According to a
VP article today, the Virginia Department of Transportation may require Virginia Beach to use the Norfolk Southern corridor for light rail in exchange for the $20 million dollar contribution for its purchase. This should not be new. That was the stated purpose when the state approved the grant to assist in the extension of the Norfolk light rail line. Its also a great way for our State officials, who apparently
can be leaders, to do what is necessary for the progress of the City of Virginia Beach and for Virginia. They have done what Virginia Beach’s leaders have been unable to do. Besides, why are VB residents surprised that state money comes with strings? Nearly all the money that we as cities receive from state and federal sources have strings attached. I can only hope, though, that the state sticks to its requirement and doesn’t back off.
HRT has named Philip A. Shucet as the new interim CEO for the company. Financially, I think that this is a great move. Due to his record on cost-control, he should bring some much needed eyes on the various budgets of HRT. One minor thing that I have to wonder about is: The
Virginian-Pilot reported that “when Shucet took over VDOT in 2002, one in every five construction projects was behind schedule, and more than half were over budget. By the end of his three-year tenure, 75 percent of projects were on time and 80 percent were on budget.” Now basic math tell us that, as for the budget part, he improved. He raised the “on budget” rate from less than 50% to around 80%. Unfortunately, basic math also tells us that, when it comes to on-time performance, he lost ground. “One in five” is 20%. That means, following various properties you thought you’d never use, 80% were on time. When he left, however, only 75% were on time. Not a large number, but large enough the Pilot decided it needed a better spin.
The part that I really worry about is whether his budgetary sense is going to have a positive or negative effect on ridership and ease of use. This man has very little in his published background that suggests that he knows anything about running a public transit company. I am not saying that this is a bad thing. Given the fact that most transit companies are poorly run, it might be time for someone who is different. I just think that we need to keep a watchful eye on what he thinks are cuts waiting to be made.
Once again, the state is once again cutting money off of VDOT’s budget. This time, however, there is nothing left but bones. In fact, as early as 2011, Hampton Roads will get
zero (you read that right) dollars for road construction. Statewide that same year, Northern Virginia would receive $225 million (93.2%) from VDOT. Even sooner, in 2010, the overall budget will
grow 3% despite Hampton Roads’ funding getting cut another 13% for that same year! In 2010, Northern Virginia’s budget actually
increases by 5%. Our luck would not change until 2015, when we get a whopping $100 million. Of course, seeing as 2015 is six years from now in the six year budget, our actual chances of seeing anything are very slim. When are we, as Hampton Roads residents going to stand up for ourselves? When will we decide that allowing Northern Virginia rob us blind is no longer acceptable? You know when? When we decide that we are a single, unified voice. Northern Virginia can say that, as suburbs of DC, they all need the same general projects to get by. Hampton Roads, on the other hand, can do nothing of the sort. Norfolk wants money for the Midtown Tunnel. Virginia Beach wants money for the Southeastern ‘Parked’way (which is what it really will be when it is full of traffic). Chesapeake wants a new Dominion Blvd. Portsmouth wants the MLK extended. Hampton wants the HRBT redone. Newport News wants I-64 expanded north. None of the cities here realize that we all need the same things to function. Without one of our major connectors, the whole place is gridlocked. Look at any interstate when one gets all lanes blocked during rush hour. The whole area shuts down. We can’t court new business if we don’t have a reliable road system. We need to work together as one region to secure our road money. We need to tell our legislature that Northern Virginia has robbed us enough and we demand our fair share. People here complain when a city spends tax money on something light Town Center, light rail, Downtown, etc., but they seem to have no problem paying taxes to a state that is ripping us off. Its not VDOTs fault. It is completely the legislature’s fault. We cannot allow current elected state representatives to serve another term. They have not fixed our problem yet and they will never fix it. Short of seceding from the Commonwealth of Virginia, regionalism and voting out our incumbents is our only option.
Budget,
Chesapeake,
Commonwealth Transportation Board,
CTB,
Downtown Norfolk,
Downtown Tunnel,
Hampton,
Midtown Tunnel,
Newport News,
Norfolk,
Portsmouth,
Southeastern Parkway,
VDOT
According to today’s (11/19/09) front page Virginian-Pilot article, VDOT spent $150,000 on a consultant to help prioritize our transportation projects. The first round of rankings (43 projects) seem very similar to most peoples’ current opinions. There are a few interesting projects, however. Number 5 under highway projects, for example, is a reconstruction project for the I-64 interchange at Norview Ave. I know from experience that it is a terrible (and incomplete) interchange and sometimes it might just be safer to drive over the edge of the overpass. Despite this well-known fact, I am not quite sure that I would put it on a top-ten list of projects. In fact, I think that most around here would agree that widening US 460 (#9) would be of more importance and benefit than a new Norview interchange.
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Also part of this model were transit projects. The model ranked the need for a Light Rail line to the Naval Base higher than a line to Virginia Beach. Personally, I think they go hand-in-hand. There are a lot of people in Virginia Beach that would take LRT to the base. I think that if we can build a line to the Beach sooner rather than later, we all win. If we were to lose in Virginia Beach, however, and instead built a line to the Base, I think that Virginia Beach would once again reconsider, realizing that they are making the worst mistake in their history as a city.
Their next step is to feed the model a list of 200 Hampton Roads projects. I didn’t realize we had 200 projects, but apparently we do. Hopefully this model will help our transportation leaders figure out what they want and help us get the road funds we need to actually get something built.
