Next
week the General Assembly returns to Richmond for
yet another Special Session. With the budget
already put to bed, legislators will be discussing
and debating how our transportation network should
look. Specifically,
they’ll be addressing how infrastructure should
be funded and what types of projects should be
built.
The
solution for many remains new taxes for
transportation despite a surplus that continues to
expand, and state budgets experiencing tremendous
growth in recent years. In fact, several Chambers
of Commerce have signed letters urging lawmakers
to generate upwards of $1 billion annually in new
transportation investment.
For
these groups the solution to the Commonwealth’s
transportation “crisis” is a simple equation:
Spend more money—a lot more—than now.
The
assumption is that the Commonwealth has made
effective investment decisions. Further, it
suggests that VDOT is operating efficiently, that
there is no need to root out waste or find
additional efficiencies through privatization. In
short, this position suggests that the current
funding, governance, and operational models have
worked and will continue to work.
This
view, however, is short sighted. Better management
is required.
First,
the business-as-usual model fails to account for
the changing nature of how infrastructure is
funded. While the vast majority of transportation
projects around the country continue to be funded
from traditional sources—gas and vehicle
taxes—a new funding paradigm is rapidly
emerging. State and local transportation agencies
are increasingly looking to supplement tax
revenues with private investment. Indeed, Virginia
has already seen some capital flow into
transportation. The Dulles Greenway, is a
privately owned and operated toll facility serving
thousands of commuters in Northern Virginia.
Second,
investment decisions have not always relieved
congestion. Worse, we continue to make choices
based on dreams that public transit will solve our
problems. Let’s face it. Public transit serves
less than 10 percent of Virginia’s population,
yet it receives the lion’s share of funding.
A
recent Reason Foundation study ("Building
Roads to Reduce Traffic Congestion in America's
Cities") found that the cost to relieve
congestion in Virginia is more affordable than it
might seem. In fact, the study estimates that the
cost to relieve severe congestion is less than 15
percent of the total expenditures already on the
books in our long-range plans of major urban
transportation and planning agencies. How? We need
to reevaluate how we spend our money. We know that
the vast majority of Americans drive cars, and
that truckers haul 80 to 90 percent of our
economy’s goods. Take the Washington
metropolitan area, for example, transit spending
constitutes 60 percent of the budget for only 10
percent of D.C.-area commuters, at the expense of
road users. Outside of the DC metro area, the
study estimates that Virginia need only to spend
$3.1 billion over the next 25 years to relieve
serious congestion.
Third,
while VDOT has seen significant improvement with
its on-time and on-budget record, we should not
settle for less than the best. VDOT's long history
ought to be evidence enough for the need for
significant reforms.
In
recent years, VDOT and the General Assembly have
identified several areas for privatization.
Earlier this year legislation was passed requiring
the privatization of interstate highway
maintenance functions – less than two percent of
our total roads controlled by VDOT. More can and
should be done. Other functional areas including
design and engineering have been privatized in
numerous states achieving significant savings.
We
must address these realities before we raise taxes
again. If not, we’ll all have less money in our
pockets, likely without much to show for it. The
way it’s always been done, got us to where we
are. Why would we be foolish to think that it’s
the model to get us where we want to be?
We
must be willing to accept the changing nature of
infrastructure financing and create the conditions
for additional private investment, maintenance and
operation of our highways. Virginia once was
considered a leader in this effort, yet other
states like Texas and Indiana have leapfrogged
over us. Let’s get the Commonwealth back in
front of the pack.
Further,
we must be willing to accept what data tells us,
that transit (especially rail transit) is not the
answer. While it serves an important function in
the overall transportation scheme, we have to be
smarter about our investment choices. Metro
expansion through Tyson’s Corner and on to
Dulles, to serve a tiny fraction of commuters,
will take over $4 billion away from potential road
and highway projects. Too much of our limited
resources will serve too few of our commuters. We
need an adjustment of priorities where road and
highway expansion takes top priority.
VDOT
should utilize benefit-vs-cost assessments, based
on prudent forecasts of project impacts for
project selection. It should put more weight on
critical transportation factors such as safety,
travel time reduction and operating cost
reduction. That is the path to relieving
congestion.
Finally,
VDOT must become more efficient. Privatization
opportunities are numerous. Savings from
efficiency efforts, including privatization, can
be shifted into road and highway maintenance and
building projects.
The
answer to Virginia’s transportation needs is not
more of the same. Rather each of these efforts
should be undertaken before we accept to higher
taxes and less money in our pockets. They are the
key to improving our mobility and maintaining a
high quality of life.
--
September 25, 2006
|