Governor: We Need to Focus on Transportation

"It’s never going to be an easy commute because there’s always going to be a growing population in Northern Virginia,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said. “What we can’t do is be as far behind in the construction plans as we are now.”

that would spend $4
billion over the next three years in making road improvements and the money will also go toward the creation of a transportation infrastructure bank that would give low-interest loans to localities to help them build local projects.

McDonnell’s plan takes advantage of the economy’s effect on construction costs.
“We’re getting the best deals now than we’ve gotten in modern Virginia history on
road projects because developers and contractors are hungry to get back to work,
they’re hungry to create jobs for people,” McDonnell said.
The plan would also take advantage of historically low interest rates on floating
bonds.

“Why don’t we issue them right now when it’s the cheapest we’re ever going to see?”
McDonnell said. “To me that’s smart management.”

The money for McDonnell’s transportation scheme would come from a variety of
areas, including the issuing of $1.8 billion in accelerated bonds and $1.1 billion
dollars in GARVEE bonds, using federal funds to pay debt service. The transportation infrastructure bank would be funded by $250 million dollars found in a Virginia Department of Transportation audit last year, $150 million dollars from last year’s surplus, and money gathered from his hoped-for sale of ABC stores in Virginia.

McDonnell is against any raise in the commonwealth’s gas tax, saying the gas tax
revenues have declined in recent years as more fuel efficient cars and alternative
fuels are developed.

While traffic-choked Route 1 has seen some progress recently, for a long time many say it has suffered from neglect as an older “inner-suburb.” Residents have watched as other parts of Northern Virginia see new growth while its own shopping centers, motels and restaurants show some signs of neglect.

There might be some help on the way. McDonnell, who used to live in the area, told Patch on Friday that he hopes the Route 1 corridor sees some state funding for revitalization.

“There is a little bit [of funding available], we have got some Enterprise Zone, the economic development, $54 million package we’re submitting for community revitalization,” he said. “It’s not much, I think it’s maybe a couple of million dollars. Normally those things percolate up from the localities. I know the area well. Hopefully we can work with them on some of these funds to help.”