2017 Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie today announced a detailed plan designed to meet the transportation needs of ALL Virginians. As governor, Gillespie will effectively administer transportation funding, establish a transportation lock box, and advance comprehensive transportation improvements to improve our transportation system. This is Gillespie’s seventeenth major policy announcement in his campaign, and thirteenth since becoming his party’s nominee.
Speaking about the announcement, Gillespie said, “Virginia’s transportation system must meet the needs of each region. The congested urban crescent and our rural communities need the same things out of their transportation systems: convenience and reliability. From transit to highways, and from our Ports to METRO, we need a governor who is dedicated to improving our transportation infrastructure. I’ll be a transportation governor for ALL Virginians.”
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Honorary Policy Chair and former Governor George Allen said, “For long-term economic competitiveness, Virginia must renew our commitment to creative, innovative solutions to our transportation challenges. Ed’s detailed plan embraces many best practices, including public-private partnership options and dynamic traffic flow technologies to obtain the best value and functionality of our roads. Overall, Ed’s agenda demonstrates a commitment to the varied transportation needs of people in all regions of Virginia and potential for economic success.”
Republican Nominee for Lieutenant Governor Senator Jill Vogel said, “Virginia’s transportation network is essential to our economy and our quality of life. We must continue making smart investments in major projects and ensure every dollar spent is spent wisely. By keeping our priorities focused on congestion relief, economic growth, and safety, we can address our challenges and keep Virginia moving for decades to come.”
ROUTE CAUSES: A Better Transportation System for ALL Virginians
KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS TO VIRGINIA’S TAXPAYERS
Transportation is funded through a variety of sources – sales taxes, wholesale taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, recordation taxes, and other fees and taxes – all of which were adopted with a commitment to use them solely to improve Virginia’s transportation infrastructure.
- Effectively Administer Transportation Funding
- Establish a Transportation Lock Box
- Leverage Federal Spending
STREAMLINE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Even when money is available, it often takes years, if not decades before funded projects are completed. That’s because burdensome and cumbersome state and federal regulations unnecessarily complicate the development of transportation projects without adding meaningful results. Some estimates put the cost of such rules and delays at 25-50% of the final costs. Ed will work with President Trump to advance the administration’s plans to rollback antiquated rules that often do little but slow construction of transportation projects.
As governor, Ed will direct all Virginia agencies with a role in the review of transportation projects to undertake a comprehensive review of laws and regulations to reduce the time and cost associated with more transportation construction.
ADVANCE TECHNOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS
Many of Virginia’s transportation woes are caused by the failure to manage traffic flows. By embracing new technology, we can better alert motorists to traffic jams and suggest alternative routes.
As governor, Ed will:
- Work to modify signal timing to handle unexpected surges in traffic or vary movements at rush hour. We should advance dynamic signal technologies that read traffic flows and adjust lights accordingly. These technologies are effective at reducing congestion.
- Support new laws and accident response practices to move accidents from the traffic lane and get slow motorists out of the left lane.
- Utilize moveable barriers to increase capacity, reduce congestion and enhance safety. When the median was removed on the Roosevelt Bridge in Washington, D.C., and replaced with a moveable barrier, bridge capacity increased by one-third with four lanes in the peak traffic direction.
- Enhance safety patrols, pop-up screening of accidents to reduce rubbernecking and advance other measures to get more out of the transportation network we already have.
- Establish an open data policy within the agencies of the Secretary of Transportation to allow better public access to transportation data. This initiative will be a part of a broader effort by a Gillespie Administration to improve citizen interaction with state government and allow better access to important information such as transit routes, schedules, highway congestion and pricing. This program will work to expand the SMARTERROADS program.
IMPROVE TRANSPORTATION SAFETY
Too many people die on Virginia’s highways each year, and after years of declines, recent trends have been discouraging. We need to do a better job of enforcing our existing laws and make transportation safety – of all modes – a top priority.
As the state undertakes its routine maintenance activities, Ed will require VDOT to add a screening question to project decisions to identify low-cost ways to simultaneously improve safety along our transportation corridors.
PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
While not a panacea to Virginia’s transportation challenges, such partnerships have a role to play in meeting the state’s needs. We should look at efforts in other states to use such partnerships to creatively address the problems with structurally deficient bridges, particularly in our rural areas, to develop partnerships with the private sector around stormwater management and other environmental protection efforts, and to develop new capacity where it’s needed most.
