Category: Virginia

Leesburg Council Passes Resolution Against Bi-County Parkway

Posted on by Andrew Brown

The Leesburg Town Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to pass a resolution opposing the North-South Corridor and its components, despite firm requests – some have called them threats – from Loudoun Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York and Loudoun Chamber President Tony Howard not to do so.

The resolution opposes construction of the Bi-County Parkway (formerly the Tri-County Parkway until shifted west several years back), which is a component related to the North-South Corridor aimed at improving connectivity between Prince William County and Dulles International Airport and the surrounding area. The corridor itself actually refers to an area, not a specific road; however, the construction of the Bi-County Parkway would complete a new direct four-lane path from I-95 in Prince William County to Route 50 in Loudoun. In its entirely, it would link I-95 all the way to Route 7. All segments of that connection are planned for at least four lanes of traffic, with few interchanges and plenty of traffic lights.outer beltway 2

The Loudoun Chamber and Board of Supervisors as well as the state have put their support behind project, but a majority of the Leesburg Town Council believes the road would spark denser development in Loudoun’s Transition Policy Area and dump traffic on Route 7 that would overflow onto town streets.

“The problem I have with the North-South corridor is that … as with Prince William County, they’re concerned about protecting the Rural Crescent; in Loudoun we’re concerned about protecting the low-density transition area,” said Mayor Kristen Umstattd.

Umstattd and at least one other councilmember also pointed out that Interstates 95 and 81 were only four lanes in sections.

“I don’t want to see another I-95 or Interstate 81 coming up from 95 and dumping onto Route 7,” Umstattd said.

The Chamber’s Howard called that point “a completely misunderstood representation of what this project is proposed to be.”

Howard said the four-lane road, which would have traffic signal primarily instead of interchanges, would in no way resemble those interstates.

“I’m very disappointed in the vote,” Howard said. “The actions they took yesterday weren’t necessary. It’s not reasonable that Leesburg will see any increase in traffic, because the Bi-County Parkway is 15 miles away.”

Councilmember Marty Martinez said the council could not look only at the Bi-County portion of the corridor because the roads will all connect, and drivers will find them.

“They’re all going to connect eventually,” he said. “It is going to impact Leesburg and I have to be concerned about that.”

Councilwoman Kelly Burk said the chamber was putting business interests over those of residents.

“Economic development gets higher consideration than anything else – the environment, the community,” she said.

The council’s resolution included a list of projects it would prefer to see funded instead of the Bi-County Parkway, which the council requests undergo further environmental study.

Council members Kevin Wright and Tom Dunn voted against the resolution.

Opponents of the road held a conference call last week to offer an alternative plan that they said would keep 45,000 vehicles off of Loudoun’s roads. While those vehicles trips, the group acknowledged, would still exist somewhere in the region, they would have fewer impacts on the Manassas National Battlefield Park.

“The Bi-County Parkway makes conditions worse and doesn’t address some important needs,” said Stewart Schwartz, of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, one member of the group of opponents.

Opponents of the road have also argued that it primarily serves business needs, but forecasts show commuters would be the primary users, using the road to escape other congested routes. That would lengthen routes for commuters and prove a minimal benefit and other users crowd the new route, according to opponents.

Fin the full report with executive summary and appendices here.

The group offering the alternative vision for the parkway includes the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Piedmont Environmental Council, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Parks Conservation Association.

Virginia Sec. of Transportation Sean Connaughton, who is the former chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, previously presented his case for the road in an editorial letter; read the letter here.

Howard said the disagreement would not harm the relationship between the town and chamber.

“We’re still friends,” he said. “The chamber’s going to continue to advocate for the town’s projects.”

The council’s resolution included a list of favored projects, including interchanges at the Route 15 Bypass and Edwards Road, Battlefield Parkway and Route 7 and Battlefield and the Leesburg Bypass. In addition, the resolution urges support for construction of Crosstrail Boulevard between Route 7 and Sycolin Road.

Photo courtesy of VDOT.

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Bi-County Parkway in Virginia will add congestion, groups argue

Posted on by Andrew Brown

A coalition of groups critical of the proposed Bi-County Parkway has released a report it says bolsters its case that the roadway could worsen traffic congestion in Loudoun and Prince William counties.

