Blog Archives
Lesson #122: Why Driving in Snow can be dangerous?
Ouch! This is exactly why I have not ventured out in this stuff. Be careful out there!
Speed Limit Increase Passes Virginia House and Senate
Today, both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly passed Governor Bob McDonnell’s proposal to raise the speed limit on rural highways to 70 miles per hour. This proposal had support on both sides of the aisle, and now, the two bills will be voted on again by the House and Senate before going to the Governor’s desk for a signature. In the House, Del. Bill Carrico (R-Galax) sponsored the bill, while Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg) was the patron of the Senate version.
McDonnell released the following statement on the speed limit increase:
Speaking about today’s vote, Governor McDonnell remarked, “I thank Delegate Bill Carrico and Senator Steve Newman for their successful advocacy of this important proposal to speed up traffic in rural and less populated sections of Virginia. As today’s votes in both chambers demonstrate, there is broad bipartisan support for this common-sense idea. 32 states already have 70mph speed limits, and 13 allow motorists to drive 75mph. This slight increase in our speed limit will be safe for motorists and help get Virginians to their destinations a little quicker each day. This is an important early step towards our common goal of improving transportation in the Commonwealth.”
Senator Steve Newman noted, “Increasing the speed limit to 70mph on Virginia’s highways will help commuters get to their destinations more quickly and safely. Virginia now joins 33 other states that have increased their speed limits above 65mph and I applaud Governor McDonnell’s leadership on this issue.”
Delegate Bill Carrico added, “I’m pleased that the bill to increase the speed limit on rural stretches of highway to 70mph has passed both houses of the General Assembly. This is a common-sense reform that will make sure highway traffic moves at a more uniform speed on Virginia’s highways.”
This is a good thing, as many states have enacted this in rural areas with little to no increases in traffic accidents.
McDonnell to Reopen Rest Stops
The Washington Post reports that Governor-elect Bob McDonnell plans to reopen rest stops within 90 days after his inauguration. This good news for all travelers, especially if you need a rest break on a long trip down I-95. McDonnell’s plan is to shift money within the Department of Transportation and allowing for businesses to adopt a rest stop.
While this is one possible way, what about privatizing the VAABC stores? This takes some considerable time, especially considering that the General Assembly needs to address this issue during session. Since private business can’t buy rest stops, privatizing VAABC stores is the only viable alternative.
Another point mentioned in this article is the fact that McDonnell has pledged that there will be no tax increases and has promised to amend Governor Tim Kaine’s budget if there is any mention of the increase (especially the car tax). A tax increase is the last thing that Virginians need right now, and McDonnell has pledged to cut government spending as one possible way to generate revenue.
Are you a Hybrid Owner? Beware!
If you are a hybrid owner and live in Virginia’s 86th District, there could be another tax on your car shortly. Stevens Miller, who is running against Tom Rust, has proposed wanting to raise taxes on hybrid vehicles and aircraft.
Just last year, when the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors was considering raising taxes on both hybrid vehicles and aircraft that flew out of the Loudoun airport, Miller (who serves Dulles District supervisor) was enthusiastic about this idea. According to Loudoun Extra, Miller said,
“The incentive is no longer necessary,” Miller said. “Although I’m a big proponent of the technology, the harsh reality is that we’re giving tax breaks to drivers of luxury hybrid SUVs that get fewer miles per gallon than fuel-efficient cars.”
Miller said he believes that rather than eliminating the tax incentive, the board should “move it forward” and focus on the next technology, all-electric vehicles, by offering owners of those kinds of vehicles a tax cut.
Hybrid vehicles are designed to be fuel efficient, and in fact, purchasing hybrids have been encouraged by Congress, etc. for their fuel standards, etc. Adding an additional tax to a vehicle that is already expensive and to a vehicle with excellent fuel standards (especially when environmental reforms are being debated at the Federal level) does not make sense. Considering that there are many hybrid owners in the 86th District, I wonder how this proposal will impact their views of Miller.
Virginia Ranks Last on Spending Transportation Stimulus Funds
Yesterday, U.S. House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Governor Tim Kaine that Virginia ranks DEAD LAST in spending the transportation stimulus funds (and Virginia was also the last to request them).
According to the letter, Virginia has only spent 17% of the funds available on projects that are currently underway. This is pretty devastating for our Governor, especially considering that he has spent more time away from the Commonwealth dealing with DNC business.
Since Tim Kaine has been Governor, we have not seen any initiative from him on job creation or addressing budget issues in a serious manner. To say that he has been the worst Governor in Virginia’s history might be an understatement.
Cruisin' Chuck: Vacation More Important than Fixing Transportation
Is vacation more important than doing your job? Evidently, during the special transportation session held in 2008, Del. Chuck Caputo had better things to do than serve the people of the 67th District. The better thing was a cruise. According to the Washington Post’s Virginia Politics blog, Amy Gardner reports that Caputo is getting slammed for this by his opponent, Jim LeMunyon. Of course, Caputo mentioned that he would be able to return on a day’s notice if anything important came up. I guess dealing with transportation issues, especially since most of your district commutes into the city every day for work, is not that big of a deal.
