Archive for the ‘Transportation’ Category
Should we plan land use first, or transportation – or do them together? A lesson from Albemarle County that applies to Avendale
The Free Enterprise Forum representing the business community in Albemarle County recently declared “Land use should inform transportation decisions, but the transportation decisions should be made in a larger regional context.”
The business community in Albemarle is pushing that perspective as part of its fight against the Places29 Master Plan component of the county’s Comprehensive Plan. Business community opponents are concerned about the proposed cost of the plan, including six new grade-separated interchanges on Route 29 north of Charlottesville.
Interesting philosophy – recognize first the locations where we can accommodate the traffic generated by new growth, plan for new development in those locations, and base land use revisions on just those projects with a reasonable expectation of being built over the next 20 years.
(You could say twist the Albemarle business community’s logic and say “Build all the transportation projects desired by regional partners first, and then consider the needs of individual jurisdictions later.” In that scenario, Northern Virginia would build cross-boundary projects that affect multiple jurisdictions, such as the Western Transportation Corridor, before upgrading intersections on the Prince William Parkway. When we start electing people to regional offices, rather than county/city offices… then elected regional officials can impose new regional taxes to pay for regional projects – and regional priorities will include a feedback loop, so the citizens who pay taxes can elect regional officials with the “right” priorities.)
The fiscal sanity of Albemarle’s businesses makes a striking contrast with the approach of Prince William County’s politicians and land developers…
who will build the road to Dulles
The “road to Dulles” cheerleading is beginning to swell – see the November 1 news story.
Sometimes, the cheerleading is for the extension of Route 234, north of I-66 to meet Loudoun Parkway at Braddock Road. Other times, the “hey, you gotta build this road, because…” chanting is for the Tri-County Parkway route, extending Godwin Drive from Sudley Road north through Bull Run Regional Park in Fairfax County.
Realistically – there won’t be much, if any, funding for new transportation projects in Virginia, now or in the future.
But now we know how county politicians claim the new road(s) will be funded.
Flexibility for developers (“Hey, let’s see if Mikey will eat it…”)
Ever see the TV commercial for Life cereal, where the older boys fed some cereal to the youngest kid to see if Mikey would eat it?
The developers are doing the same to Prince William and Loudoun counties, telling the supervisors in both places that “flexibility” is required for new development. According to Leesburg Today, the developers are even pitching the same Powerpoint about Fairfax Corner. (If you attended the October 21 session for the Prince William “business community” to comment on the draft Land Use and Transportation chapters, you’ll remember that long, long, long presentation at the end.)
Just what do the developers mean by “flexibility”? If they can get both Prince William and Loudoun to swallow what they’re selling, how will that shape where offices are built?
VTrans2035 (draft State Transportation Plan) ready for comment starting November 2
In the past, the long-term transportation plans for the state and Northern Virginia have included every big construction project that could be imagined – including a new bridge across the Potomac River from Dumfries to Charles County, Maryland. The last one, VTrans2025, was completed in 2004… before the state acknowledged that maintenance costs for existing infrastructure would consume all the money, leaving very little flexibility for new construction.
These fiscally-unconstrained, financially unrealistic “wish lists” have then been portrayed by the Washington Post, the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, and others as “plans” that required funding. Heard about a $100 billion backlog of unfunded projects in Virginia? Don’t believe it – lots of unnecessary, subsidize-new-sprawl-just-like-the-old-sprawl projects that should never be funded in those old fiscally-irresponsible proposals.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has drafted a new statewide long-range multimodal transportation plan, VTrans2035. Check out your invitation to comment by November 30.
(See if new roads/transit services are intended to match where new population growth will be concentrated, or if the “wish list” is still designed to subsidize developers and sprawl new growth away from job centers, through projects such as the Route 234 Bypass.)
Tysons Corner redevelopment – and how it will affect Prince William
According to the Washington Business Journal, it will cost $15 billion to redevelop Tysons Corner. That includes increasing housing from 17,000 to 100,000 people, adding a $5.2 billion Metrorail Silver Line, and a few other “minor” details.
If you think extending Route 234 to create a new commuter road west of Dulles Airport will somehow attract office jobs to Gainesville… you are ignoring reality. Companies that expand/build along the Silver Line will be connected directly to both DC/Dulles by Metrorail, as well by major highways.
If you think Prince William can pry state/Federal dollars away from the never-ending redevelopment of Tysons Corner in Fairfax, and get other taxpayers to fund a Metro extension to a shopping center near Woodbridge as a national priority… you’re delusional. We don’t even have a business community that would endorse a tax district to finance the local share of any Metro extension to Prince William.