Norman L. Marshall, president of Smart Mobility, which conducted the analysis using data from the Virginia Department of Transportation, said the north-south roadway would create new bottlenecks.

“Building the [Bi-County Parkway] would generate more overall traffic — and more north-south travel — in the study area than would be the case if the [Bi-County Parkway] is not built,” the report said.

The study, released last week, is the latest in the back-and-forth battle over the proposed parkway, which would provide a north-south connection between Loudoun and Prince William counties. Supporters of the roadway say it is needed to accommodate future population growth and promote economic development.

“We’re not just talking about the present, we’re talking about the future,” said Bob Chase, head of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, which backs the road. “The best way to ensure that more people in this region have shorter commutes is to provide more jobs closer to where people live and have a grid that gives them a chance to move north, south, east and west.”

But opponents argue that state officials need to focus on improving existing roadways — particularly east-west connections, such as Interstate 66 — before investing in new roads.

“We believe that their case just doesn’t hold up, from speculative cargo claims, to congestion, to impact on the historic resource and Rural Crescent, to their failure to invest in the many critical projects residents and commuters need today,’’ said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, one of the groups that commissioned the $12,000 study.

In a conference call with reporters, leaders of those groups said Marshall’s analysis found that a package of alternative roadway improvements they have proposed would do more to relieve congestion and preserve the historic Manassas Civil War battlefield than the Bi-County Parkway.

The coalition’s plan “addresses a broader set of goals and better protects a historic resource,” Schwartz said.

The Piedmont Environmental Council, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Parks Conservation Association also sponsored the study.

Earlier this year, VDOT conducted its own analysis of the proposed parkway and the list of projects proposed by the coalition. That study showed that if the parkway is built, traffic at many key points along the north-south route would improve.

VDOT’s “thorough” analysis indicates that the Bi-County Parkway is needed, said Tom Fahrney, the department’s project director for the parkway. The study recognizes that traditional commuting patterns have changed in Northern Virginia, he said.

“The jobs are starting to be located outside of the Beltway, and there’s a need for facilities like the Bi-County Parkway to get folks from Prince William to Loudoun,” Fahrney said. “If this road is not implemented, rural roads that are not safe will carry much more traffic than they are today, and we’ll have congestion and safety problems.”

Virginia transportation officials said the coalition’s study assumed that less development would take place in the area — a major difference between the two reports.

VDOT’s study also looked at the project alternatives proposed by the advocacy groups. Transportation officials said those proposals, which include improvements to the Route 28 and I-66 interchange, building interchanges on the Route 234 Bypass south of I-66 and extending Metrorail service from Vienna to Centreville, would cost more than $6 billion and take decades to complete. Coalition groups argue that VDOT’s analysis is misleading because their approach is far more comprehensive.

The coalition’s report comes at a time when some senior elected officials, including Del. Tim Hugo (R-Centreville) and Rep. Frank Wolf (D-Va.), say additional study is needed before the project moves forward.

In June, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, a state body, voted to advance plans tobuild the parkway. But an additional agreement in principle to build the road must be signed by VDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the state Historic Resources Department and the National Park Service before the project can more forward. State transportation officials hope that will be completed by this fall.

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RELEASE: Bi-County Parkway Would Increase Congestion and Damage Manassas Battlefield

Posted on by acustis

VIRGINIA — Today, a coalition of conservation, preservation, and smart growth organizations strongly questioned the overall benefit of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT’s) proposed “Bi-County Parkway” in Loudoun and Prince William counties. The groups released an analysis of the controversial new highway’s impact on the amount of travel and congestion — comparing it to a proposed package of projects that would improve transportation in the area. The analysis shows that the alternative projects would be more beneficial to the region than the Bi-County Parkway would be.

REPORT: Rethinking the Bi-County Parkway

REPORT: Rethinking the Bi-County Parkway

Posted on by acustis

The Virginia Department of Transportation’s (“VDOT”) own traffic modeling data reveal that the proposed Bi-County Parkway (“BCP”) would worsen, not relieve, traffic congestion. The same model shows that the comprehensive alternative offered by our coalition (termed the “Substitute Vision” by VDOT) will better address congestion in the study area, and better serve the dominant need for east-west traffic capacity—now and in the future.