LeMunyon calls Caputo out on his vacation:
“Chuck Caputo missed 15 important votes. A close reading of the House Minutes from the Special Session suggests there was quite a bit of jockeying on the House Floor and behind the scenes related to various transportation bills and amendments. As most voters know, it’s common in a legislative process that important decisions are often made behind the scenes. It’s unfortunate that the people of the 67th were not represented behind the scenes or on the House Floor in a way that would have made the overall result of the Special Session more beneficial to Northern Virginia.”
“Missing these votes is also contrary to his claim that improving transportation has been his top priority since he was elected. Chuck Caputo should have been in Richmond providing leadership and working on a bipartisan basis to broker a deal ensuring critical transportation funding for Northern Virginia. Maybe this explains why he recently removed the following statement from his website: No one has done more to improve transportation in Western Fairfax County than Delegate Caputo.”
“The 67th District has arguably the worst traffic congestion of any of the 100 House Districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The votes Chuck missed were, by any objective measure, some of the most significant pieces of transportation legislation in many years. Regardless of the closeness of the votes, the people of the 67th District deserved to be on the record.”
“As I have said all along, Chuck Caputo is a decent man and good citizen. But he let us down by skipping these votes. I applaud him for finally going on the record today about this issue.”
LeMunyon also sent out two mailers into the district, which you can see here and here.
Creigh…Where's Your Transportation Plan?
So far, we have not seen a transportation plan from Creigh Deeds. At Monday’s Labor Day Parade in Buena Vista, Deeds was asked by a reporter whether or not he has a plan for transportation.
Reporter: Are we gonna see something a little bit more detailed before the debate up in Fairfax?
Deeds: You know, Jeff, I’ve laid out a pretty detailed plan.
Several newspapers (Waynesboro News-Virginian, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roanoke Times, and The Washington Post) have all noted the lack of a transportation plan from Deeds. Crickets are still chirping and we are still waiting to see the Deeds transportation plan.
Taxes on SUVs and Minivans–What will the Dem Candidates think of next?
One of the Democrats running for the House of Delegates in Virginia is proposing that we “charge vehicle property taxes in a way that corresponds to each driver’s contribution to congestion and excessive road wear, e.g., by weight of vehicles.” Democrat Sue Conrad is running for Delegate against Tim Hugo in the 40th District, and she proposed this idea on her website. Conrad stands in favor of taxing your SUV or Minivan (if you own both, make that a double tax).
Considering that the 40th District (which comprises of Clifton and Centreville’s many back roads), many residents own either a SUV or Minivan. Do they deserve an additional tax for their vehicles? No. In fact, Conrad is proposing another nanny state regulation that will not address the transportation woes facing many commuters in her district. In this economy, many people can not afford to be slammed with another useless tax.
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.
R.I.P. Rest Areas
At midnight, several rest stops throughout Virginia will be closed due to the impending budget crisis. Too bad, if you need to pull over to take a stretch break on a road trip. I guess this will begin to bring about more car accidents due to driver fatigue. However, there were other solutions other than closing rest stops, as State Senator Mark Obenshain and Delegate Todd Gilbert have called for an outside audit of VDOT, which would have found better targets for elimination.
Since Congressman Frank Wolf’s request to allow privatization of rest areas throughout Virginia was rejected, other officials have sounded off about this, including Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling. McDonnell has pledged to re-open all of these rest stops within 90 days of taking office in January.
McDonnell has pledged the following:
* The immediate creation of an “Adopt a Safety Rest Stop” program with Virginia businesses, community and civic organizations, modeled on the successful “Adopt a Highway” initiative, to help keep the safety rest stops open in the near term, without providing commercial services. Leaders of the Virginia Business Council have already been contacted and have indicated their willingness to help fund rest stop operations in the near term to help the State.
- The General Assembly must explore creative financing structures to fund rest stop operations and maintenance during the 2010 session, and engage the private sector in new partnerships.
- Governor Kaine and the Virginia Department of Transportation should promptly construct a more limited budget for rest stop operations, below the current 9 million dollar annual budget. We must work with local sheriffs, community corrections officers, as well as the state DOC to explore the feasibility of landscaping and clean-up of rest areas as an option for those currently sentenced to community service or eligible for work release programs. Many non-violent offenders are already successfully assigned to roadside clean-up work crews around the state.
- The CTB budget should be reprioritized to allocate the necessary money to keep the rest stops open.
Bolling has requested that VDOT check their priorities to find the money to keep the rest stops open, in order to keep the highways safe.
“I certainly understand that these are challenging economic times for VDOT and other state agencies,” said Bolling. “However, I am concerned that the closure of these rest stops will eliminate safe, convenient opportunities for motorists to rest; make our highways more dangerous; damage Virginia’s tourism and hospitality industry; put more than 200 Virginians out of work; and increase congestion on secondary roads and at gas stations and restaurants near highways.”
Here’s hoping the Rest Areas will re-open bringing more jobs through allowing businesses to take over the operations and generate more funds for Virginia.
