New Transportation Funding for the Commonwealth Gettting Close
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The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce is pleased to see that new transportation funding for the Commonwealth is finally getting traction. It appears to be a priority in the closing days of this session of the General Assembly.
On February 15 the Chamber sent a letter to the ten House and Senate conferees appointed to tackle HB 2313 , Virginia’s transportation funding package.
In our letter we urged the conferees to include significant, new, long-term and sustainable funding sources for both transportation maintenance and construction in the package. This is critical for the continued economic vitality of Virginia and for an enhanced quality of life for our citizens. Transportation is a core service of the Commonwealth and therefore transportation maintenance and construction must be a priority.
In the final package the Chamber would like to see localities given the ability to impose regional taxes and user fees to raise dedicated transportation funds for use within their locality.
We urged the conferees to include transportation revenue sources that include broad-based fees or taxes that are tied to the direct use of our transportation system. While its use appropriate, the funding package should not be largely dependent on the General Fund. Furthermore, we do not think great value should be given to funds dependent upon Congressional action.
In our letter we reminded the conferees that time is of the essence. They must act in a bipartisan fashion to put together a significant, new, long-term and sustainable transportation funding package.
I encourage you, Patch readers, to also contact the HB 2313 conferees . They need to hear from you as they seek consensus on the House and Senate versions of Virginia’s transportation funding bill.
Tom Pfeifer
6:35 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Hear! Hear!
The Texas Transportation Institute recently ranked the greater Washington, D.C., area as having the worst traffic in the United States. Let’s hear it for being Number 1!
Fairfax County’s traffic is a major contributor to that ranking. WTOP noted that the Fairfax County Parkway carries nearly as much traffic as the average interstate highway – up to 80,000 cars a day. That’s bad enough, but as state Sen. Richard Saslaw noted, Braddock Road carries 88,000 cars a day, which is twice the traffic of I-81.
Traffic congestion costs the average DC-area commuter an estimated $1,398 a year, according to TTI. That cost will rise if funding is not allocated to alleviate our gridlock. Fairfax County is expected to grow faster than any other jurisdiction. According to a draft forecast from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Fairfax County’s population will jump by 288,000 by 2040, the most of any jurisdiction in the region. That helps explain why Fairfax County Parkway will carry an estimated 100,000 vehicles daily by 2030.
Del. David Albo is one of the conferees on HB 2313. I second Nancy-jo Manney and the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s call for everyone with a vested interest in Fairfax County’s traffic – and that’s you – to contact Del. Albo and urge him to fight bumper and wheel for a dedicated funding source to alleviate our congestion. Let’s fight to be Number 2.