A bit of great news was broken by the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce today; the passage of a major transportation funding and reform bill through the Virginia legislature is set to help relieve the bottleneck for local priorities that has become the norm in Richmond. In a press release the Chamber applauds the vote stating:
Tysons Corner, Va. – Today, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce (Fairfax Chamber) applauds the bipartisan support and passage of HB1877, a major transportation funding and reform bill, in the Virginia House of Delegates.
HB1877 was patroned by Delegate Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) and supported by Governor Terry McAuliffe and Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne. The legislation provides an additional $40 million annually for transit projects (based on FY 2021). In addition, the Northern Virginia transportation district would receive an increase of $4.6 million under the new funding formula.
Jim Corcoran, president & CEO of the Fairfax Chamber issued the following statement:
“Today the Fairfax Chamber and the Northern Virginia business community are celebrating the passage of HB1877, a bill that provides critical funding to Northern Virginia transportation projects.
The Fairfax Chamber supports a multimodal approach to solve Virginia’s transportation crisis and we strongly believe that transit is part of that solution. The passage of this legislation shows commitment to enhancing opportunities to improve regional mobility and economic development for the region and the entire Commonwealth.
We appreciate the work of Delegate Jones, Governor McAuliffe, Secretary Layne, and the House of Delegates on the passage of this landmark transportation bill. We look forward to its favorable consideration in the Virginia Senate.”
The bill means more local control on how transportation dollars are spent, and evens out a discrepancy that has been growing in how the Commonwealth calculates funding distribution to individual jurisdictions. The bill had strong bi-partisan support, something that isn’t unfamiliar in purple Virginia.
Additionally, the reform bill includes provisions for executive removal of CTB members if they are found with their hand in the cookie jar, which is sadly all too common when it comes to transportation decisions and major contracts. As if that wasn’t a good enough reform, the bill also includes the ability for DRPT (Department of Rail and Public Transit) to directly enter into P3 agreements for public private partnerships for the financing and operation improvements of rail systems… can you hear me Japanese Rail investors? Forget Baltimore to Washington, how about Washington to Richmond and Norfolk.