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As for roads, we're on our own
Region to find local solutions to transportation issues By CHELYEN DAVISDate published: 11/16/2004 By CHELYEN DAVIS
With little state money available for new transportation projects, the Fredericksburg region needs to band together and seek local solutions to its transportation problems. That was the gist of the message at a transportation conference held yesterday by the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce. The conference drew businesspeople and local government officials from the area to hear Virginia Transportation Commissioner Philip Shucet and others discuss the state's transportation situation. They met at the Holiday Inn Select in Fredericksburg's Central Park. Chamber President Linda Worrell said the chamber held the conference to find a way to focus its efforts. The region's transportation problems, and finding a solution to them, is the chamber's top priority, she said, because congested roads affect commerce. "To say there's no money, therefore there's no solution, is not reasonable," Worrell said. Having the region's leaders and transportation groups--such as the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization--on the same page as far as the region's transportation needs is key to finding a solution, said panelists at the conference. "We're suffocating from a transportation standpoint in this area," said Commonwealth Transportation Board member Ambrose Bailey of Fredericksburg. "We can all work together. The money has got to come more locally, and I am so frustrated with that." Shucet said the situation with the state's road and transit system is beyond crisis. "I seriously worry that we might have let the crisis lapse into a dangerous decline downward," he said. Shucet explained that this year, the state is spending $1.3 billion on maintenance of existing roads, and less than $800 million is going into new construction projects. With maintenance growing at 4 percent a year, the problem will only be worse next year. By fiscal 2010, Shucet said, less than $500 million probably will be going to new construction, if the transportation program remains on its current path. That's hurting the industries, like construction companies, that get a lot of their business from VDOT, Shucet said. "We're disinvesting in transportation in Virginia," he said. Putting more money into transportation is the most obvious solution, but how much--and where to get it--is a thorny issue that's likely to dominate the upcoming legislative session.
Date published: 11/16/2004
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