Posted By HR Partnership on December 7, 2009

from Inside Business

Dwight L. Farmer, Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization

Dwight Farmer joined the staff of the Southeastern Virginia Planning District Commission in 1978 as chief transportation engineer. In 1990 when the Southeastern and Peninsula commissions merged, Farmer was appointed director of transportation. In 1988, he became deputy executive director, overseeing transportation and emergency management. In 2008, the commission board of directors appointed him executive director.

He received a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Virginia Tech and a master’s in civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He was appointed to the Virginia Rail Advisory Board and has served as a member and chairman of numerous statewide advisory committees to the Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Department of Transportation and the office of the State Secretary of Transportation during the past two decades. He serves on the boards of the Hampton Roads Military Federal Facilities Alliance, the Hampton Roads Partnership, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Rail Policy Institute.

He is a licensed professional engineer and has been an adjunct associate professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Old Dominion University for 30 years.

What is the priority transportation project for Hampton Roads?

This and the following question on how they should be funded must be answered by my board, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization. We are scheduled to complete a technical rating and ranking process in December with a presentation to the board on Dec. 16, the day after this panel meets. It is possible I can share the results of the rating and ranking at the meeting on Dec. 15. Please note that the prioritization process that the HRTPO is currently engaged in, is designed to prioritize within the anticipated future revenue stream. Future revenue streams must be approved by the Virginia General Assembly. As you can see, priority projects depend on funding and funding depends on General Assembly action.

How should it be funded?

The board has been on record for a number of years endorsing a package of funding streams including a combination of tolls, gas taxes, transportation-related fees as well as an increase in the sales tax. The Virginia General Assembly authorized the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority to impose a package of fees in 2007; however, the Virginia General Assembly, on Feb. 29, 2008, ruled those fees to be unconstitutional because the HRTA board members, while local elected officials, had not been elected to impose those taxes and fees.

Donald Z. Goldberg, President of D.D. Jones Transfer and Warehouse Co. Inc.

Donald Goldberg has been president of D.D. Jones Transfer and Warehouse Co. Inc., a major trucking and distribution company based in Chesapeake that serves the shipping industry, since 2006. Prior to that he was director of development for the city of Chesapeake for more than 12 years. He previously worked with the Greater Hampton Roads Organization, starting in 1983, which later became Forward Hampton Roads and eventually grew into what is now the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance. In 1988, he was the group’s acting president as it searched for a new president. His work in economic development resulted in several major companies locating in the Hampton Roads area and he continues to provide consulting services. He also has worked in banking and insurance and as a teacher and coach. He is a graduate of Elon University.

What is the priority transportation project for Hampton Roads?

This is very difficult for me, but I believe the Midtown Tunnel between Portsmouth and Norfolk and the Martin Luther King Freeway to I-264. Here’s my reasoning: First it is stated that this tunnel traffic is the busiest, carrying the most traffic in all of the Hampton Roads. Second, it is a major business corridor for the Port of Virginia. Third, the tunnel connects to our major medical facilities, one of our busiest areas. Fourth, I believe it would help with the issues that occur at our Downtown Tunnel.

Other areas of need include Highway 460 to I-295; I-64 between Bowers Hill and High Bridge on I-64, just west of Greenbrier; I-64 from Newport News to I-295; Dominion 17 Highway Bridge; the Southeastern Expressway from Virginia Beach through Southern Chesapeake to Bowers Hill; the Third Crossing from Norfolk to the Monitor-Merrimac; maintenance on all major road sectors in Hampton Roads (Military Highway, Virginia Beach Boulevard, Mercury Boulevard, etc.); Route 58 from Suffolk to Emporia and I-95; the high speed rail project from the Richmond-Petersburg area to South Hampton Roads; Kings Highway Bridge, the Jordan Bridge and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

How should it be funded?

1. Certainly trim the fat if any can be found in Richmond.
2. Tolls can be placed on projects, and tolls could be adjusted as needed as to rush-hour costs.
3. Increase the gas fuel tax (This would take courage from our governing body.)
4. Make Virginia eligible for federal highway funding.
5. Make VDOT do the job it is capable of doing.

Philip A. Shucet, President of The Philip A. Shucet Co.