Columbia Pike Streetcar Fact Sheet

Columbia Pike Streetcar Fact Sheet

Posted on by acustis

The Coalition for Smarter Growth supports the streetcar as a key element of bringing new life to Columbia Pike. The streetcar is a good idea. Here’s why:
Economic Development: Streetcars outperform regular buses in spurring economic development, a key need in Columbia Pike. The permanence of streetcar infrastructure has already boosted developers’ confidence in investing in the corridor.

In Arlington, state wants to develop and build over I-66 in Rosslyn, East Falls Church Metro

Posted on by Andrew Brown

Ross66

The proposed area in Rosslyn where Virginia is asking for possible development suggestions. The area in pink is the main area, the areas in light green are secondary possibilities.

Air rights are rapidly becoming a hot topic in Northern Virginia. Some heavy-hitters in Fairfax are pushing for development over the Silver Line stations on the Dulles Toll Road. And on Wednesday, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) announced that the state is seeking ideas from private developers about building over Interstate 66 in Rosslyn, and over the tracks leading to the East Falls Church Metro station, both in Arlington County.

The “Request for Information” by the state suggests the area of I-66 immediately adjacent to Arlington Gateway Park, or the “Rosslyn tunnel” as the radio traffic reporters call it, might be a good place to develop, and that the stretches of I-66 to the east of that area, and to the west of the park/tunnel, would also be possibilities. This would appear to be about three blocks from the Rosslyn Metro station, which the Request calls “the northern and eastern edges of the Rosslyn metro area.” In East Falls Church, which Arlington did an extensive plan for in 2011, the Request suggests building directly over the tracks on the east side of the Metro station, and then also in the south parking lot immediately adjacent.

“By leasing airspace above certain transportation facilities owned by the Commonwealth,” McDonnell said in a press release, “we can better utilize our existing infrastructure to generate additional revenues to fund future transportation improvements, while at the same time attracting new jobs and economic development.”

In addition to devising a comprehensive plan for East Falls Church, Arlington has also begun working on a plan for Rosslyn. County Board Chairman Walter Tejada said in the governor’s press release that “We will ensure that any potential transit-orientated development using these air rights in Arlington County is consistent with our community’s vision and is consistent with the county’s land use and transportation plans.”

EFC66


The proposed redevelopment area for the East Falls Church Metro station, with the prime area in pink, and the secondary proposed area in light blue.

Fairfax Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield), one of the big supporters of air rights along the Metro stations being built in Fairfax, applauded the move by the state’s Office of Transportation Public-Private Partnerships, in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation and Metro.

“Governor McDonnell, Secretary of Transportation Connaughton, and the partners responsible for this RFI,” Herrity said, “obviously see the value in air rights with their statement today, and see their feasibility in Northern Virginia. We should be exploring similar options along the Dulles Toll Road corridor.”

One problem that has been raised with sale of air rights, and likely becomes relevant again, is that there is no shortage of existing office space in Northern Virginia, and the cost of building over an existing Metro station or busy highway is, well, high.

Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth raised the question for Rosslyn about “whether they are getting close enough to buildout that air rights development might not have the effect of undermining existing plans and development being proposed.” At East Falls Church, he wondered how air rights would fit with Arlington’s new plan for the area, and whether it would again raise the issue of widening I-66, which Arlington has fought fiercely, and successfully, for many years.

There’s also the question of what this potential opportunity might do to the market for Tysons Corner. Developers are being recruited there on the premise they’ll be near Metro stations. Might this give those developers another option, without the tax burden imposed on businesses around the Silver Line, and hurt Tysons’ future growth? The future is wide open.