Incentive contracts with the private sector can deliver projects faster and cheaper, and support technology deployment. Public-Private Partnerships can be a tool to create real taxpayer value, specifically as it relates to complex projects, technology deployments, and where the private sector holds expertise. Further, public private partnerships provide investment capital that might not otherwise be reasonably available to finance development of a project, and provide opportunities to make performance of the project more efficient. The public’s interest in such projects must be protected through effective planning, management and strong contractual agreements.
REFORM METRO
First Things First
Virginia already provides hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the Washington Metro system, but much of this investment is wasted on bureaucracy and capital that does little to improve safety or the rider experience. Before considering any more money for Metro, we need to reform it first. Given all we contribute to the system, Virginia should have a larger role at the table when making key decisions about the system’s future. We should eliminate outdated work rules and procedures that reward inefficiency. We need to ensure that the recommendations of the federal Inspector General and the new Metro Safety Commission are fully adopted. Ed restructuring the Metro Board not on a temporary basis, but as a permanent change, and also favors appointment to the Board of top executives who will be open to innovation, improved performance standards and structural changes. Ed will work to ensure that the money spent by Metro is prioritized and spent objectively, not on politically popular or expedient projects, similar to the reforms that led to the SmartScale method now used by VDOT.
Regional Leadership for Transformation
Ed Gillespie is committed to Metro’s success. During the first weeks of Ed’s transition, he will initiate a meeting with Governor Hogan of Maryland, Mayor Bowser of Washington, D.C., Metro GM Paul Wiedefeld and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. This meeting will bring together the top executive officer from each jurisdiction that funds, governs and operates the Metro system. Ed will ask Governor Hogan, Mayor Bowser and Secretary Chao to require Metro to develop a Transformation Plan. The Plan should include a much larger role for the private sector, a complete governance reform plan and an accountability system to the regional chief executives. Last year, it was important and appropriate to focus on safety. This year, we need a major reform roadmap.
At minimum, Metro must:
- Significantly improve on-time reliability consistent with leading transit systems in the world
- Improve operating margins consistent with top-performing transit systems
- Review of different business models for the bus system to improve cost efficiency and on-time performance
- Establish new maintenance practices with a focus on ways to utilize advanced analytics and data to improve asset performance and reduce costs
- Create a real plan on where outsourcing/performance contracting can be most helpful
- Develop a capital investment plan that links directly to operating performance metrics
Ed agrees with the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) that key governance and financial reforms must be addressed.
BECOME ONE OF AMERICA’S LEADING PORTS
Virginia enjoys one of the best natural harbors in the world, but the Port of Virginia is under-utilized compared to other ports of its capacity. North Carolina recognizes the Port of Virginia’s potential as it readies its own interstate project to better connect to the Port. The more Virginia can open up highway and rail corridors to the Port of Virginia, particularly along the Route 58 corridor, the more Southern Virginia and the region stretching from Virginia’s engineering epicenter in Blacksburg to Hampton Roads will become more attractive to manufacturers and exporters.
- Deepen and Widen
- Compete with East Coast Ports
- Technology
- New Sites for Job Creation
- Rail and Carriers
- Balanced Growth: Container and Non-Container Cargo
GETTING CONTAINERS OFF VIRGINIA’S HIGHWAYS
AVIATION
Airports Analysis
In order to increase service, Ed will direct his Secretary of Transportation to initiate a comprehensive airports analysis to study and recommend areas for executive or legislative action. Further, Ed will work with the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to conduct outreach to airline carriers to consider adding new flights and operations in Virginia.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is governed by a 17-member Board of Directors. The Governor of Virginia appoints seven Members. MWAA is charged with developing, promoting and operating safely Reagan National and Dulles International airports. MWAA also operates the Dulles Toll Road and holds a considerable operational and financial stake in the Silver Line.
Virginia is home to all of MWAA’s assets. Ed recognizes the importance of MWAA to the Virginia economy and our mobility. Virginia’s statewide airports are interconnected and operate with somewhat of a Domino effect. Transportation experts frequently acknowledge “so goes Dulles, so goes the rest of Virginia’s airports.” With this in mind, Ed is focused on MWAA’s success. Given the entire footprint of MWAA is in Virginia, Ed believes that Virginia ought to have a larger role in MWAA’s governance and operations. As governor, Ed will work with stakeholders to increase Virginia’s role and voice in MWAA’s future.
