Reaction to Governor McDonnell's 6 Year Transportation Program
COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH
Statement by Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Reaction to Governor McDonnell's 6 Year Transportation Program
For Immediate Release
June 15, 2011
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth
W: 202-244-4408 ext 121
C: 703-599-6437
stewart@smartergrowth.net
On Borrowing:
“While we are pleased that funding for transit and rail is relatively high and has stayed near the levels achieved since the 2007 transportation deal, the Coalition for Smarter Growth remains concerned that the new 6-Year Plan is so dependent on massive additional borrowing, that revenues will be severely reduced in the future. The plan also lacks a coherent approach to linking land use and transportation to reduce congestion.
On the Failure to Adequately Address Maintenance:
The Administration has failed to fully outline the extent of the state’s maintenance backlog or to allocate enough funds to reduce that backlog, particularly the $3.7 billion in structurally deficient bridges and the billions in deficient pavement. Additional transfers should have been made from the capital fund to maintenance in order to fully comply with the wise requirement in state code that maintenance be fully funded first.
On the Diversion of Borrowed Funds to Private Toll Roads for Unneeded Projects:
Finally, of greatest concern, is why the state is diverting hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize private toll road builders for unneeded and ineffective projects like Route 460 and the Coalfields Expressway, or why we haven’t considered any alternatives for I-95 other than private toll lanes.
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