Bob Brosnan, Arlington’s director of community planning, housing and development, said that the state has promised to work with Arlington and abide by the plans the county has established for Rosslyn and East Falls Church. “Rosslyn does have a lot of development potential,” he said, but added, “we had never thought of doing development over the highway. Who knows what might develop?” Similarly, at East Falls Church, “the idea of going over 66 is nothing we had talked about before. If developers think there is a market, then we would be willing to entertain whatever proposals they have.” He thought development around either station could lead to better connections with the surrounding neighborhoods.

Sean Connaughton, the secretary of transportation, told me, “these two sites came up as maybe perfect projects for us in pursuing air rights. And if we’re successful here, we would for other places not only in Northern Virginia but throughout the Commonwealth, use air rights to spark development and use the money to defray the cost of transportation.” He did not think the development possibilities would take away from Tysons because they are different types of areas, Tysons already having two large existing shopping malls (and no parking around the new stations), Arlington being more commercial at Rosslyn and residential at East Falls Church.

Photos courtesy of the Office of Transportation Public Private Partnerships.

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Public weighs in on how to improve NoVa commuting

Posted on by Andrew Brown

wtopFAIRFAX, Va. – At the first of two Northern Virginia Transportation Authority public hearings Thursday, about 100 people showed up at Fairfax City’s city hall to discuss the best way to improve commutes.

Specifically, the NVTA wanted to get advice on how to spend about $192.5 million that will come from new taxes in Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation package, which takes effect July 1.

“While we want to work quickly, we also want to make sure we spend these dollars wisely,” said NVTA Chairman Martin Nohe, who also serves on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

The authority released a long list of projects, broken down into six corridors, with detailed descriptions of costs and congestion relief projections.

Delegate Jim LeMunyon, a Republican who represents part of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, handed out maps to NVTA members with red, yellow and green lines to describe congestion in Northern Virginia.

“In my view, the priority of the authority is to get the red off the map. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

But Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, testified that LeMunyon’s approach is too focused on cars and not enough on transit.

“The misguided approach of just trying to get the red out by widening roads and adding interchanges is only going to squander our tax dollars,” he said.

Schwartz advocates policies that promote sustainable communities where people can eat, work and play in one spot. He urged NVTA members to fund mass transit options that will solve congestion problems in the long term.

Several citizens who testified seemed to agree with this approach.

“Move the rail projects to the top of the list. Give them the highest priority because they’ll do the most good for the most people,” said Alexandria resident Gail Parker.

“When you’re looking at projects that are efficient, an automobile that’s only carrying one person is not a very efficient mode of transportation,” said Fairfax City resident Douglas Stewart.

Schwartz says constantly widening roads also could convince drivers to abandon carpools and go back to single-occupancy vehicles, which he says is a bad idea.

However, several residents also pointed to Route 28 projects as a good use of transportation dollars.

“Route 28 connects western Prince William to Fairfax and Loudoun and there are several shovel-ready projects that are just awaiting money and could help with congestion relief,” said Nohe.

Kerry O’Brien of Fairfax County is familiar with traffic on the roadway.

“Route 28 is severely congested during the rush hours now. Relief is needed now. It’s not needed in 2035, it’s needed now,” he said.

Jeff Fairfield of the Route 28 Station – South Study Working Group applauded the efforts.

“These projects are shovel-ready. The final designs are ready. The right-of-way has been secured. The construction contracts are ready to go,” he said.

But Jeanine Lawson of Prince William County urged caution.

“I ask you to closely scrutinize the project for widening Route 28 from Linton Hall Road to Fitzwater Drive. That road is on the border of Fauquier County, which isn’t covered in this tax, so I question why you’d do it. The money would be better spent in the Yorkshire section,” she said.

Lawson was referring to a particularly congested stretch of Route 28 on the Prince William County and Fairfax County border between Manassas and Centreville.

Nohe believes both the Linton Hall Road and Yorkshire projects could get money this year.

Currently, the list contains 12 road and 21 transit projects. LeMunyon wants NVTA members to reduce the list to three or four, but Nohe tells WTOP he thinks the final approval list will have 10 to 15 projects.

The NVTA will hold a second public hearing on July 24 at 6 p.m. at Fairfax City’s city hall, then hold a meeting where a few projects could get the green light.

