If legislators don’t act in January, passenger rail in Virginia could be reduced or discontinued.

Originally posted on October 28, 2011, by Philip Newswanger for Inside Business

The specter of limited or no passenger rail service has prompted the state’s highest transportation agency to act.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved a resolution at its Oct. 19 meeting, urging legislators to find a dedicated stream of revenue for six passenger rail services in Virginia by July 1.

Legislators have wrestled with the funding issue since they created the Virginia Intercity Passenger Rail Operating and Capital Fund during the 2011 General Assembly session.

Other transportation modes, such as the port and the state’s highway system, are financed by the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, funded by a tax on vehicle sales.

Such dedicated funds aren’t available for passenger rail.

Instead, legislators set aside general fund money each year for rail projects, which are administered by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

Virginians for High-Speed Rail, which lobbies for passenger rail service in Virginia, has advocated raising the tax on car rentals from 10 to 15 percent.

Daniel Plaugher, the group’s executive director, said the majority of respondents in a survey conducted two years ago agreed with raising the rental tax as a way to pay for passenger rail.

The Hampton Roads Partnership advocates for increasing the car rental to 14 or 15 percent for the fund.

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1. The last significant funding increase for transportation took place in 1986.  In 2011, $3.2 billion for transportation infrastructure was allocated as a one-time infusion. This funding addresses a small portion of a much larger problem.

2. Virginia needs $1 billion annually to address its transportation needs.

3. Virginia funds its increasingly outdated transportation system at levels that were established 25 years ago.

4. Due to inflation, the buying power of these dollars has been reduced by more than 50 percent. At the same time, population, miles traveled on Virginia roadways and the cost of building transportation projects is increasing every year.

• From 1990 to 2009, Virginia’s population increased by 27 percent, from approximately 6.2 million to approximately 7.9 million. It is expected to increase to 9.8 million by 2030. (tripnet.org)

• From 1990 to 2008, annual vehicle-miles-of-travel (VMT) in the state increased by 37 percent, from approximately 60.2 billion VMT to 82.3 billion VMT. Based on travel and population trends, The Road Information Program (TRIP) estimates that vehicle travel in Virginia will increase another 35 percent by 2030, reaching approximately 111 billion VMT. (tripnet.org)

• Virginia is served by a system of 73,903 miles of roads and 13,529 bridges, maintained by local, state and federal governments, which carry 82.3 billion vehicle miles of travel annually. (tripnet.org)

5. Nearly a quarter of Virginia’s major roads are deficient, with six percent rated in poor condition in 2008. An additional 18 percent of the state’s major roads were rated in mediocre condition in 2008. (tripnet.org)

6. More than 26 percent of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete and the price tag to fix them is more than $3 billion. (tripnet.org)

7. Every year, $194 billion in goods are shipped annually from sites in Virginia and another $250 billion in goods are shipped annually to sites in Virginia, mostly by truck. (tripnet.org)

8. Eighty percent of the goods shipped annually from sites in Virginia are carried by trucks and another 13 percent are carried by parcel, U.S. Postal Service or courier services, which use trucks for part of the deliveries. (tripnet.org)

9. The cost to fix Virginia’s highway pavements is in excess of $1 billion. As these projects continue to increase in cost, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is forced to take money from the construction budget to meet basic maintenance needs.  Currently, more than $400 million annually is being removed from the construction budget to fund maintenance needs.

10. Due to the limited funding, there is little state money for secondary road construction, new major highway corridors, transit or rail initiatives or improvement to expand ports and airports.

State Highway Construction Funds Could Run Out in 5 Years

Virginia could run out of money to build new roads by 2017. “Because of revenue shortfalls, money initially intended for new highway construction has to be used to cover critical road-maintenance needs,” according to a recent article by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. To stop the drain from the new construction fund, Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton said, “The administration of Gov. Bob McDonnell is considering seeking additional revenue sources dedicated to maintenance, cutting costs, increasing efficiency through changes in policies and procedures, and shifting responsibility for local roads to the state’s counties.

For more information about the transportation funding crisis or Virginians for Better Transportation, call (804) 237-1399 or visit www.ItsTimeVirginia.org.