User Contributions:
1
Nami
⚠
I think Jim got a solid bead on what\'s happening. This is such a huge chngae with so many moving parts that I think the public is clueless and I include in that most of the General Assembly to include the NoVa and Hampton folks.Clearly, you gotta give the folks (Connaughton?) credit for thinking out of the box on transportation issues. There are some nagging concerns though.I guess at the end of the day VDOT figured out how to go forward on some roads despite a gas tax that has not increased in decades. Pity the next gov McDonnell and company have literally scrapped the bottom of the barrel and more will have to come in the form of higher taxes OR toll roads that are able to operate without a state subsidy. Since the GOP has, for years, demagogued the gas tax issue it\'s unlikely that a follow-on GOP administration will advocate increased gas taxes though I\'ll admit anything is possible but increasing the gas tax won\'t generate substantial new dollars anymore anyhow. Cars are more and more efficient and even if they were not, one penny of gas state statewide generates about 50 million. That\'s how much 5 miles of 4-lane or an interchange would cost. NoVa is likely done except for the western corridor / Potomac Crossing. Depending on who you talk to the tunnels and bridges in Hampton are figured out unless lawsuit gums it up.HOT lanes start on 495 in a month on less and if other HOT lanes experience is any guide we\'re going to see chngaes in NoVa.A couple years after that HOT lanes will be extended down I-95 to exurban Stafford and probably Spotsylvania.Once that happens I think it\'s going to have such an effect on congestion in NoVa that the advocacy for more roads is going to quiet down.