VDOT nixes intersection safety effort

The Virginia Department of Transportation has scrapped a project to improve safety at an Albemarle County intersection where a 16-year-old girl was killed last month.

Citing a lack of funding, the agency has nixed its plans to widen a four-lane stretch of U.S. 29 between Polo Grounds Road and the Hollymead Town Center, as well as improve visibility at the highway’s intersection with Ashwood Boulevard.

On the morning of May 9, Albemarle High School student Sydney Aichs was killed at the intersection when a tractor-trailer crashed into her Chevrolet Cavalier.

The plan to improve safety at that intersection was among dozens of projects in Central Virginia that VDOT was forced to eliminate because of insufficient funds.

“That is an unsafe stretch of road,” Albemarle County Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker said Monday at a transportation town hall meeting hosted by Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville. “We’re all aware that there was a tragic death there recently. … That project was taken out because of a lack of transportation funding.”

The state is dealing with a $1.1 billion reduction in revenue for transportation projects. The shortfall was brought about by lower-than-projected gas and motor vehicle sales tax collections, as well as the repeal of the so-called abusive driver fees.

Early next week, lawmakers will convene in Richmond for a special session on transportation. On the table is a proposal from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine that would raise taxes and fees to pay for transportation projects.

A key component of Kaine’s plan aims to increase spending for maintenance of existing infrastructure. Under Virginia law, the state must pay for maintenance before new projects can begin. As a result, maintenance spending is siphoning away the state’s dwindling roads money, making it increasingly difficult to pay for much-needed improvements, said Barbara Reese, Virginia’s deputy secretary of transportation.

“The bucket is full of holes,” she said. “It’s draining out all the money we have for construction.”

To address maintenance costs, Kaine’s plan would raise the existing statewide motor vehicles sales tax from 3 percent to 4 percent and increase the statewide annual vehicle registration fee by $10.

Kaine’s plan would also increase the retail sales tax in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads by 1 percent. The money raised would go toward projects in those heavily congested regions.

Kaine has also proposed to establish a “transportation change fund” that would boost spending on alternative transit options, such as rail, carpooling, teleworking and other programs. To pay for this portion of his plan, Kaine proposed to increase the statewide grantor’s tax by 25 cents.

“We can’t solve transportation in Virginia by doing the same things forever,” Reese told the crowd during Toscano’s town hall at the Albemarle County office building on Fifth Street Extended.

Del. Edward T. Scott, R-Madison, said earlier in the day that it appears Kaine’s proposal lacks the consensus it needs to pass the General Assembly. Scott, who serves on the House Transportation Committee, said he does not like that Kaine’s plan features tax increases on car and home sales.

“Those are two industries that are hurting right now,” Scott said. “I question if that is good public policy.”

Scott added that he supports lawmakers finding out a way to restore regional funding authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Trip Pollard of the Southern Environmental Law Center said he would like to see additional spending for transportation alternatives. At least a third of any new cash, he said, should be allocated for transit, rail, bicycling and other eco-friendly improvements.

“We cannot pave our way out of congestion,” he said.

Harrison Rue, the outgoing director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, said the state needs to find a way to move forward on the transportation issue and approve new revenue streams.

“We’re not gridlocked, we’re fund-locked,” he said. “We’re stuck here until we can get some more money.”