One of the more interesting questions I received this past week came on my weekly appearance on Weekend Virginia from host Fred Echols.
Fred asked me what would happen with transportation now that the Obama administration effectively pulled the plug on offshore gas and oil exploration and drilling for seven years. Provided the federal government agreed to it, at least a good percentage of the taxable revenues from the oil and gas drilling would have gone to state coffers; and, 70% of those, as passed by the General Assembly last year, were to fund transportation.
Now, there’s more to the discussion on transportation than oil and natural gas, but the debate has been so fixated on that particular funding mechanism that all of us, including myself, have lost sight on some of the other great things the administration has been doing to meet our transportation needs.
“The Governor has always proposed and supported a broad and comprehensive approach to meeting our transportation needs,” wrote Tucker Martin, the governor’s communications director via email. “Offshore proceeds were just one means by which to cumulatively fund transportation. The governor and top Administration officials are currently working on a number of additional proposals and policies to improve transportation statewide in the years ahead. Stay tuned for details of those as they are formally released.”
Martin continued by saying that in just the first 11 months of the administration the following has been accomplished regarding transportation:
- In April, the Commonwealth submitted a proposal to the Federal Highway Administration to allow Virginia to toll Interstate 95 at the North Carolina border – this proposal will generate a minimum of $30 million annually, with likely revenues closer to $60 million.
- The governor authorized the issuance of $492 million in Capital Project Revenue Bonds, and has asked the Commonwealth Transportation Board to issue a minimum of $300 million more each year during his term as Governor.
- The Governor’s Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring is examining hundreds of suggestions to reform our transportation programs and other government systems
- Significant structural, policy and procedural changes to create new efficiencies and lessen the cost of doing business
- Working to create a new PPTA office and to implement new procedural guidelines designed to streamline our process based on recommendations in KPMG’s audit of the Commonwealth’s PPTA program.
- VDOT is implementing the recommendations of an FHWA audit of the Virginia Transportation Research Council. These recommendations will help VDOT and other transportation agencies make better use of new technologies and products being researched and developed by the VTRC.
- Awaiting the results of JLARC’s audit of VDOT’s planning and programming divisions, which will streamline and simplify our processes for working with MPOs to plan for and program funding for local projects.
- The comprehensive VDOT performance audit ordered by the Governor upon taking office made over 50 recommendations to improve VDOT operations and identified $1.5 billion than can be invested in transportation projects.
- The audit, among other things, recommended:
- * Improving monitoring of federal projects and releasing balances on inactive projects;
- * Eliminating the federal reserve to better leverage existing resources;
- * Obtain FHWA approval to use toll credits for state match;
- * Reducing the construction reserve from 5 ½ months to 2 months; and
- * Reducing the annual maintenance carryover balance.
- The governor announced in his transportation speech at Dulles that these recommendations will enable VDOT to advertise and sign more than 350 projects totaling an additional $1.1 billion in construction and maintenance contracts by year’s end, with the remainder of the funds being allocated to projects in the Six-Year Improvement Program by the CTB.
- Aside from these steps to improve and reduce the costs of our transportation programs, the McDonnell administration is taking a number of steps to move forward with critical projects throughout the state:
- * Working with private sector partners to move forward on the I-95/395 HOT Lanes projects;
- * Over $71 million worth of spot improvements have been authorized by the CTB and are underway on I-66;
- * Canceled the dormant Route 460 PPTA process, and are in the process of evaluating 3 new proposals for the critical congestion reducing and emergency and military preparedness project;
- * Reach a comprehensive agreement with our private sector partners on the Downtown Midtown Tunnel/MLK Extension project early next year;
- * Evaluating a proposal to expand and improve the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel; and
- * Just last week, along with Maryland Governor O’Malley and DC Mayor-elect Gray. —in response to the Moving Metro Forward reports— the Governor requested a plan be put in place to optimize Metro’s safety, governance and efficiency- that plan should be complete and available in the coming weeks
