HARRISONBURG — Residents and officials from the Northern Shenandoah Valley were mostly absent among the 32 people who spoke at a public hearing Wednesday on the Virginia Department of Transportation's downsized draft six-year improvement plan for the Staunton District.
Stephens City engineer Tim Stowe, Warren County Administrator Doug Stanley and Chris Price, the executive director of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission, were the only speakers who focused on issues in the region. Otherwise, the hearing, held at the Rockingham County Administration Center, had a large number of people speaking about traffic around a new Rockingham Memorial Hospital and a truck-climbing lane on Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County.
VDOT is holding public hearings around the state to present its six-year plan, which has revenue projections down $1.1 billion from a year ago that will result in a 44 percent reduction in funding for primary, secondary and urban highway construction and a 10 percent reduction in transit allocations, according to a press release.
Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said the elimination of the abuser fees contributed to the loss in revenue. That's a major concern because costs for maintaining roads continue to rise, and require the state to transfer funds meant for construction, he said. Each dollar lost in state funding means the loss of $4 in matching federal money, Homer added.
"By fiscal year 2016, there's a radical inability to match federal dollars," he said, referring to a chart. "When you look at a six-year program, 2016 is very near."
Given the financial struggle, the plan, which is a blueprint for projects that can be built with available resources, has been scaled back, Homer said. In the Northern Shenandoah Valley, 13 projects have been canceled or are unfunded in the draft improvement program.
One of those is the $1.3 million project of studying and relocating the Stephens City interchange on Interstate 81. That brought Stowe to the hearing.
He said the interchange at mile marker 307 is a blessing and a curse for the town, and that relocating it is a solution to the problem. It's been recommended for 15 years, Stowe said.
He asked Homer and other transportation officials to reinstate the interchange project to get planning dollars now.
"[Planning now] will save a tremendous amount of money," Stowe said.
Stanley said Warren County would appreciate more transportation money. He listed nine projects the Board of Supervisors is seeking to complete, including a third interchange on Interstate 66, preliminary engineering for a new Shenandoah Avenue bridge over the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and adding space at the two park-an-ride facilities or building more.
"You want to get cars off the road, you have to have a place to put them," Stanley said.
Price, who is also involved in planning in Winchester and Frederick County, mentioned the Stephens City interchange, park and rides, U.S. 340 from Front Royal to Luray, the Va. 37 corridor and other projects. He said planning is great, but it's time to move beyond it.
"It's now time to move from planning work to implementation," Price said.
For more information, visit www.virginiadot.org.
* Contact Preston Knight at pknight@nvdaily.com
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