One of the heretical notions advanced by the House of Delegates in the 2006 taxes-and-transportation debate is this: By funding pin-point projects that address specific transportation bottlenecks, Virginia can address traffic congestion more efficiently than by channeling new revenues through the traditional transportation funding formula, which spreads the money all around the state. Maybe, just maybe, Virginia really doesn’t need to raise an additional $108 billion over the next 20 years like the Axis of Taxes says it does.
Giving credence to this view is a report by David Hartgen, a professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, which reader Whitney Duff has brought to my attention. Hartgen argues that it would cost a mere $8.5 billion over the next 20 years to relieve “severe congestion” around the state.
The implication is that Virginia spends money on roads for lots of reasons that have nothing to do with relieving congestion, a fact that you’d never suspect given the way traffic congestion is cited to justify raising taxes by $1 billion a year. But, remarkably, as Hartgen observes, only two of Virginia’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations — Fredericksburg and Harrisonburg — mention congestion relief as a stated goal in their long-range transportation plans.
Hartgen argues that the General Assembly should make traffic congestion relief a major priority in the allocation of construction dollars, just as Atlanta and Texas recently have done. (Atlanta, famed for its sprawling road network, has raised the weight placed on congestion relief from 11 to 70 percent.) To read “talking points” based on Hartgen’s study, click here.
Given the fact that traffic congestion is the cause celebre for raising taxes, one would expect that someone, somewhere, would have conducted some analysis on exactly how Virginia prioritizes its spending for new construction projects. To what extent does Virginia fund congestion-relief projects as opposed to projects that, say, open up new land for development even if there is no immediate demand for those roads? (Does Richmond’s Route 288 ring a bell?) It’s a fundamental question, and it’s reckless to raise taxes without knowing the answer.
