Transportation
Despite numerous efforts over the last four years, the Commonwealth is not adequately addressing our transportation needs. While it is clear that we cannot “build our way out of our problems,” we are inadequately funding transportation in all areas, from road construction to transit to rail. Our failure as a state to invest sufficiently in transportation means that we will soon be unable to access federal monies available for road construction that require a certain level of matching state funding. The result will be that our businesses will face increasing problems, especially in Northern Virginia, in moving their products to market, and our citizens will experience more frustration with congestion. Revenues continue to fall as the gasoline tax, the major basis upon which transportation is funded in the Commonwealth, generates insufficient funds.
Despite these problems, we have been able to win some minor successes. First, there is increasing recognition that land use and transportation are linked. If we concentrate development and increase density in certain areas of our state, we will need to build fewer roads and will be able to maintain them more efficiently. Second, we continue some modest investments in rail. I was particularly pleased to be a part of a coalition that secured funding for the new Amtrak train that will run through Charlottesville from Lynchburg to Washington, DC and back.
Nonetheless, the fundamental challenge remains the same – funding a sustainable long-term source of adequate revenue for transportation.
I support flexibility in how localities may use transportation dollars so we can provide funding for improved bus service, better traffic light synchronization, and increased maintenance. I believe the State Transportation Trust Fund should be just that, a “trust fund” that should not be raided for other purposes absent extraordinary circumstances. I support giving localities more tools to better plan growth so we can reduce pressures on our roads and transportation network.
While I support building roads where appropriate and consistent with community needs, I do not believe that road construction alone will solve all problems of traffic congestion. In an era when vehicle travel in Virginia has increased by 31 percent from 1990 until 2004, from 60.2 billion vehicle miles of travel (VMT) to 78.9 billion VMT, we need to look not only at asphalt but also at trip reduction and better planning. That is why I support greater efforts to encourage telecommuting, smarter development patterns, and better transit.
