Layne (left) and McAuliffe. Photo credit: WAVY.com
Will Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe reverse one of the biggest legacies of the McDonnell administration, construction of the new U.S. 460 between Petersburg and Suffolk?
The $1.4-billion, Interstate-grade highway, upon which the McDonnell administration has already lavished $200 million, has cleared all significant hurdles but one: approval by the Army Corps of Engineers. But the project would impact 480 acres of wetlands, and the Corps has warned that the state is proceeding at its own risk.
McAuliffe told the Virginian-Pilot Wednesday that the state shouldn’t spend money on the project until it was “100 percent sure” the federal permit would be issued. Even if the feds do approve the project, he said, he’s still not firmly committed to the project. “I’m going to take a hard look.”
It’s difficult to know how seriously to take McAuliffe. On the one hand, he is deeply indebted to environmental groups, who contributed more campaign cash than any other industry or advocacy group. On the other, it’s hard to square cancellation of U.S. 460 with the selection of Aubrey L. Layne, a Hampton Roads businessman, as secretary of transportation. Layne worked for years to get the U.S. 460 project built and now chairs the funding authority for it!
As a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board under McDonnell, Layne made the case that the highway would provide an alternate hurricane evacuation route for Hampton Roads and a second outlet for freight-laden trucks out of Virginia’s ports. The ports are expected to be a major beneficiary when the Panama Canal widening project is completed in 2015.
Would Layne really have signed up for the top transportation job if he thought McAuliffe would pull the rug from the project? Is McAuliffe just making noises to appease the environmentalist lobby? It will be fun to watch how the governor-elect wiggles his way out of this one.
— JAB
