Northam: Tax increases could be part of Metro funding package
WTOP, March 28, 2018 -- A number of Northern Virginia leaders have objected to the state's plan, saying it takes money from other transportation projects such as roads. "We have a plan on the table that does take funding from the (Northern Virginia) Transportation Authority," Northam said; area leaders have concerns, "as do I." Northam said the choice was "not an either/or," and that proposed changes to the funding plan could include restoring hotel taxes and recordation taxes to the level originally passed as part of a transportation plan in 2013…
Chao Celebrates TIGER Grant in Loudoun
Loudoun Now, March 26, 2018 -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao stopped in Ashburn today to celebrate a $25 million federal grant to help pay for the long-planned extension of Northstar Boulevard. "This will benefit not only the residents of Loudoun County, but every person in this region who depends on the Dulles International Airport," Chao said during a ceremony with county supervisors, representatives from the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, and U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA-10)...
Grant for $25 million Will Provide Key Link In County's North-West Corridor
The Loudoun Tribune, March 28, 2018 -- The total cost of the project is approximately $88 million. In addition to the TIGER grant and Loudoun County local tax funding, the project is receiving funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. Construction of the Northstar Boulevard project is expected to be complete in the summer of 2024. Since the TIGER grant program was first created, more than $5 billion has been awarded for more than 400 transportation projects in the United States…
Loudoun County commuters get federal help for Northstar Boulevard project
WTOP, March 28, 2018 -- "What this is going to do is to open up the rest of the county to the people in the southern part of the county. And vice versa. It's going to allow access to route 50, it's going to allow a lot better access to [Virginia Route] 267, and of course to the Silver Line." More money still needs to be lined up. "We're hoping to get good news from the Northern Virginia Transportation authority," said Letourneau, who expects that the Northstar project will be ready for commuters by the early 2020s…
Metro will celebrate birthday with a step toward new dedicated tax dollars
WTOP, March 27, 2018 -- On Monday the nine local governments, who are members of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, sent a letter to Northam pleading for changes to the funding sources so that the authority — which funds key road and transit projects across the region — does not lose more than $100 million per year. "We ask that you amend the conference report on both bills to restore funding to the Authority so that we can continue our mission as prescribed in our enabling legislation and House Bill ...
NVTA, Business Leaders Call on Northam to Restore Transportation FundingLoudoun Now, March 26, 2018 -- The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, with support from the Northern Virginia Transportation Coalition, has issued a letter calling on Gov. Ralph Northam to restore its funding, some of which the General Assembly has proposed to redirect to fill Metro's funding gap. "The strength of the Commonwealth relies heavily on Northern Virginia's continual growth," stated Prince William County …
S&P says Metro funding package won't hurt Northern Virginia transportation bonds, but local leaders push governor for changesRichmond Times-Dispatch, March 26, 2018 -- The compromise that the House of Delegates and Senate reached on additional money for Metro "dramatically increases the funding burden on Northern Virginia taxpayers, who already provide extensive funding for transportation projects and services, including Metro," NVTA Chairman Martin E. Nohe, a member of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, stated in the letter to ...
Metro gets third and final 'yes' as Maryland commits to its full share of dedicated fundingWashington Post, March 24, 2018 -- But the Virginia officials are dismayed at the bill's higher-than-expected cost in giving Metro money that goes to widen roads, improve intersections and support transit projects in their severely congested suburbs. The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), the agency primarily responsible for ...
Northern Virginia leaders ask Northam to raise taxes to fund Metro instead of cutting road fundsWashington Post, March 22, 2018 -- But the Virginia officials are dismayed at the bill's higher-than-expected cost in giving Metro money that goes to widen roads, improve intersections and support transit projects in their severely congested suburbs. The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), the agency primarily responsible for prioritizing, planning and funding such projects, would lose more than a quarter of its annual revenue in money that the bill redirects to Metro...
Fairfax Co. pushes for changes to landmark Va. Metro funding dealWTOP, March 21, 2018 -- The bill would punch a hole in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's plans for road and transit projects, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova said at the supervisors' meeting Tuesday morning in Fairfax County. "It's critical that we try to get back as much — or redirect — as much revenue as we're able to. Otherwise, the loss does slow down or change the stream of our being able to provide other transportation improvements," she said…
Students, Commuters, And Sewage, Oh My, in AlexandriaVirginia Connection Newspapers, March 19, 2018 -- The necessary $133 million would come largely from federal and state sources, including state monies distributed through the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA). Competitive NVTA funds, banked on but not yet won, would finance nearly half the project. Alexandria's "projects have scored very well, and are definitely, I think, on the list that's going to make the cut," said Smedberg. "We would probably lose that money if we chose to pull this...."
Self-driving cars: Benefits, risks and where they stand nowWTOP, March 19, 2018 -- Godfrey spoke at a Northern Virginia Transportation Authority roundtable last week, co-hosted by the Intelligent Transportation Society of Virginia. He said some studies suggest traditional cars drift out of their lanes once every 2.7 miles on average. In more than 90 percent of fatal crashes today, driver error, or miscalculation, is blamed. "It's going to help lessen the greatest factor [in crashes], and that is the driver behavior," Godfrey said...