After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1972, Philip Shucet went to work for the West Virginia Department of Highways. In 1984, he accepted a position with the Arizona Department of Transportation where he remained for the next five years. Wanting to experience the private sector, Shucet went to work for the Michael Baker Corp., a Pittsburgh-headquartered international engineering firm, in 1989 in Baker’s Transportation Business Unit. He went on to become president of two business units, Baker Environmental and Baker Mellon Stuart. In 2002, Shucet was appointed Virginia’s Transportation Commissioner by then-Gov. Mark Warner. Shucet continues to be involved in transportation endeavors in Virginia, and started his own company in Virginia Beach in December 2008.

What is the priority transportation project for Hampton Roads?

Because I am professionally engaged in more than one local project, it would be inappropriate for me to express a personal bias toward only one transportation project in the region. With that said, I do support the region’s efforts to prioritize transportation improvements and would address your questions this way: The transportation priority for Hampton Roads is simple in my judgment. We need to build a project. Any project that brings a measure of congestion relief and improves mobility. The specific project, the specific locality, is of less importance than the act of building. And building soon.

We have to turn away from arguing, from drawing lines in the sand and forcing citizens and politicians to stand on either side. We’ve gone so far down that negative path that we’ve forgotten about the things we do agree on. In Hampton Roads there is near-universal agreement that congestion is growing and that mobility is deteriorating. But rather than focusing on the goal, we’ve disintegrated into a dangerous diversion of arguing over the means. The result? Nothing. No new money. No new projects. No congestion relief. No improved mobility.

How should we fund a project?

By concentrating on and using whatever sources of revenue are available or are offered to us. That’s how to do something rather than continuing to do nothing. We have to take stock of the transportation revenue that the region does have available, take stock of the money that the private sector is willing to invest in the region, and focus our energy on how to use those dollars to build a project. Then we have to build it.

Speaking personally, I know I’ve taken my ride at the head of the “Raise taxes” bandwagon. I continue to firmly believe that we need to shore up our transportation revenue base, and that we need to do so in a sustainable manner. But I’m a realist, too. We’re not going to get there by throwing rocks at the General Assembly or by beating taxpayers into submission.

Yvonne B. Miller, Senator for the 5th District of Virginia and Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee

Yvonne B. Miller, a Democrat, was the first African American woman to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates when she was elected in 1984. She was also the first African American woman to serve in the State Senate when elected in 1988. She has the longest legislative service of any woman in the Senate and ranks fourth in the Senate for seniority.

Miller grew up in Norfolk and became a teacher in 1956 after graduating from Virginia State College. She faced segregation and Massive Resistance. She earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. She retired from teaching in 1999. Besides the transportation committee, she serves on the commerce and labor, finance, rehabilitation and social services, and rules committees.

What is the priority transportation project for Hampton Roads?

The priority transportation project for Hampton Roads is decided upon by Transportation Planning Organization Board. [Miller has just been appointed to the board.]

How should it be funded?

Funding is decided upon by the governor and the General Assembly.

Pierce R. Homer, Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia

Pierce R. Homer was reappointed Virginia’s secretary of transportation by Gov. Tim Kaine in January 2006, having also served in the position under Gov. Mark Warner. As secretary, Homer oversees management and budgeting for the departments of Transportation, Motor Vehicles, Aviation, and Rail and Public Transportation as well as for the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board and the Virginia Port Authority. He also serves as chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Prior to his appointment as secretary, Homer served as deputy secretary of transportation with functional oversight of the Virginia Department of Transportation, private partnership programs and technology investments. As deputy secretary, he worked with the transportation agencies to develop and implement uniform cost and revenue estimating, debt management and accountability measures. Before joining the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, he spent 15 years with the Prince William County government in several senior management positions, including deputy county executive with direct oversight of county agencies. Homer earned a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College in 1978 and a master’s in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988.

What is the priority transportation project for Hampton Roads?

The realistic and affordable priority project for Hampton Roads is the Midtown Tunnel PPTA project.

How should it be funded?

It can be funded with a mix of tolls, private equity and public sector contributions as part of a public-private partnership.

Categories: Transportation
Tags: Transportation