets. The cost of meeting VDOT’s goal of 82 percent of secondary roads in fair or better condition could be $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion.
  • Transit funding is far short of what is needed.
  • According to the Texas Transportation Institute, Richmond area commuters waste 20 hours per  year stuck in traffic, Hampton Roads commuters waste 34 hours and Northern Virginia commuters waste 74 hours.

“Inaction is a “traffic tax” on our localities, our residents, our visitors, and our businesses, through decreased productivity, diminished quality of life, higher fuel costs, higher maintenance costs, and increased pollution,” the letter stated. The state needs to invest more in transportation infrastructure, it added, and the investment must come from “stable, reliable, permanent and balanced” sources.

— JAB

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  1. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    Good points, Jim! Are you getting religion?

  2. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Nah, I’m just quoting these guys and saving my commentary for a separate post.

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    translation: help us.. cuz we can’t figure out what to do ourselves!

    Hey.. notice which counties in the “crescent” are NOT on that letter!

    note also that a substantial number of counties DID tell VDOT they are opposed to tolls on I-95 – even though VDOT has identified a slew of overpasses and interchanges that need to be upgraded.

    this is yet another plea to get RoVa to fund road needs for the growth regions and yet another irresponsible approach on the part of the growth regions who would rather try squeeze more money out of the state rather than suggest a user-fee-based approach to funding needs.

    to show just how futile this is. A penny on the state fuel tax will generate about 50 million. Let’s say by some miracle they manage to convince the GA to increase the tax a nickel.

    that’s 250 million. Now divide that by 100 ( but there are really over 130 counties and cities)… 2.5 million per county/locality.

    think about what 2.5 million will buy in terms of road infrastructure.

    Increase the tax to a dime and you get the handsome sum off 5 million.

    now a penny on the sales tax is a whole different critter. It will generate about a billion dollars which is real money….

    remember that we already have 1/2% of the sales tax for roads.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      Do yourself a favor and sell your house now – before the bottom really drops out of ex-urban real estate.

      Half of the employable people in Northern Virginia will leave before they will pay Richmond a giant transfer payment (to disburse in some opaque way) and then tax themselves more for transportation and wait for Richmond to some how, some way authorize the road building.

      Like I said, LarryG – do yourself a favor, sell your house and either rent or move somewhere that has a competent state government – North Carolina, for example.

  4. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Gee … when you freeze the gas tax at 1986 levels it causes transportation problems. I wonder what kind of advanced degree in economics is required to understand that level of financial analysis.

    Gee … when you set the representation of the Commonwealth Transportation Board based on the state’s population in 1935 people in fast growing areas lose all faith in the overall governance process. I wonder what kind of advanced degree in political science is required to understand that level of government operation.

    Gee … when the all – powerful, lawyer laden General assembly and law degree holding Governor pass a major transportation bill that is immediately and unanimously found to be unconstitutional people lose faith in the competence of the Imperial Clown Show in Richmond. I wonder how many logic textbooks one has to memorize before that makes sense.

    Gee … when a state having a love affair with Dillon’s Rule to the extent that localities have to petition Richmond to change the law on the height of the grass in their jurisdiction tries to blame the localities for the problems, people laugh their asses off. I wonder how many stand up comedy acts you have to see before you find the humor in that.

    When people are subjected to daily traffic chaos due to state government incompetence they start thinking about how they can move to a place where the state government is competent and traffic is reasonable. Once there is an economic decline, a large percentage of the employable people leave. I wonder how many Richard Florida books you have to read to understand that.

    The federal government cannot continue to spend at the present pace. When that spending inevitably slows, the employment opportunities will wane and the employable people wil leave for localities where there are jobs and a competent state government. I wonder how many times you have to re-read Boomergeddon to understand that.

    A very small percentage of the citizenry pays a very high percentage of the overall taxes. They pay those high taxes because they are very employable, very mobile and ambitious enough to go where the money and lifestyle work. They will be among the first to leave and their disproportionate tax contribution will be very hard to make up. I wonder how many times you have to watch Martin O’Malley fumble this equation in Maryland before you understand it.

