Critics: McDonnell pushed ahead on U.S. 460 project despite regulators’ concerns

Route 460:

“An opponent of a controversial highway project in southeast Virginia said Monday that former governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) committed hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ and bond investors’ dollars even as federal regulators said the road faced serious environmental hurdles. Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s abrupt decision to put the expansion of U.S. 460 on hold in March has brought new scrutiny to a project that has cost Virginia $250 million without moving so much as a shovelful of dirt.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had expressed concerns about rebuilding U.S. 460 for years before McAuliffe (D) pulled the plug. But McDonnell and his transportation secretary kept pushing ahead so aggressively that the corps felt the need to remind the state in February 2013 that it had not yet applied for a permit for the $1.4 billion project, much less received permission to move ahead.

Now, critics say McDonnell and his administration appear to have misled bond investors about the project’s status to keep it alive. Project boosters dispute that assertion.”

~ Writes Laura Vozzella of The Washington Post

Click here to learn more