Bob McDonnell Releases Comprehensive Transportation Plan

Yesterday, Bob McDonnell offered a Comprehensive Transportation Plan, while his Democrat counterpart Creigh Deeds remained silent about what type of plan he would propose. McDonnell’s transportation plan includes the privatization of the Virginia ABC stores, issue $3 billion in available bonds for transportation, and support future bond issuance of $1 billion for highly congestive areas, audit VDOT to find and eliminate waste and inefficiencies, and working to expand I-66 (or I-666, as I lovingly refer to this stretch of highway), completing Rail to Dulles on time, and complete the HOT lanes on I-495, I-395/95. You can read more about McDonnell’s plan here.

McDonnell’s transportation plan will no doubt get Virginians moving, instead of sitting in gridlock. This plan highlights the potential of job growth due to these transportation improvements. McDonnell said,

“We do need to invest more in transportation. We must make transportation a priority in the nearly $80 billion budget of Virginia. But, equally important, we also need to focus more on performance and efficiency. We must spend the taxpayer’s dollars wisely and make prudent decisions based on what will best get goods to market and Virginians to work. The proposals I am making are wide-ranging and bold. They are the right steps to improve our transportation system. We will bring new revenue to transportation by privatizing Virginia’s ABC system. We will pass legislation to retain port revenue in specific regions for transportation projects. We will get bonds issued and utilize more public-private partnerships. We will implement an external performance audit of VDOT to find efficiencies and where we can do better. And we will dedicate a percentage of new revenue growth to transportation. These are just some of the policies that we will enact to improve Virginia’s transportation system.”

“The policies we propose are tied directly to the projects that we will start or complete over the next four years. We can directly measure our success on this issue in the amount of time Virginians spend in traffic, and the congestion we find on our roads. To reduce commute times and lessen congestion we will widen I-66, in and out of the Beltway. We will choose a site and plan for the Third Crossing in Hampton Roads and get that project underway. We will upgrade Route 460 from Suffolk to Petersburg to help get citizens out of Hampton Roads in case of a hurricane, while helping get trucks in to Hampton Roads’ growing port facilities. We will improve I-81 in the Valley. And we will work with our federal partners to get high speed passenger rail built from Washington D.C to Richmond to Hampton Roads.”

It’s time to get out of gridlock and elect Bob McDonnell as Governor and re-elect Bill Bolling as Lieutenant Governor who are going to dedicate themselves to put Virginia on the moving track again.