    You and your pals in Richmond have screwed this up to a fair thee well, Jimmy Boy.

    We’ll see how all those state government and quasi-state government jobs in Richmond fare when the tax revenues fall off a cliff. How are things in Lansing, MI, for example?

    If you want to see what’s going to happen in Virginia, take a long look at what happened over the last 20 years in Michigan.

    Simple truth – we have elected idiots to the general assembly and the idiots have destroyed our state … again (tobacco, Civil War, Massive Resistance, etc).

  5. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    excuses. excuses. excuses.

    I’ve already showed you just how futile it would be to raise gas taxes in terms of generating real money for transportation.

    I AGREE about the boundaries of the VDOT districts and the CTB make-up but CTB is a developer-ridden group who sees roads as economic development venues totally aside real transportation needs.

    Blaming Dillon is yet another vague complaint. What exactly can you not do about transportation because of Dillon?

    I do not see it.

    You have a regional MPO for the major MSAs. There is no law that restricts you from setting up transportation districts or transportation referenda. What exactly do you lack?

    Tolls are the obvious way to go. You borrow the money. Build the road and charge for it and pay back the loans.

    you can do this right now.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      “I’ve already showed you just how futile it would be to raise gas taxes in terms of generating real money for transportation.”.

      You’ve shown nothing, as usual.

      Virginia’s gas tax is 19.8 cents. North Carolina’s is 39.2. The difference is 19.4 cents per gallon. If a cent is worth $50M then 19.4 cents is worth $970M per year. Over the years, The Imperial Clown Show in Richmond has fallen many, many billions of dollars behind serious states with competent legislatures like North Carolina.

  6. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    What about a adequate public facilities law? What about local officials refusing to amend the Comp Plan to add more development? What about negotiating proffers that cover the cost of transportation improvements needed to address additional development?
    All of those are inconsistent with Crony Capitalism and the Transportation Slush Fund.

  7. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    Here’s the big problem with the “unconstitutional” GA approach to regional transportation funding.

    The money was going to be spent by the MPO – an unelected body with members that are elected from their own jurisdictions.

    If the money got spent in ways the public did not approve – then there was no real way to hold the body that approved it – accountable.

    Now what’s REALLY FUNNY here is that neither the CTB nor VDOT are elected either!

    but it’s illegal for an MPO … go figure!

    At any rate – it’s an easy enough fix – if they are really interested in fixing it.

    You just put a regional transportation referenda on the ballot for each jurisdiction and require that it pass all jurisdictions to be successful or something similar OR you direct-elected the MPO.

    there are paths forward to do this but I suspect that what the powers that be wanted was an MPO version of the CTB/VDOT and the Va Supreme Court was not having it.

  8. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I just realized how bogus that letter is. It lists jurisdictions like Spotsylvania and Stafford on the masthead but neither of them signed the letter.

    that makes me wonder just what kind of organization the Urban Crescent is.

    Is it an organized entity or did someone just draw out an arbitrary region and listed the counties in that region on the masthead?

    so Jim… WHERE did you get that letter?

  9. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    The letter has been circulated widely in state government circles. The Times-Dispatch reported on it this morning. I obtained a copy from Bryan Pennington, Norfolk’s intergovernmental relations guy.

  10. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    Thanks. I’m not sure if the “Urban Crescent’ is a real organization at all.

    The other striking thing about the letter is the glaring omission of the most critical projects that need funding.

    This strikes me as yet another plea for a giant slush fund to be spent as officials see fit with virtually no input from citizens.

    The obvious place to develop such a list would be to go to each MPO in the rural crescent and ask them for their list of unfunded projects and then aggregate them into a prioritized list of regionally-significant projects – and then present that to the public,

    We have this big problem with roads in Va. The elected officials want the money but they don’t want the public input. Oh they go through the motions as required by law but at the end of the day you get decisions like the Western Transportation Corridor from the CTB.

    I have yet to see or hear anyone talk about adding lanes to I-95 between Richmond and Washington and on I-64 between Richmond and Hampton.

    That would seem to be logical but I don’t know if there is even a proposal anywhere to do that.