Prince William will never be closer to Dulles, Tysons, or DC than other jurisdictions competing for government contractors to build satellite office buildings. Loudoun and Fairfax will always be closer.
How will Prince William compete? Will we simply tell companies “Land in Prince William costs less – move to a cheap county”?
Read the rest of this entry »
The latest spin on the Tri-County Parkway (Manassas, pay attention…)
When we finally “get real” about funding new roads and transit, the Virginian-Pilot summarized on October 24 what will happen: “There’s going to be a lot of losers and a few winners.” It was describing how the lack of money was going to affect the long-planned Southeastern Parkway connecting Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
What’s true in Hampton Roads is true in Northern Virginia, and a good model for the proposed Tri-County Parkway. Virginia’s transportation funding crisis, and the inability of the Federal Government to shovel money into a new Federal Highway Bill for another 6 years, will force responsible politicians across Virginia to act like adults instead kids staring at the candy behind the counter, saying “I want one of each – no, two of those.”
Manassas officials who want a bypass that extends Godwin Road to I-66, relieving Center Street of the commuter congestion and making downtown more “livable,” are about to see that route disappear – just like the Southeastern Parkway, which was also approved by state Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) in 2005. Read the rest of this entry »
“Catlett Developers to Seek 950 Homes”
That’s the headline in the October 21 Fauquier Times-Democrat.
Think the “Village of Catlett” will add 950 new jobs on the Route 28 corridor in Fauquier County, to match the 950 new homes? Sprawl continues when we locate houses over there, but locate jobs over here. Inevitably, we create new congestion on highways between the two places.
“Village” residents headed down Route 17 will add to the morass at the red lights between Celebrate Virginia and Interstate 95. Workers headed up Route 28 to Tysons Corner/DC will increase the congestion in downtown Manassas. A few commuter rail users might compete for parking at the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) station in Broad Run.
The developer proposes to expand Route 28 to four lanes – but only at Catlett. That will create an hourglass shape of the highway, with a bulge of 4 lanes surrounded by 2-lane segments north and south of Catlett.
Who do you think will pay to widen Route 28 between Catlett and Bristow? (Hint: look in the mirror, then in your wallet…)
If Spotsylvania joins VRE, it could save Prince William $500,000/year. Gee, let’s turn around and give that money to Fauquier, Culpeper, and Warren counties…
Seventeen years after extending the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) to Fredericksburg back in 1992, 900 riders/day from Spotsylvania County are regularly using the commuter rail system. However, Spotsylvania County doesn’t contribute a thin dime to support VRE operations.
According to the proposed Revisions to the Virginia Railway Express Master Agreement to Add Spotsylvania County, Prince William pays over $6 million every year to VRE to subsidize the commuter rail system. That’s more than Fairfax, and over 100% more than Stafford.
Why? Simple answer: Prince William contributes so many more riders to the VRE commuter rail system. VRE is not funded only by the users; fares are heavily subsidized by taxpayers who never hop on a train. Residents of Fauquier, Culpeper, and other counties who do not belong to the Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC) or Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) are getting a “free ride,” since those counties provide no subsidies to match the number of residents who use VRE.
Read the rest of this entry »
Virginia road funding to be cut another $877 million… so what’s Plan B for solving the transportation problem in Prince William?
Former Governor Baliles provided the old solution, when the Richmond Times-Dispatch asked for an assessment of the transportation challenge facing the new governor Virginia will elect on November 3. Baliles had a one-word response to the “what’s needed to solve the transportation crisis” question.
His answer: “Money.”
We’re deep into another election cycle filled with the standard politics of “promise new projects, get elected, then give excuses.” All the promises for new roads, expanded Metrorail/VRE, high-speed rail, and ferries on the Potomac River are empty, equivalent to what information technology professionals describe as vaporware.
Unless someone finds new money for new projects (i.e., raises taxes or cuts existing services to transfer $$$ to transportation…) , we’ll hit the wall in a year or two. There will be no new road building, no new transit expansion, no increase in transportation capacity because there’s no new money. Virginia is even running out of money to maintain what we have already built.
Supervisors asking state to raise taxes, and rob ROVA to fund transportation in NOVA
How will Prince William get new roads, commuter rail services, and maybe even a ferry up the Potomac River – even though the Virginia Department of Transportation is almost broke?
The county’s draft 2010 legislative agenda requests the General Assembly to “secure new transportation funding to bolster existing highway and transit revenue sources.” The draft legislative agenda also says “Prince William County does not suppport diverting existing General Fund revenue streams to transportation.”
That leaves two options: raise taxes, and divert transportation revenues to Northern Virginia (NOVA) and away from the Rest of Virginia (ROVA).