Two more open houses will be held next week:

  • Fairfax County
    Date: June 26th
    Time: 7:00 p.m.
    Location: Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Rooms 4/5, Fairfax, Virginia.
  • Arlington County
    Date: June 27, 2013
    Time: 6:00 pm
    Location: Arlington County Board Room 300, 2100 Clarendon Boulevard Arlington, Virginia 22201

Photo courtesy of WTOP/Ari Ashe.

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Public Gets First Input On Transportation Bill Projects

Posted on by Andrew Brown

nvtaMembers of the public from Loudoun, Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties got their first chance to speak to the full board of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Thursday night in a public hearing discussing the projects that could receive funding from the General Assembly’s transportation bill that passed earlier this year.

Twenty-two people, including legislators, representatives of local advocacy groups and individuals giving their opinions, went before the board, and dozens more reviewed the almost 50 projects the NVTA is considering. The NVTA’s priority is finalizing a list of projects that will receive funding for FY14, when there is expected to be $190 million available.

NVTA Chairman Martin Nohe, the Coles District Supervisor in Prince William County, gave a 30-minute presentation before anyone spoke, explaining what the NVTA is and how board members plan to implement the funding. $1.6 billion is expect to come to Northern Virginia over the next six years from HB2313, 70 percent of which will be dispersed by the NVTA and 30 percent going directly to each locality: the four counties and the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park, Falls Church and Alexandria.

The money is intended, essentially, to relieve the high levels of congestion that have plagued the area for years, and only figure to get worse. The main bone of contention among those who spoke was the best way to go about doing that.

“There’s a lack of quantitative information right now to evaluate projects with different modes and different types,” Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67) who was the first to speak, said. “For every million dollars we spend, how many hours are we putting back into the lives of Northern Virginians? We need to know that.”

Residents in Prince William and Loudoun counties almost unanimously applauded the NVTA’s to fund the widening of several segments of Rt. 28 in Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties.

The projects proposed for FY14 funding are “hot spot” improvements between Sterling Boulevard and the Dulles Toll Road in Loudoun, expanding from two lanes to a four-lane divided roadway from Linton Hall to Fitzwater Drive in Prince William, and widening from three to four lanes southbound between the Dulles Toll Road and Rt. 50 and northbound from McLearen Road to the Dulles Toll Road in Fairfax County.

“I’m here to commend your decision to include the Rt. 28 hot spot improvements,” Jeff Fairfield, speaking on behalf of the Rt. 28 Tax District Landowners Advisory Board, said. “These improvements will alleviate congestion. There’s been a tremendous improvement on removing traffic lights, yet we now experience congestion due to a lack of lane capacity.”

“Rt. 28 relief is needed now,” Gary O’Brien of Manassas said. “There are currently several disconnected projects. What it needs is more transportation capacity, right through the system. Try to consolidate the little plans into a larger system.”

Arlington County Supervisor Chris Zimmerman, the chairman of the Project Implementation working group, said the list of projects proposed for funding was built from existing transportation plans, such as the NVTA’s TransAction 2040, and are closest to “shovel-ready.”

“Our aim has been to, No. 1, follow the law” Zimmerman said. “We began by reviewing what the statutes require of us. In developing criteria, that was first and foremost. It has been our intention to use objective criteria and quantifiable criteria to the greatest degree possible. That is what we have been trying to accomplish.

“Many of the projects, by their nature, will take multiple years to do and have multiple parts. It’s a very complex network; there isn’t a silver bullet. It will take a lot of fixing in different places.”

Many Prince William County residents spoke against potential funding of the Bi-County Parkway, a controversial transportation project stretching from I-95 to Rt. 50 in Loudoun, but the project is not among those included for FY14 funding or on the Six-Year Plan.

Perhaps the most scrutinized debate will be how many funds are devoted to transit projects, pedestrian or bicycle projects, and how much will simply be devoted to increasing capacity on the roads network.

“In a great metropolitan area, you cannot ‘get the red out,’” Stewart Schwartz, the executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said about relieving intense traffic jams. “We have to account for induced traffic. For the peak-hour commute, there’s nothing better than high-capacity transit. I urge you to resist a return to the old approach, which didn’t work, and focused on a transit-oriented, walkable bikeable future that we need to have.”