    If these guys are talking about a state level tax so they can build local projects in each of their regions – that idea is going to crumple into a good imitation of a squashed insect.

  11. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re: Va current Gas Tax. Virtually every penny goes to maintenance and operations. Va has the 3rd largest road network in the country by virtue of the fact that Va is one of but 4 states where the State level DOT is responsible for local roads.

    When you look at a secondary road – think in terms of potholes, re-paving, pulling ditches, and snow plowing. All of that is paid for by the locality in 46 other states but in Va it’s paid for by VDOT and this is one reason why transportation is broke in Va.

    NC has an even bigger gas tax but the same local road issue and it’s funding is not much better off than Va and NC is seeking tolling roads also.

    But DJ calls Richmond a clown show but the man supports Mr. Ryan who if he was in Va would be among those in Richmond who refuse to increase the gas tax so it’s hard to understand exactly what DJ really supports – tea party no-mo taxers or not.

    I’m hopeful soon that the man sees the error of his ways on this.

    be consistent. If you support a tea party no-mo-taxer then accept the reality that transportation will be included in what is not funded. If you want higher taxes for transportation then recognize that the folks in Richmond are aligned with Cantor/Ryan on taxes.

  12. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re: ” the Commonwealth will be unable to fully match federal funds.”

    in case anyone has not been paying attention – The Fed funding has exceeded the amount generated by the Fed gas tax for a number of years and there are efforts underway in Congress to require Fed transportation dollars to not exceed what the Fed gas tax actually brins in.

    If they do this – the amount of Fed transportation money available to Va will dry up.

    Both Va and Washington have been saying for some number of years now that transportation spending should not be from general revenue funds but only from dedicated use taxes – i.e. the gas tax but both the Feds and Va have bailed on this with the Feds using general revenues to double the transportation funding and Va utilizes a little-known mechanism, 1/2% of the sales tax goes to transportation funding.

    Va has not made any noises about doing away with the 1/2% but that 1/2% has hardened attitudes about increasing taxes on gas or in general increasing taxes.

    80% of Virginians, in poll after poll are opposed to increasing taxes on gasoline. I think the number is lower in NoVa but it’s still pretty high. I just don’t see politicians in Va going against this.

    Every time the Dems even hint it, the GOP hammers them at election time.

    So the Urban Crescent folks – instead of generating grass roots support within their own jurisdictions for increased taxes to support increased transportation funding are essentially asking the state to do the deed …”some how”.

    It’s reeks of feckless behavior. This is the exact opposite of grassroots support for increased transportation funding.

    It’s the usual “increase our taxes” so we don’t have to face the voters for doing it – behavior.

    It would serve them right if the GOP exposed every one of those guys that signed that document should be shown to their respective jurisdictional voters for advocating back door tax increases….

    Lord.. EVEN the GOP legislators signed it. They must be pretty confident that the letter will remain an inside baseball type advocacy.

    and I’m quite sure the GOP guys will piously claim that their signature on the letter does not signify support for a tax increase for transportation – as if the money will rain down from heaven instead.

  13. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    LarryG:

    Please provide support for your continual claim that ” … 80% of Virginians, in poll after poll are opposed to increasing taxes on gasoline.”. You write that all the time but never reference any polls.

  14. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    “It’s the usual “increase our taxes” so we don’t have to face the voters for doing it – behavior.”.

    Tolls are taxes. In fact, they are highly regressive taxes. Worse yet, they are always aimed at the people who are commuting to work and already paying for almost all the state expenditures anyway.

    If you don’t think tolls are taxes then I want to charge you a “protection fee” for the costs of the police protecting your house. You have a choice – pay the fee or provide your own protection. I live in a low crime area, I have an alarm system and I am armed. Maybe I’ll just buy a dog and bypass the “protection fee”. Why should people like me who live in areas where people generally follow the law pay the extra costs of police, state police, jails, prisons, etc for areas where people don’t follow the law?

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      Don raises a legitimate philosophical issue here. When should society charge “user fees” and when should it provide a blanket public service? Why do we subsidize a K-12 education for every child in the country but charge individuals for some or all of their higher education? Why do we create a partial user-fee structure for transportation (gas tax, tolls) but not for police services? Why do some localities charge for an ambulance while others provide the service for free?

