Item 1.I. of Chapter 769 of the Acts of Assembly of the 2023 Reconvened Special Session 1 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 Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission shall each prepare a report on the uses of the Commonwealth Rail Fund, 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 FY2023, 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 FY2023 through FY2028 Funding Plan Update and its Long-Range Funding Plan Update through FY2045, further advanced project development and construction with VDOT of $11.4 billion total programmed value projects supported by the Hampton Roads Transportation Fund (‘HRTF’) and advanced project agreements with the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (Hampton Roads Transit) supported by the Hampton Roads Regional Transit Fund (‘HRRTF’). The major work activity of FY2023 was relating to the continued execution of the Commission’s debt financing and funding plan for HRTF supported projects, administration of the Master Tolling Agreement for the Hampton Roads Express Lanes Network (‘HRELN’), and the administration of the third funding year of the Hampton Roads Regional Transit Fund and Program. Of the total HRTF and toll revenue supported project costs under agreement, $5.1 billion is sourced by HRTAC controlled monies. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s SMART SCALE Program has provided approximately $463.8 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. HRTAC and VDOT continued to conduct an update of the traffic and revenue modelling of the Hampton Roads Express Lanes Network considering summer weekend traffic volume. This study update is necessary to an investment grade opinion by the Traffic and Revenue Modeler to be used to complete the funding plan of finance for the Hampton Roads Express Lanes Network. Figure 1 provides a graphic showing the locations and the activities of the HRTAC HRTF and toll revenue 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 work together to identify projects that could release project contingency funds or allocations deemed surplus to allow other projects to advance.