HD9 - Executive Summary of the U.S. Route 460 Communications Committee


    Executive Summary:
    U.S. Route 460
    Communications Committee
    (HJR 75, 2006)

    The Committee held two meetings during the 2006 interim. The first, on September 25 in the General Assembly Building, was for the purpose of reviewing both (i) the status of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation's study of the possibility of high-speed passenger rail service to Hampton Roads via either the Interstate Route 64 corridor or the U.S. Route 460 corridor and (ii) progress of the U.S. Route 460 improvement project to date.

    The second was on November 1 in the Department of Transportation's District Headquarters in Suffolk where discussion focused on the Commonwealth Transportation Board's choice alignment for the proposed U.S. Route 460 improvement project and the recent decision of the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to drop the Route 460 project from its "fiscally constrained" highway improvement plan. The MPO, which is federally funded, operates under the aegis of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC).

    The Committee questioned why the MPO's "new" list of projects is now fiscally constrained when the prior list was not so constrained. The Committee further questioned why a majority of MPO voting members were neither publicly elected nor transportation officials as required by federal law. Finally, the Committee questioned the MPO's rational in removing from its plan the proposed Route 460 project which as been declared by both the Governor and the General Assembly as the number one priority project in Hampton Roads.

    The Committee noted that the MPO's estimate of the maximum amount of toll that could optimally be imposed for use of an improved Route 460 might be too conservative. The Committee suggested that it would be helpful if both VDOT and the MPO (via HRPDC) maintained closer and more informative contacts with the Committee and, through the Committee, with the General Assembly. The Committee received assurances that, as the consideration and refinement of the proposals for the Route 460 project move forward, the MPO could amend its transportation improvement plan to include this project.

    These were, respectively, the tenth and eleventh meetings of the Committee since its creation by the 2001 Session (HJR No. 684 of 2001). During its six years of operation, the Committee has been successful in generating and maintaining forward momentum behind the U.S. Route 460 improvement project by bringing together and focusing the many groups and entities -- both within and outside state and local government circles -- that have an interest in the project. The project remains on a fast track; however, much remains to be done before construction starts. Clearly, cooperation of the HRPDC and the MPO with VDOT is essential to keeping the project moving forward. An adequate funding mechanism should be obtainable via reasonable tolls and some level of dedicated state funding.

    The Committee does not plan to submit a formal report to the 2007 Session, nor does it plan to propose any legislation. However, legislative members of the Committee will continue to pursue an array of options to ensure HRPDC and MPO cooperation and adequate funding for the project.