      For the purposes of illuminating the discussion, I would draw this distinction. When people receive roads and highways as “free” good (free to them, not to society), they demand more of it. Thus, there is more congestion than there would be otherwise. By contrast, when people receive “free” police service (as opposed receiving it by means of a user fee), they don’t demand any more police service than they would otherwise. The need for public safety service is driven by the incidence of crime.

      That’s my first whack at the matter.

  15. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re: polls – http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/24496

    http://www.cnu.edu/cpp/pdf/Survey_Report_April_15_2012.pdf

    re: schools vs roads

    schools are heavily supported locally in most places – even to pay for many extras beyond the core academics.

    people are opposed to paying locally for state roads but they often support local transportation referenda.

    so the two are more comparing apples and oranges …

    what people oppose is paying a statewide gas tax and fearing that the money goes to other localities.

    NoVa thinks Rova takes their transpo money

    but people in Hampton Roads are convinced that NoVa gets Hampton Roads transpo money… and so on across the state.

    Tolls are specific to roads and people have a direct choice in terms of paying to use it. That’s a different proposition than paying ten cents more gas tax and suspecting it goes to other localities.

  16. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re: ” Worse yet, they are always aimed at the people who are commuting to work and already paying for almost all the state expenditures anyway”

    that’s total blather. Do you think the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tolls commuters (the commuters actually get a break).

    do you think the toll roads in the northeast are aimed at commuters or the Penn turnpike?

    but if you are a commuter, you are using infrastructure and if you commute solo at rush hour – you are part of the problem and you should pay your fair share of the infrastructure you require by your intensive use of it.

    what DJ is advocating is that others pay for commuters on the premise that the commuter are “more productive” than others.

    that’s a pretty arrogant and …actually disgusting and wrong point of view…

    tolls are more fair and equitable than gas taxes that get diverted to projects that do not benefit those who pay the taxes.

    CTB takes gas taxes paid by commuters and diverts those taxes to roads for more developers rather than spending those taxes on the roads that people use.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      What I am advocating is that the people sitting on their asses willfully not working should stop blaming the people who do work for the need for more transportation.

      The Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Penn turnpike are irrelevant to a discussion of transportation in Virginia’s urban and suburban tax engines.

      “what DJ is advocating is that others pay for commuters on the premise that the commuter are “more productive” than others.

      that’s a pretty arrogant and …actually disgusting and wrong point of view…”.

      It’s neither arrogant nor disgusting nor wrong. Commuters are commuting to jobs – you do understand that, right LarryG? And the people who have jobs and pay all those taxes that keep the rest of the state’s people afloat with public services are not the problem. They are the victims. They are victims of those who refuse to work because work is hard, work is inconvenient, works takes you away from your family and your friends and your hobbies.

      When the willingly unemployed and under-employed see that long line of red tail lights creeping up I95 every morning they should walk out and yell “Thank You” at the people in the cars. It is those people who pay for your military, your police, your jails, your Social Security and everything else you slurp down as “free” government provided services.

  17. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    “tolls are more fair and equitable than gas taxes that get diverted to projects that do not benefit those who pay the taxes.”.

    Then put tolls EVERYWHERE. Because every road costs money – not just the roads carrying the tax paying workers to their jobs. Even the roads that are already built represent a taking of money in past without the beneficiaries paying directly.

    America and Virginia are becoming lands of lazy leeches who will bend any argument to get the small percentage of hard-working people who essentially pay for everything to pay even more.

    We need a “citizenship tax” for EVERY citizen with more than $250,000 in net assets – whether they have a taxpaying job or not. Let’s be honest – the early retirees and semi-retirees with $250,000+ in net assets have that money because they were willing to mortgage our country’s future and our children’s future. They are greedy little people who don’t want to pay for the services they consume nor repay the massive debt they and their ilk ran up over their wretched lifetimes. But even that isn’t as galling as hearing these people bitch about the people who are paying the taxes using roads.

  18. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    How local governments are supposed to make land use decisions.

