Gubernatorial Candidates Discuss the Future of Transportation in Virginia

For more than 100 years, AAA has been an advocate for motorists across the country. Today, the association continues to act on behalf of the safety and mobility of the motoring public and is currently involved in conversations on both a local and federal level on key transportation issues. AAA recently interviewed Virginia’s two gubernatorial candidates on a variety of transportation issues. Their responses are provided herein as information for readers as the November election approaches.

Robert F. McDonnell

Question: What priority will transportation funding have in your administration? How will you succeed where previous Administrations failed on this issue?
McDonnell: I will make the performance of our transportation system a four-year priority, beginning with substantial reforms in the 2010 General Assembly Session. We must begin establishing meaningful and achievable targets with respect to congestion, project delivery and safety. The electorate has been correctly skeptical of increasing taxes without any clear sense from recent leadership about how the increase in taxes will actually translate into a better or safer commute. It is clear that our current path is likely not sustainable from either a financing or congestion relief perspective, and a new plan is needed.

I announced a comprehensive and detailed 21-page plan outlining various funding mechanisms, policy tools and priority projects. When fully implemented, my plan will generate over $1 billion annually for transportation. The full plan is available at www.bobmcdonnell.com. Despite the importance of this issue to the quality of life of millions of Virginians, my opponent has vowed not to have a plan (Washington Post).

Citizens have lost confidence in the ability of state government to keep its commitments and produce timely and sustainable results. Recent administrations have moved too slowly and made too many excuses for not finding ways to get projects done. We need a performance audit of VDOT to produce more effective organization. The current administration has been so wedded to fund new transportation investments solely through new taxes that it has dragged its feet on several viable alternatives and failed to build consensus in the legislature and in the public for a solution.

I have proven that I can build consensus between Republicans and Democrats. Of the 105 pieces of legislation I pushed for as Attorney General, 92 passed and most with broad bipartisan support. My opponent even voted for 98% of them. The proposals that I have laid out in my comprehensive transportation plan have never been pushed by a Governor before, so I will use the weight of my office to gather support and get a bill through the General Assembly. I will also put together a bipartisan task force led by transportation policy experts like former Congressman Tom Davis, former Congresswoman Thelma Drake, and former Democrat and Republican Governors, and include experts in road building and engineering, business, technology, government efficiency, and local and state government to examine long term solutions.

Question: AAA supports reopening currently closed Virginia rest stops. What is your plan for funding the re-opening of the rest stops? Do you support privatization of rest stops?
McDonnell: I fully support the re-opening of Virginia’s closed rest stops. One day before closing Virginia’s eighteen safety rest stops and one welcome center statewide (and before my opponent commented on the situation), I announced my support for prompt, proactive and creative measures to keep the facilities open. I further pledged that if the rest stops were closed, I will open them back up within 90 days of taking office as governor in January 2010. I called for a series of steps to be taken, all of which would help keep the rest stops open to the benefit of motorists, public safety, and Virginia’s tourism and hospitality industry:

• The creation of an “Adopt a Safety Rest Stop” program with Virginia businesses, community and civic organizations, modeled on the successful “Adopt a Highway” initiative, to help keep the safety rest stops open in thenear term, without providing commercial services. Leaders of the Virginia Business Council have already been contacted and have indicated their willingness to help fund rest stop operations in the near term to help the State.

• The General Assembly must explore creative financing structures to fund rest stop operations and maintenance during the 2010 session, and engage the private sector in new partnerships.

• Governor Kaine and the Virginia Department of Transportation should promptly construct a more limited budget for rest stop operations, below the current 9 million dollar annual budget. Bob McDonnell will work with local sheriffs, community corrections officers, as well as the state DOC to explore the feasibility of landscaping and clean-up of rest areas as an option for those currently sentenced to community service or eligible for work release programs. Many non-violent offenders are already successfully assigned to roadside clean-up work crews around the state. • The CTB budget should be reprioritized to allocate the necessary money to keep the rest stops open.

As far as commercialization of the rest stops, there are currently federal obstacles that would have to be navigated before the Commonwealth could proceed. While the idea has promise, we would need to ensure that impacts on surrounding businesses are adequately considered in any commercialization strategy.