Metro bill's hidden cost: $100 million a year less to unclog traffic in Northern VirginiaWashington Post, March 17, 2018 -- The legislation approved by the General Assembly this month would take more than $100 million a year from funds used in the chronically gridlocked suburbs to widen roads, improve intersections and otherwise battle congestion. The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), the primary agency responsible for planning, prioritizing and paying for such projects, estimates it would lose more than a quarter of its annual revenue in money that the bill diverts to Metro. Major projects ...
Delegate Simon's Richmond ReportFalls Church News-Press, March 15, 2018 -- As it passed the House, $100 million of the total $154 million funding will come from money that would have gone to localities and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) for other projects. This includes a range of projects from road widening to sidewalks and bike paths to local transit. In more local terms, it will most likely mean cuts to the Fairfax Connecter, DASH, Capital Bikeshare, and ART. Fortunately, Governor Northam has already said he is considering amendments to find other funding sources that do not redirect so much money from important local transportation projects…
Ebbin Wraps Up 2018 General Assembly SessionAlexandria News, March 14, 2018 -- We were able to arrive at a sustainable solution for our vital transit infrastructure needs, but two proposed tax increases in Northern Virginia (on real estate transactions and hotel stays) that had been included in the original Senate version, were eliminated from the final bill. This change requires existing regional transportation funds from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) to be redirected to WMATA. I expect Governor Northam will amend the bill to preserve the $154 million while using less funding directly from NVTA. This would free up money for additional transportation projects…
Loudoun County supervisors distressed over state Metro fundingLoudoun Times-Mirror, March 15, 2018 -- "The Metro funding bill which passed completely disrupts the road improvement funding process in Northern Virginia by siphoning off a huge portion of road monies controlled by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) and redirecting it to the Washington DC Metro system," LaRock said in a prepared statement." Defunding important projects means going without desperately-needed improvements, or funding these roads with local dollars which might otherwise be spent on education, mental health services, or public safety, to name a few."
Virginia approves historic Metro funding — with painful cuts to different transportationAmrank, March 13, 2013 -- NVTA has about $450 million per 12 months, break up into two pots: 70 % (a bit over $300 million a 12 months) is for giant regional freeway and transit initiatives, and 30 % (about $135 million) goes on to jurisdictions for smaller, extra native initiatives — typically sidewalks, bikeways, and native streets. Here's a listing of regional initiatives at the moment into consideration for funding by NVTA over the subsequent six years through that 70 % regional pot of cash, and right here is the listing of what jurisdictions have constructed with the 30 % native cash over the previous few years….
Officials fear Metro deal will threaten road projects in Northern VirginiaInside NoVA, March 13, 2018 -- With just a few steps left in the legislative process before the new Metro bill becomes law, county supervisors are sounding the alarm once more. "This is hugely problematic to us," said Vice Chair Marty Nohe, R-Coles, who also serves as chairman of the NVTA. "It's going to be very difficult for us to fund the sort of megaprojects we're known for if we lose this money." Nohe's expressed similar fears ...
Loudoun Supervisors: State's Metro Funding Bill Worse Than NothingLoudoun Now, March 12, 2018 -- Letourneau chairs the board's finance committee and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. He said the bill is bad for Loudoun because it strips money from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, which funds hundreds of millions of dollars of transportation projects every year, and redirects that money to Metro. That includes funding from the region's grantor's tax, its transient occupancy tax, and its gas tax, among other sources. The only new money expected ...
Highway Robbery? Supervisors Voice Objections to State's Transportation Funding BillsLoudoun Tribune, March 9, 2018 -- Based on those reports, supervisors are concerned the loss of funds from NVTA could derail important local projects. House Bill HB 1539 and Senate Bill SB 856 vary slightly, but both would divert funds from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. According to Kennedy's report to the board, SB 856 would divert $62 million and HB 1539 would divert $76 million from NVTA to WMATA. "Any reduction in NVTA funding will require significant funding source and schedule changes to major transportation projects," Kennedy wrote in her report to the ...
Surovell gives update on Richmond Highway widening, BRT fundingCovering the Corridor, March 8, 2018 -- Only about $44 million of funding of the nearly $215 million Route 1 widening project has been secured so far, Surovell said. He said the group hopes to get the rest of the funding from Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and a state funding program. Construction for the widening project is not slated to begin until 2023, with right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation beginning in spring 2019, according to VDOT...
Loudoun Wins $25M Federal Grant for Rt. 50 ConnectorLoudoun Now, March 6, 2018 -- The county also hopes to win funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority for the project. Letourneau said that support is critical for construction to move ahead. "One downside of federal money is that it usually does take longer to move forward with the project," Letourneau said. "But I think the focus for Northstar is getting that done at NVTA, so then we can start allocating it..."
Bus and VRE supporters seek funding fix as legislators hammer out larger Metro dealInside NoVA, March 6, 2018 -- No matter how the two sides work out these differences, Nohe cautions lawmakers to keep non-Metro localities in Northern Virginia in mind. For instance, one provision of the House bill would draw tens of millions of dollars from funds administered by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, a regional body that draws tax money from Prince William and others to coordinate major road construction projects. Nohe chairs that group, and he wants to be sure that ...
Loudoun leaders brace for fight over Metro, transportation fundingLoudoun Times-Mirror, February 27, 2018 -- Loudoun County supervisors sent a strong message of disapproval to state lawmakers last week, opposing a bill that, if passed, would reallocate $75 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority into under-funded Metro capital needs. The authority, or NVTA, a regional government entity, is responsible for planning, prioritizing and funding regional transportation programs, including some Loudoun County roadways…
