Gov. Mark Warner rolled out his transportation plan Thursday. With his usual cautiousness, the plan isn’t likely to make much of a dent in the overall problem.
[U]nder his relatively modest attempt to begin solving the state’s many-billions-short transportation needs, Warner acknowledged that almost 80 percent of the new state and federal funds are one-time spending.
Approximately 40 percent of the total – about $374 million – flows from a state budget surplus, expected to be from $850 million to $1 billion. The bulk of the rest would come from federal dollars not earmarked for specific transportation projects.
Bowing to political realities, Warner did not revive his proposal – nixed by the assembly last year – to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance premiums to transportation.
Reaction to the governor’s program – most of which he has discussed for weeks without providing costs and some details – was positive. Most welcomed it as the first attempt to deal with the state’s enormous transportation demands, though environmental advocates were troubled that the plan does not address land development.
Note the comments from two legislators.
House Minority Leader Franklin P. Hall, D-Richmond, said Warner could not be too ambitious because of next November’s elections.
“It is an election year, so people are going to be very reluctant to step up with new proposals to exact new revenue,” Hall argued.
Sen. Martin E. Williams, R-Newport News, who heads the Transportation Committee, said that “a one-time fix isn’t what we need.
“We need a long-term solution,” Williams said. “We’re heading for a meltdown if we don’t have” a guaranteed new funding source for transportation.
Will Democrats again stay on the sidelines and watch as Republicans take the lead and fix transportation? There doesn’t seem to be the stomach for addressing the issue for one simply reason: lack of guts. Neither party will offer a sound plan, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Williams and moderate GOPers again show the way, while Democrats will either criticize it or say “Me, too.”
Two different stories describe VDOT.
Warner would fund initiatives to change how the much-maligned Virginia Department of Transportation does business.
It “will not solve all of our transportation needs, but it will change the way we do business. “Virginia expects nothing less with precious transportation dollars,” said Warner, who has chanted a “mantra of on time and on budget” to the now remarkably improved Virginia Department of Transportation.
OK. Is it still “much maligned” but “remarkably improved”? Or both?
Either way, here are the details of the Governor’s plan.
The $824 million breaks down this way:
$256.4 million to wipe out transportation debt. A chronic problem that plagues VDOT is the number of projects finished but not paid for, Warner said. This one-time cash payment will end debt financing.
$147 million for additional projects in Virginia’s six-year transportation plan. The Commonwealth Transportation Board will distribute this money by July 2005 to projects for highways, ports, transit providers and airports.
$140 million to create a revolving loan fund that encourages private firms to invest in public-private road-building projects. A private firm could use the money to develop a proposal, which can be expensive to produce, especially for large projects. It could also jump-start existing public-private ventures by providing up-front money until other revenues, such as money from tolls, start rolling in.
$97.4 million would be set aside for maintenance of roads, bridges and neighborhood streets.
$80 million to encourage cities and counties to manage, design, build and maintain their own roads. Under this plan, cities and counties that opt in would use this money to replace federal transportation dollars they receive. Then VDOT would allocate those federal funds to another project.
$80 million to invest in mass transit. Half of the money would buy more Metro railcars. Another $20 million would buy Virginia Railway Express cars.
And $10 million each would be set aside for Virginia Beach bus rapid transit and a statewide bus purchase.
$23 million each year to upgrade Virginia’s rail system. The money would come from the 3 percent tax paid on auto rentals.
Public-private partnerships are again being touted as a panacea by certain Republicans. House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) thinks public financing is “outdated.” Sort of like the Geneva Conventions, I guess.