The League of Women Voters
of South Hampton Roads

January 27, 2009

Congratulations for your wonderful programs, “Hear Say” on Radio and “What Matters” on TV,. You have repeatedly reminded HR residents of the critical transportation problems facing our community and its economy, now and in the near future.

The LWV-SHR has been actively following and studying transportation problems in the State and this region for several years. We are concerned with the inability of all the HR regional leaders to unify and solidly support a single transportation construction program for HR and to aggressively promote this program before the state legislature. Similarly, the League is disappointed that state legislators have been unable to successfully adopt any fiscal plan for addressing the long-term transportation funding needs of Virginia, the failed Regional Transportation Authority notwithstanding.

Some, including a few of your guests, seem to imply that a lack of public participation in transportation planning is a large part of the problem. This seems a bit unfair. In the last few years there have been a transportation referendum, visits by the Governor and Transportation Secretary Homer, numerous public forums and extensive public coverage in the media. Its hard to think of another public policy issue that has received as much public attention as transportation. Transparency in public decision making is critical, but elected officials must, in the end, make the final decisions.

Others point to the structure of the HRPDC and the MPO organizations as an important component of the issue. The HRPDC has an excellent reputation for its analytical research. While recent and proposed changes to the MPO may make it operate a bit smoother and heighten its visibility, there does not seem to be much to suggest that these administrative changes will have a significant impact of transportation decision making in the HR region.

In the absence of political decisiveness, there seems to be a desire for, and reliance on, additional transportation studies by both the State and local authorities. The recent study of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel alternatives is one example. At this stage of the game, after so many years of political wrangling, this resort to additional studies can only be described an example of paralysis by analysis.

Hampton Road’s transportation issues and their solutions are no longer primarily analytical or administrative in nature. They are due to a serious lack of regional cohesion and the political will to make tough, and sometimes unpleasant, political decisions.

The LWV does not have its own solution to the regions transportation problems. Rather, the League studies and tries to educate its members on the importance of this issue and to support sound legislative proposals to deal with the serious transportation issues facing our region at this time.

Sincerely,

League of Women Voters- South Hampton Roads
Transportation Committee

Martha Rollins
Randy Lougee
Duane Lougee
Marie Elana Finn

Questions for Dwight Farmer
LWV-SHR, Transportation Committee

1. I believe VDOT estimated the replacement of the Jordon Bridge would cost around $300 million. The private sector proposal under consideration has been quoted as being about $100 million. What is the difference between the public and private proposals that accounts for $200 million?

2. What are the transportation projects in the Hampton Roads region that you can recommend be included in the “shovel ready” list being considered for federal stimulus funding?

3. What is the MPO’s role in, and long-range plan for, public transit in the region?