    “Virginia Code § 15.2-2200. Declaration of legislative intent.
    “This chapter is intended to encourage localities to improve the public health, safety, convenience and welfare of its citizens and to plan for the future development of communities to the end that transportation systems be carefully planned; that new community centers be developed with adequate highway, utility, health, educational, and recreational facilities; that the need for mineral resources and the needs of agriculture, industry and business be recognized in future growth; that residential areas be provided with healthy surroundings for family life; that agricultural and forestal land be preserved; and that the growth of the community be consonant with the efficient and economical use of public funds.”

    Another interesting section. “A Code § 15.2-2319. Authority to assess and impose impact fees.
    “Any applicable locality may, by ordinance pursuant to the procedures and requirements of this article, assess and impose impact fees on new development to pay all or a part of the cost of reasonable road improvements that benefit the new development.
    “Prior to the adoption of the ordinance, a locality shall establish an impact fee advisory committee. The committee shall be composed of not less than five nor more than ten members appointed by the governing body of the locality and at least forty percent of the membership shall be representatives from the development, building or real estate industries. The planning commission or other existing committee that meets the membership requirements may serve as the impact fee advisory committee. The committee shall serve in an advisory capacity to assist and advise the governing body of the locality with regard to the ordinance. No action of the committee shall be considered a necessary prerequisite for any action taken by the locality in regard to the adoption of an ordinance.”

    “VA Code § 15.2-2321. Adoption of road improvements program.
    “Prior to adopting a system of impact fees, the locality shall conduct an assessment of road improvement needs benefiting an impact fee service area and shall adopt a road improvements plan for the area showing the new roads proposed to be constructed and the existing roads to be improved or expanded and the schedule for undertaking such construction, improvement or expansion. The road improvements plan shall be adopted as an amendment to the required comprehensive plan and shall be incorporated into the capital improvements program or, in the case of the counties where applicable, the six-year plan for secondary road construction pursuant to § 33.1-70.01.

    “The locality shall adopt the road improvements plan after holding a duly advertised public hearing. The public hearing notice shall identify the impact fee service area or areas to be designated, and shall include a summary of the needs assessment and the assumptions upon which the assessment is based, the proposed amount of the impact fee, and information as to how a copy of the complete study may be examined. A copy of the complete study shall be available for public inspection and copying at reasonable times prior to the public hearing.

    “The locality at a minimum shall include the following items in assessing road improvement needs and preparing a road improvements plan: 1. An analysis of the existing capacity, current usage and existing commitments to future usage of existing roads, as indicated by (i) current and projected service levels, (ii) current valid building permits outstanding, and (iii) approved and pending site plans and subdivision plats. If the current usage and commitments exceed the existing capacity of the roads, the locality also shall determine the costs of improving the roads to meet the demand. The analysis shall include any off-site road improvements or cash payments for road improvements accepted by the locality and shall include a plan to fund the current usages and commitments that exceed the existing capacity of the roads. 2. The projected need for and costs of construction of new roads or improvement or expansion of existing roads attributable in whole or in part to projected new development. Road improvement needs shall be projected for the impact fee service area when fully developed in accord with the comprehensive plan and, if full development is projected to occur more than 20 years in the future, at the end of a 20-year period. The assumptions with regard to land uses, densities, intensities, and population upon which road improvement projections are based shall be presented. 3. The total number of new service units projected for the impact fee service area when fully developed and, if full development is projected to occur more than 20 years in the future, at the end of a 20-year period. A “service unit” is a standardized measure of traffic use or generation. The locality shall develop a table or method for attributing service units to various types of development and land use, including but not limited to residential, commercial and industrial uses. The table shall be based upon the ITE manual (published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers) or locally conducted trip generation studies, and consistent with the traffic analysis standards adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2222.1.

  19. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re:

    ” What I am advocating is that the people sitting on their asses willfully not working should stop blaming the people who do work for the need for more transportation.”

    you don’t know your head from your tail on this issue DJ. People who worked their entire lives and carpooled the whole time and now have an EZ Pass transponder and willingly use it as well as paying gas taxes … make your blather especially irrelevant and worthless.

