Vivian's Views > Transportation

COMMITMENT

No solution can be off the table in tackling this major problem; including enhanced transit, increased road capacity, Department of Transportation accountability and management, coordinated land use, private/public financing, user fees that track inflation, increased state and federal funding to Northern Virginia, intersection improvements, telecommuting, etc.

As a delegate in 1985, my work was key to changing the highway funding formula to more than double Fairfax’s share of state funds. As Secretary, among other achievements, I increased Metro funding 4-fold, forged 80% private funding to improve 16 miles of Rt 28, negotiated VRE use of railroad right of way, crafted the private toll road legislation for the Greenway, and chaired development of the first Northern Virginia unified land use and transportation plan. These landmark initiatives continue to be models for most of the current “new” ideas to solve transportation problems.

This year, I supported the use of the budget surplus funds to fund transportation; however, most of this money had to go to pay off the debt from the last administration. Even worse, because we’ve run out of maintenance funds, Northern Virginia transit and construction funds are now diverted to fix potholes throughout the state.

If transportation had continued to be funded at the level established when I was Secretary under Governor Baliles, Virginia would have spent over $3.5 billion more in the last decade on transit and road improvements, making congestion substantially less than it is today

INCREASED SHARE
The formula I helped get passed in 1985, automatically increases funding for local secondary roads with annual population growth. The formula I got passed as Secretary dedicates 15% of all construction funds to transit. I continue to push to change the formula for regional primary roads.

Despite bi-partisan co-sponsors, I lost HB2355 in 2005 and similar bills in 2004, 2003, and 2002. All of these bills would have doubled funding for Northern Virginia primary roads (ie, Rt 123, Rt 236, and Rt 50) by tying the funding to the number of vehicles miles traveled per lane mile. I refer to this as the "congestion factor."

I did a bill passed in 2002 (HB771) to ensure that Northern Virginia’s needs are fairly considered on an even playing field. It requires that transportation priorities be established using the same criteria statewide and that transit and road needs be considered side by side.

PROTECTING SCARCE TRANSPORTATION DOLLARS
I am not only fighting for increased funding, I believe it is crucial to prevent transportation dollars from being siphoned-off to fund other needs. I co-patroned HJ527 in 2005 to protect all transportation funds through a constitutional amendment and introduced. I also patroned budget amendments in 2004 and 2005 to stop Northern Virginia construction and transit funds from being used to fund maintenance statewide.

COORDINATING TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE
As Secretary, I chaired a year-long, unprecedented regional effort of top local officials, staff, and citizens that brought land use and transportation plans together for the first time to create a coordinated Northern Virginia Transportation Plan. I fully support the 2020 update of that plan, which includes a transit corridor between Springfield and Tysons Corner and rail out I-66.

REFORMING VIRGINIA'S DEPARTMENT OF TRANPORTATION
As Secretary, I cut construction time by 20% and increased employee efficiency by over 30%. After a decade of increasingly poor performance, it is crucial that reform efforts begun by Governor Warner in 2002 are continued. We must have accurate reporting of on time and on budget performance. Political promises can not be allowed to override honest budgeting. In 2002, fully 1/3 of the projects that had been promised in the next 6 years by the previous Governor had to be cut because funds never had existed to fund them.

In 2003, I was pleased to be the chief co-sponsor of legislation (HB2259) to put changes into law to plug prior abuses and allow us to hold VDOT accountable for on-time and on-budget performance. Part of this financial management reform can be found by going to http://dashboard.virginiadot.org. Instead of bogus numbers generated for a press release, you will find the actual figures being used internally.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR
I believe in finding win/win opportunities to make business full partners in funding their needs. 80% of the cost of widening 16 miles of Rt 28 from 2 lanes was paid for by a tax on business property that I negotiated. This is the finance model that will extend rail to Dulles.

