Hampton Roads
“The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization's ad
hoc legislation committee met Friday to discuss proposed General Assembly bills
determining who controls new local transportation funding. The committee
approved a letter supporting the creation of a new commission to handle local
transportation money, but asking that such an entity not duplicate HRTPO
efforts and not be given power to determine what projects get funded in the
region.
The state's transportation law, passed in 2013 and known as
House Bill 2313, is expected to provide $5.5 billion in transportation funds
for the region over the next 20 years. Part would come from a portion of state
sales taxes in the Hampton Roads area and part would be from wholesale gasoline
taxes. The law requires that money be spent on roads, tunnels and bridges.
Legislation introduced by Senator Frank Wagner, R-Virginia
Beach, and Del. Chris Jones, R-Chesapeake, establishes an accountability
commission to manage the funds, with the ability also to issue bonds for
construction work. But the legislation also would vest that commission with the
ability to plan and prioritize projects that would receive the new
transportation funds. And that worried the HRTPO Board, said Chair and Newport
News Mayor McKinley Price.”
~Writes Cathy Grimes of Daily
Press
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