Put simply: maintaining a preeminent international airport in Virginia would be a key priority of Ed as governor. Dulles has dropped from 21st to 26th in the United States over the last ten years with 13.4% fewer people boarding there relative to 2006. BWI now has more passenger enplanements than Dulles. We must work to significantly improve the customer experience at Dulles. The airport is in the bottom half of large airports in a recent airport satisfaction study.
Aviation: Manufacturing and Distribution Opportunities
With the creation of the Aviation Parts and Supplies Sales Tax Exemption, Virginia becomes a very attractive location for Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MROs), aviation related parts manufacturing and distribution, and other aircraft support and distribution related companies. Delegate Rich Anderson sponsored legislation that relates directly to opportunities in Lonesome Pine, Abingdon and Pulaski County, among others, that have ample parcels of land located close to airfields with runways of significant length to take larger general aviation aircraft in for work. These have the potential to provide high-paying jobs and can range from A&P mechanics for jet and aspirated engine repair and service, electronics, paint and interiors.
Make NASA Wallops a Priority
Virginia’s potential role in spaceflight cannot be overstated. This is an important growth industry for the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Wallops Island, as well as for the Northern Virginia technology corridor. As governor, Ed will work closely with the public and private sector, state and federal government to ensure that NASA Wallops is successful and creates job opportunities for Virginians.
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PRIORITIES
SMART SCALE
Ed strongly supports recent bipartisan efforts to inject accountability reforms into the transportation project planning process. He strongly believes in the merit-based approach of SMART SCALE. SMART SCALE holds tremendous potential but needs further improvements to ensure its long-term success.
As governor, Ed will create collaborative partnerships between VDOT staff and localities to encourage communication and efficiency when writing SMART SCALE applications. This will help provide uniformity and comparable analytics between applications. Further, Ed will create an additional mechanism within applications that differentiates between long-term solutions and short-term solutions. This will provide an incentive for collaboration between a locality’s goals for its roads and VDOT’s mobility plan.
Rural Roads
Virginia’s rural roads have unacceptably high rates of deficiencies and fatalities. According to a report from TRIP, the national transportation research group, and related analysis from the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance, “20 percent of Virginia’s rural roads are rated in poor condition – the 14th highest rate in the nation – and 24 percent are rated in mediocre condition. Seven percent of Virginia’s rural bridges are rated as structurally deficient. The rate of traffic fatalities on Virginia’s non-Interstate, rural roads – 2.46 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel –is the 11th highest rate in the nation and nearly five times higher than the fatality rate on all other roads in the state.”
Virginia’s rural roads are critical for public safety, quality of life and economic development. As governor, Ed will establish a rural infrastructure coordinating committee to prioritize and advance rural roads.
Support Localities
The McAuliffe-Northam Administration has created a newly developed, recently implemented corridor policy that enacts two categories of policy: corridor preservation and corridor enhancement. Both are detrimental to localities’ efforts to foster economic development.
Corridor preservation, focusing on maintaining accessibility for through traffic on major roadways, negatively impacts rural areas. Corridor enhancement forces costly considerations when developing new roads in urban areas. This policy takes opportunities away from localities to achieve goals for economic growth.
Ed will work with localities to ensure that they are free to make roadway decisions that will spur economic development for their respective cities and counties.
Protect Infrastructure Against Sea Level Rise
In August, Ed unveiled his comprehensive plan to address sea level rise and recurrent flooding in Virginia. We need to take steps to harden our infrastructure in response to sea level rise in Hampton Roads and our coastal communities, but also in our mountain regions that are subject to recurrent flooding. As governor, Ed will ensure our transportation infrastructure is engaged in our comprehensive response to sea level rise.
PLANNING FOR THE NEXT 30 YEARS
This year’s election is not just about the next four years, but about the next 30 years. Virginia’s next governor should work to advance short-term priorities and lay the groundwork for the next 30 years to increase and ensure Virginia’s economic competitiveness.