2005 NEWSLETTER

Transportation ...a few facts
- We’ve run out of designated maintenance funds. Construction and transit money is being taken to fund routine maintenance.
- This region is 1st in the nation in carpooling. It’s 2nd only to New York City in transit use and has one of the highest percent of operating costs paid out of the farebox.
- About 15% of the cars on Virginia roads are tourists in addition to out of state truck traffic.
- Every state, except Virginia, has increased its gas tax since 1987. As a per gallon levy, it has lost over 60% of its buying power to inflation and fuel efficiency.
- Four years ago, only 20% of construction projects were completed on time. Now, 74% are on time and 80% are within budget.
- Snow removal costs were cut 16% by putting local VDOT offices in charge instead of running it out of Richmond.
- A 20-cent extra real estate tax on business property paid 80% of the cost to widen 16 miles of Rt 28 from 2 lanes into a freeway and is paying for further improvements.
- Metro is over 40 years old. Maintenance needs are over $1 billion, with $625 million required to have 8-car trains on 1/3 of the runs.
- In 2004, 3.6% of commuting trips were taken off Washington area roads by teleworking and compressed work schedules.
- My bill to change the state formula for distributing primary road construction funds (Rt 236, Rt 7) to reflect congestion (measured by vehicle miles traveled per lane mile) would double NV funding. However, money for roads numbered over 600 (Old Keene Mill, Braddock, Backlick) would increase only slightly because those funds already are distributed by population.
- The Mixing Bowl and Woodrow Wilson Bridge are being paid for with over 90% federal dollars. By 2014, we won’t be able to get such federal funding because we won’t have state funds needed for the match.

This partial overview of where we are and what we should ... indeed must do ... makes it clear:
There is no one solution to our transportation crisis.

CLOSE TO HOME
AUTHORED BY VIVIAN WATTS AND PUBLISHED IN THE WASHINGTON POST, JAUNARY 2005

Most Northern Virginians consider congestion the area’s No. 1 problem. Every year it gets worse. So why have policymakers done so little about it? Five reasons:

First, transportation improvements are big-ticket items that take years to benefit the public. If a politician votes to spend more on transportation, there’ll be nothing to show for it by the next election. Before the public sees any construction, years of work must go into assessments, engineering, and contract negotiation.

Even Metro improvements can take a long time. Purchasing new rail cars, for example, may require only a year, but redesigning the system to add as many eight-car trains as possible meant getting started way before riders began experiencing sardine-can conditions.

Second, because transportation improvements can’t happen by the next election, politicians are attracted to borrowing as a financing scheme. This avoids voter reaction to taking money from other priorities for roads or to increasing taxes.

Unfortunately, this something-for-nothing strategy has been dangerously over-used. Over 13 percent of our transportation budget now goes to debt service on past projects instead of meeting current needs. It could reach 20 percent within 5 years, in alarming contrast to 10 years ago when it was less than 2 percent of the state’s transportation budget. Gov. Mark Warner has proposed using part of this year’s general surplus to pay off a substantial amount of transportation debt; meanwhile, though, other politicians propose that the state take on even more debt.

Third, the need to reform the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is used as a convenient excuse not to raise the resources needed to do the job. In fact, the most critical reforms enacted in the past three years now ensure that VDOT cannot be directed to fudge figures so that politicians can promise what cannot be delivered. Before these reforms, a third of the six-year transportation plan had to be cut in 2002 when it was discovered the money wasn’t there to pay for it.
Fourth, politicians have been backed into a corner by their own inaction: Whatever they vote for now, it won’t be enough. No new state funds have been directed to transportation for 17 years, and during those same 17 years, traffic on Virginia roads grew three times faster than the state’s population, and the annual cost of highway maintenance tripled. Transit ridership is now the second-highest in the nation. The backlog of statewide transportation needs through 2025 has mushroomed to $200 billion, with $15 billion needed immediately in Northern Virginia.

Fifth, the role of user fees has been lost in the zeal to cut taxes. Cars go 30 percent farther on a gallon of gas than they did 17 years ago, but drivers pay no more for their extra road use. Other states maintained user contributions with periodic gas-tax increases. If Virginia had done the same, more than $2 billion in transportation improvements would be in place today. And all those traveling through the commonwealth—not just Virginians—would have paid for them.

Transportation improvements warrant funding through general tax dollars. Everyone benefits when they support needed economic growth and when alternatives reduce pollution. But the economics of charging users cannot be ignored. For example:
Titling taxes track inflation and reflect ability to pay.
License fees and tags tap all equally.
The road-use tax reaches interstate commercial activity.
The farebox tracks actual usage, and the gas tax is a user fee that ensures nonresidents contribute.
Public-private partnerships serve market niches willing to pay for better service.

There is no one answer. Multiple sources must be part of a comprehensive solution, protected by a constitutional amendment so transportation funds won’t be diverted. Continued VDOT reform and prioritizing statewide needs also are needed to increase the return on the dollar. However, the most critical issue is for Virginia lawmakers to act responsibly. It’s time to set aside political fears and excuses, reject window dressing, and do our job. It’s time for lasting solutions to the voters’ No. 1 issue.