Issue Position: TRANSPORTATION
Issue Position
I spent the past five years at the table with elected officials, community representatives and senior staff from the region, identifying and planning the best land use and transportation solutions surrounding our Herndon and Innovation Center Metro stations. I understand the potential economic benefits of Metrorail. Creating new Transit Oriented Development regions, with multi-modal access will help get cars off the road and allow residents to live, work and play closer to home. In my capacity as aide to Supervisor Foust I worked to ensure that surrounding business leaders and residents have also been a part of the conversation. Unfortunately, without a consistent source of state funding these plans will not come to fruition. Meanwhile, the toll road down in Norfolk is traffic-free and received 1.4 billion dollars in 2012. While the big transportation bill from a few years ago moved us in the right direction, one area where it took a step back was by depriving transporation dollars through a lower gas tax. We should instead reevaluate the gas tax rate and index it to grow along with our transportation and population needs.
I oppose any legislation that would require transfer of secondary road maintenance to the counties, especially if it is not accompanied with adequate revenue enhancements. I spent hours with constituents working to help them resolve simple maintenance issues, from potholes to overgrown grass in the medians. VDOT has failed because there is not adequate funding. The state has to fulfill its responsibility to its citizens. The Fairfax County secondary road program budget has declined from $29,000,000 in 2004, to $240,000 in 2010, to literally $0 in 2011 to 2013, and is projected to remain at $0 through 2018. This is not acceptable, especially when the state is considering adding tolls to I-66 to carpoolers who've already paid tolls on the Dulles Toll Road. When we add a cost to commuters while depriving resources, we're given a dangerous double hit to our family budgets and local economy.
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