PREPARED REMARKS BY
DELEGATE JAMES M. LeMUNYON
67th DISTRICT (FAIRFAX/LOUDOUN)
BEFORE THE
COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND RESTRUCTURING
JULY 8, 2010
McLEAN, VIRGINIA
Mr. Chairman and Commission members, thank you for the opportunity to appear this afternoon. The work of the Commission encompasses a wide range of issues. I have already engaged several members on particular topics and I look forward to continuing to do so. I appreciate the willingness of the Commission to listen to ideas from private citizens and elected officials of the Commonwealth.
Today, I want to briefly discuss only one issue: House Bill 779, a bill I introduced during the 2010 session to address the urgent issue of reducing transportation congestion in Northern Virginia. For reasons I will explain, H.B. 779 is not only a transportation bill, but is also a government transparency bill, because it will increase the transparency of the decision making processes in selecting transportation projects for funding.
I call this bill to the Commission’s attention because it was formally referred to the Commission for consideration, by a vote of the House Transportation Committee, in February 2010. This occurred before the Commission was formally established and thus, I feel it is appropriate to testify to the bill with the hope that the Commission might favorably refer the bill back to the Committee for the 2011 General Assembly session.
A copy of the bill is attached. The purpose of this bill is to require that proposed transportation projects in the Northern Virginia construction district be evaluated quantitatively and rated according to which projects provide the “biggest bang for buck” in terms of congestion relief. Road, rail, and bus service projects will all be included for evaluation. The ratings would be determined using objective computer simulation methods commonly used in transportation planning. The results would be made public, but the bill does not require that any project be funded in a particular order. Instead, publicizing the list would permit voters and taxpayers to evaluate whether public officials are using limited transportation dollars to fund priority projects, or for some other purpose.
Candidly, it is my view that one reason why traffic congestion has persisted for so long in Northern Virginia is that projects have been funded without sufficient knowledge or regard for how a particular project compares to others in terms of offering congestion relief. In some cases, significant amounts of public money may have been spent for transportation projects that do not provide reasonable congestion relief for the region. This cannot continue if we expect to solve the region’s transportation problems.
You will note the bill specifies that the results be presented in two ways: according to which projects would provide the greatest congestion relief during typical peak periods in Northern Virginia, and separately, according to which projects would improve regional mobility in the event of a homeland security emergency in the national capital area.
Since the time that the bill was introduced, it has come to my attention that the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority has received a federal grant that would provide for computer simulation methods to be used similar to the provisions of the bill to evaluate proposed transportation projects. Currently, HB 779 specifies the Virginia Department of Transportation perform this work. However, I am not partial as to which public entity cares out these evaluations, but rather that they are performed. The Department of Planning and Budget in Richmond provided an impact financial impact statement for HB 779 during the session stating that VDOT must hire outside consultants to conduct the evaluations. Because NVTA now has grant money available, this impact statement is no longer immediately applicable to HB 779.
The NVTA grant money is for a single study of the region’s transportation system. However, it is important to ensure that such evaluations be conducted periodically, rather than episodically, that the ratings of specific transportation projects be made available to the public in an understandable way, and that all forms of transportation modes be included in the evaluation. It is also important that “ordinary rush hour” as well as homeland security emergency considerations are taken into account. For these reasons, HB 779 is necessary.
Mr. Chairman and Commission members, thank you for your attention. I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions now or during the course of the Commission’s work with the hope that the Commission will favorably refer the bill back to the House Transportation Committee, together with any improvements recommended.
# # #