As governor, Ed will study and accelerate the following key short and long-term projects:
- Interstate along Rt. 58 to I-81: This project would improve access to Hampton and the Port of Virginia, and encourage a flow of goods between the Port and western Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
- I-95: Atlantic Gateway and Beyond: Continued improvement of Interstate 95 between Richmond and D.C. to include HOT lanes on both sides all the way, and on I-395 inside the Beltway, and continued improvement of I -95 south of Richmond to North Carolina
- Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel: The expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is a critical project for Virginia. Ed will champion the expansion of the HRBT.
- I-66 OTB and ITB: Interstate 66 is a key route that requires significant leadership in the next gubernatorial term. We need to ensure the project is constructed with care and consideration for Virginians along the route, particularly in the Vienna area, to not punish those on either end of the project. Ed will monitor the partnership closely to ensure Virginians are receiving the best project possible.
- I-64 Widening: Much work has been done to improve I-64 from Richmond to Hampton Roads but additional widening to close the gap must be a long-term priority for Virginia.
- I-73, Finally!: The I-73 project deserves another, closer look to evaluate its value for job creation and economic development. This project will make the movement of freight in and out of nearby regions more attainable. Part of the route is along U.S. 220 which is old and ineffective route for large truck movement, making it unattractive to business for location or expansion. This project deserves to be a serious part of Virginia’s next decade of construction.
The full plan can be found HERE. Gillespie has released sixteen other major policy proposals including:
- The “Cutting Taxes for ALL Virginians” Plan cuts individual income tax rates by ten percent across-the-board, putting nearly $1,300 more in the pocket of a family of four and creating more than 50,000 new full-time private sector jobs.
- The “FAITH In Our Government for ALL Virginians” Plan will close loopholes and give Virginians a better opportunity to hold elected leaders accountable for their actions.
- The “Efficiency + Effectiveness: A Government that Works for ALL Virginians” Plan will reorient government to more successfully address Virginia’s problems, demand evidence-based solutions, right-size our government to better steward taxpayer dollars, and incentivize our state government workforce to be more responsive to the needs of all Virginians.
- The “Removing Barriers to Job Creation for ALL Virginians” Plan will bring meaningful reform to remove barriers to job creation, making it easier for businesses to grow and thrive in the Commonwealth. It focuses on standing up for Virginia’s job creators, reforming Virginia’s regulatory climate, reforming occupational licensing and streamlining business formation.
- The Mental Health, Addiction, and Recovery Agenda will improve Virginia’s behavioral health system and address all facets of the opioid and heroin addiction crisis, including prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.
- The Veterans and Military Affairs Agenda will improve career opportunities for veterans, give veterans a greater voice in our government, support our military and their families, and care for our veterans and their families.
- The “Job One: Keeping Virginia Safe” Plan will improve public safety in Virginia by eradicating gangs, reforming the system, and rewarding those who serve and protect.
- The Agriculture and Forestry Agenda shows exactly how Gillespie will champion Virginia’s agriculture and forestry industries, prioritizing efforts to expand exports and open new markets for Virginia products.
- “An Excellent Education for ALL Virginians” Plan will strengthen Virginia’s education system, ensure that every child, in every community, has access to a high quality, safe and student-focused public education, and better align our workforce development system with the demands of the marketplace of today and the future.
- The Six Point Sea Level Rise Action Plan will take proactive steps to enhance infrastructure, empower cities and regions to lead, flood proof our military installations and fight for more affordable flood insurance for Virginia families and businesses.
- The Plan to Expand Access to High Speed Internet will remove regulatory barriers and finance broadband deployment to provide more reliable internet access to Virginians in every corner of the Commonwealth.
- The “Outdoor Dominion” Initiative to make Virginia the outdoor recreation leader of the East Coast.
- “The Energy to Power Families, Jobs and Investment” Plan to secure abundant energy resources and competitive energy prices that protect citizens from high energy costs, and attract the businesses that provide new jobs.
- Higher Education Plan for ALL Virginians to forge three types of strategic partnerships related to higher education: a major new business-education partnership, a new spirit of partnership between the Commonwealth and our colleges, and a consumer-focused partnership between higher education institutions and the students and families they serve.
- Criminal Justice Plan to to bring tough, fair, and smart reforms to Virginia’s criminal justice system.
- The Striving for Impact Plan will deploy the Collective Impact Model to address complicated, seemingly intractable problems.
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