Item 1.O. of Chapter 854 of the 2019 Session of the General Assembly included the requirement that the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability shall regularly review, and provide oversight of the usage of funding generated pursuant to the provisions of House Bill 2313, 2013 Session of the General Assembly. To this end, by November 15 the Secretary of Transportation, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission shall each prepare a report on the uses of the Intercity Passenger Rail Operating and Capital Funds, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Fund, and the Hampton Roads Transportation Fund, respectively, each year to be presented to the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability.

During FY2019, the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission (‘HRTAC’) took actions and executed project agreements or project amendments with the Virginia Department of Transportation (‘VDOT’) to advance project readiness and to provide financing and project delivery. During the fiscal year, HRTAC issued its FY2020 through FY2026 Funding Plan Update and its Long-Range Funding Plan through FY2045, and further advanced project development and construction of over $5.2 billion total value projects with VDOT, including further advancing a $7.0 million HRTAC funded study agreement to study and to identify new candidate congestion relief projects with the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (‘HRTPO’). During FY2019, HRTAC began the process of applying for a federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (‘TIFIA’) loan and prepared for issuing a Bond Anticipation Note (‘BAN’) with both scheduled to close in FY2020. These funds would complete the financing of the Commissions first six construction projects and set the pace for securing the necessary pledged funds to support the HRBT Expansion Project. The major work activity of FY2019 was the negotiation and execution of the Project Administration and Funding Agreement (‘PAFA’) between HRTAC and VDOT for the funding and delivery of the I-64 Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion project, the largest single transportation project in the history of VDOT.

Of the total project costs under agreement, $4.63 billion is sourced by HRTAC controlled monies. To-date, the SMART SCALE Program has provided approximately $463.7 million toward HRTAC projects including the I-64 Peninsula Widening, the I-64 Southside Widening/High Rise Bridge Phase I, the I-64/I-264 Interchange Improvements (Phase II) and the HRBT Expansion Project. Figure 1 provides a graphic showing the locations and the activities of the HRTAC funded projects. HRTAC does not allow balances to sit on projects that will not fully utilize the allocated funds in a timely manner. VDOT and HRTAC worked together during FY2019 to identify projects that could release project contingency funds or allocations deemed surplus to allow other projects to advance.