The NVTA will hold another public hearing July 24 before deciding upon the final FY14 list at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, at Fairfax City Hall. The public comment period before the Project Implementation’s next working group will close next week. The form, and submittal information, can be found here.

Photo courtesy of Leesburg Today.

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Six-Year Improvement Program: a Blueprint for Failure

Posted on by Andrew Brown

bacon

 

With the adoption of the new Six-Year Improvement Program, the details of Governor Bob McDonnell’s transportation priorities plan are coming into clearer focus. There are some worthy elements to the plan but glaring deficiencies guarantee that Virginia will see minimal benefit from the billions of dollars dedicated to new construction.

On the positive side of the ledger, it is heartening to see that Virginia will get serious about meeting its statutory maintenance obligations. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will spend an estimated $2.3 billion over the next six years to rehabilitate aging bridges. Roughly one in eleven bridges in the state is rated “structurally deficient.” (See “Bad Bridges” for details). VDOT also will dedicate 25% of its formula revenues to repairing deteriorating pavement on state interstates and primary roads. (It’s not clear from published reports, however, whether this work will address the aging sub-structure of these roads, which account for much of the deterioration.)

Second, VDOT will apply 5% of formula revenue to “smart roadway” projects, which will utilize sensors, video, wireless communication, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to do a better job of synchronizing traffic signals, clearing accidents and communicating information to drivers. If executed properly, these investments can increase the capacity of existing traffic arteries at significantly lower cost than constructing more lanes.

On the other hand…. Stewart Schwartz, executive director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, sums up the negatives in a press release issued yesterday after the Commonwealth Transportation Board meeting:

“We are shocked by the lack of discussion of the spending priorities in the Six-Year Plan, by the failure to tie the program to specific policy goals, and the assumption that simply adding road capacity will solve our transportation problems.  The plan includes a number of wasteful mega-projects that have been strongly criticized as unnecessary including Route 460 ($1.4 billion), the Coalfields Expressway ($2.8 billion), Charlottesville Bypass ($244 million), N-S Corridor ($1 billion plus), and a long range $11.4 billion plan for I-81.

The CTB doesn’t understand the benefits of more efficient land use – of cities, towns, and compact transit-oriented development –  along with transportation demand management programs (carpooling, telecommuting etc), that reduce driving demand.  They don’t understand changing demographics and market demand that have led to big declines in vehicle miles traveled.  The plan includes just 9% of the total for transit even though 69% of the state population lives in the Urban Crescent.

In short, we believe this program will be remembered for squandering billions of tax dollars while making Virginia’s patterns of development less efficient, more oil dependent and less competitive.”

I couldn’t have said it better. My only point of difference with Stewart is that I have no faith that the extra $500 million allocated to rail and public transportation (bringing the total to $2.9 billion) will be spent any more effectively than the money dedicated to roads. When funding decisions are based upon politics rather than objective Return on Investment analysis, the potential exists for rail and public transit projects to be every bit as wasteful as road projects.

Virginia’s decision-making process for allocating transportation dollars is a mess. It is bureaucratic, cumbersome and lengthy. Once projects make it into the pipeline, they rarely get re-evaluated in the light of changing travel trends or market conditions. The CTB exercises no independent review over the priorities handed down by the McDonnell administration. Functioning as regional advocates and conduits of information to the administration, CTB representatives do their most important  work behind the scenes. By the time projects are formally reviewed during CTB meetings, the decisions have already been made. Additionally, there are major transparency issues associated with Public Private Partnership mega-projects. The need for confidentiality when the state negotiates with private-sector partners conflicts with the need for public disclosure before the final deal has been struck.

The McDonnell administration has made no effort whatsoever to address these process issues. It has made no effort to re-evaluate projects in the funding pipeline in the light of new demographic, travel and development trends. And it has made no effort to better align transportation planning and land-use planning. The entire approach has been marked by spending as much money as possible to build as many projects as possible. Bottom line: The McDonnell administration has borrowed billions of dollars and raised our taxes in order to pour more money into a broken system.

Photo courtesy of James Bacon.

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