    “The Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Penn turnpike are irrelevant to a discussion of transportation in Virginia’s urban and suburban tax engines.”

    no it’s not. It proves that you could build needed infrastructure and that people who need it – pay for it – not others. You fail again

    “It’s neither arrogant nor disgusting nor wrong. Commuters are commuting to jobs – you do understand that, right LarryG?”

    they are willingly commuting from a home they wanted that required a commute to work. And most of them willingly choose to drive solo at rush hour. The costs of that commute belong to them – not to others.

    ” And the people who have jobs and pay all those taxes that keep the rest of the state’s people afloat with public services are not the problem. They are the victims. They are victims of those who refuse to work because work is hard, work is inconvenient, works takes you away from your family and your friends and your hobbies.”

    the people who have jobs dunderhead pay into their retirement that they do earn and when they retire they STILL pay taxes. Where do you get the idea that retired folks don’t pay taxes? From Paul Ryan?
    and why do you advocate taxes then support no-mo-tax candidates?

    “When the willingly unemployed and under-employed see that long line of red tail lights creeping up I95 every morning they should walk out and yell “Thank You” at the people in the cars.”

    right. in your world maybe. but the rest of us also make choices about commuting and some of us chose lower paying jobs, less house in exchange for less commuting.

    You make your choices and those choices do have consequences. If I choose a less consumptive lifestyle that’s not only my business but it’s also my reward. If you want a more expensive lifestyle that requires you to commute – that’s fine but it is your choice. Don’t make me pay for it.

    ” It is those people who pay for your military, your police, your jails, your Social Security and everything else you slurp down as “free” government provided services.”

    again – where do you get the idea that I do not pay for these things?

    your arrogance and ignorance is disgusting and reprehensible.

    you keep on whacking on retirement guy.. and I’m going to continue to whack on you. Count on it.

  20. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re: ” We need a “citizenship tax” for EVERY citizen with more than $250,000 in net assets – whether they have a taxpaying job or not. Let’s be honest – the early retirees and semi-retirees with $250,000+ in net assets have that money because they were willing to mortgage our country’s future and our children’s future. They are greedy little people who don’t want to pay for the services they consume nor repay the massive debt they and their ilk ran up over their wretched lifetimes. But even that isn’t as galling as hearing these people bitch about the people who are paying the taxes using roads.”

    you sound like Paul Ryan but you advocate for tax increases.

    which is it?

    this is downright schitzoid.

    no wonder we have screwed up politics these days with thinking like this.

  21. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I just traded in my EZ-pass for a FLEX EZ-pass. It has a switch on it that says HOV.

    I anticipate using it to travel to/from NoVa and DC and I look forward to paying tolls to give me a less congested ride.

    If I were still working, I’d be looking into carpool/slugging/van/bus or other options since when I did work – for 34 years I was in a carpool because I believed that the commute that I had chosen – was my responsibility including the costs of it.

    I never did understand DJ’s view that someone else should pay for my commute just because I had a job.

    He has a totally bizarre view that congestion and commutes are to be blamed on someone rather than those things being what people themselves have chosen to do.

    So.. he blames, Richmond, he blames RoVa, and now he blames Retirees … he just blames… and he wants others to pay – for people who are predominately govt workers in NoVa. He says that these folks are contributing to the economy … think about that…

    NoVa would be RoVa if it were not for the Fed Govt but according to DJ others should pay for NoVa commuters.

    Of course down Hampton Roads way, we also have more govt workers and they have a similar attitude. Someone else should pay for their commutes.

    It must be something in the water these guys drink!

    🙂

  22. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    As TMT pointed out – Va has enabled counties to set up impact fee districts and also recently has required counties to make their Comp Plans consistent with real transportation plans that are funded – and remove wish-list roads.

    Many counties will put in their Comp Plans “planned roads” but there is no capital facilities plan so those “plans” are just lines on paper.

    Va also allows countries to preserve road corridors for future roads – with the proviso – that when the landowner wants to sell his land that the county must buy portion that has the planned road improvement.

    There are more than a couple of things the state has done to enable local transportation planning and funding but the localities persist in thinking that Richmond is going to ride in and rescue them.

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