Question: Tunnels in the Greater Hampton Roads area suffer from serious congestion, affecting both industry and tourism. Maintenance and repair issues plague the tunnel system, a vital link between the region and the rest of the Commonwealth. As recently as the 4th of July holiday, flooding issues in the Hampton Roads Bay Bridge Tunnel caused dangerous delays in traffic. How will you address the issue of adequately funding basic maintenance and repair of the tunnel system?
McDonnell: As a former resident of Virginia Beach, I understand firsthand the congestion involved with the tunnels in Hampton Roads. It does have a significant impact on business, tourism and travel safety.

Basic maintenance must be funded adequately, and my comprehensive transportation plan will provide funds not just for new roads, but for maintaining and repairing our existing roads, tunnels and bridges. When my plan is fully implemented, it will generate over $1.4 billion in transportation funding a year. One component of my plan, the privatization of ABC, will go directly towards the Operation and Maintenance Fund.

Basic maintenance and repair of the tunnel system will be a priority of mine as Governor and I will not accept excuses. The flooding situations this summer were caused by repairs identified back in 2005 and there is no excuse for the costly delay in making those repairs. Additionally, there must be a comprehensive plan to reduce congestion in and around Hampton Roads. I have such a plan that uses both new and existing resources in and around that region to increase capacity and improve efficiency.

Question: Traffic congestion in Northern Virginia is a serious problem. What are the most important and effective actions the next Governor can take to address this issue?
McDonnell: Traffic congestion in Northern Virginia presents a major threat to our quality of life and to thousands of businesses that depend on efficient transportation systems to sell products, attract employees and to continue being one of America’s innovation hubs. Several fundamental changes are needed to our approach.

First, projects that produce quantifiable and sustainable long term net benefits for taxpayers and that improve the ability to achieve performance objectives must receive priority over those that do not. The Commonwealth’s transportation investment strategy should not be “pro highway” or “pro transit,” it should be pro efficiency, pro mobility and pro taxpayer. Congestion relief and economic development must be the guiding forces.

Second, we must also reduce the time it takes to complete high priority projects. A competent government should be able to identify the right projects, take into account and mitigate the impacts of those projects and move forward expeditiously. I have outlines several specific reforms to address this issue in my transportation plan.

Third, we need to put in place a better strategy to operate and maintain the transportation capacity we already have. Through the use of innovative technologies, long lasting construction materials and new procurement strategies, we can begin to reduce the growing cost burden of maintaining our current system, improve its day to day operating performance and reduce the massive costs associated with expansion.

My statewide plan recognizes that in order to enable regions to continue to address needs unique to their respective areas of the Commonwealth, we need to establish accounts within VDOT which capture certain revenues generated within that region for specific transportation projects located there.

Revenue generated by tolling I-95 at the North Carolina border will be used to fund transportation improvements along the I-95 corridor. A properly structured tolling agreement would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars for Northern Virginia transportation needs. Further, 30% of all sales tax collected in Northern Virginia will be retained in the Northern Virginia regional account. It is estimated that this will total $105 million for Northern Virginia.

Question: In previous years, resources from Virginia’s Transportation Trust Fund were used for purposes other than transportation. Do you believe that Virginia should have a Transportation Trust Fund “lockbox” or some other mechanism to protect funds dedicated to transportation?
McDonnell: I will offer legislation to constitutionally prevent any use of the Transportation Trust Fund for other purposes and he will veto any budget item that attempts to spend these funds on anything other than transportation.

Question: Other than funding, what is the single most important transportation safety issue facing Virginia motorists and how will you address it?
McDonnell: Fifty-nine percent of the highway fatalities in Virginia took place on rural roads according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More and more I have been reading about fatal accidents on I-81 where truck traffic overwhelms small cars. To successfully tackle this problem, we need a combined strategy to deploy technologies, make infrastructure investments and educate our citizens. Our approach must also be driven by data – tackling the most dangerous locations first. Often, fairly inexpensive improvements to these locations can produce large reductions in crashes.