Reporting from the Commonwealth Transportation Board meeting in Winchester:
Quote of the day: Think the McDonnell administration isn’t doing enough to address Northern Virginia’s transportation needs? Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton has this response: “Eighty percent of the construction work going on in the Washington region is occurring in Northern Virginia.”
Oddity of the day: We’re all familiar, or think we are, with the classic modes of transportation funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia: cars, trucks, buses, trains, bicycles and foot… Let us not forget horse-drawn buggies! The Harrisoburg-Rockingham County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which serves a large Mennonite population, lists among its transportation assets the Dayton/Bridgewater Buggy Path.
Outburst of the day: Shep Miller, at-large urban representative of the CTB, is unhappy with the Virginia Department of Transportation’s heavy reliance upon tolls to pay for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads mega-projects while other parts of the state get off toll-free. “I discard the view that tolls are necessary. It’s inequitable. It’s unfair. It’s the wrong thing to do.”
— JAB
