Virginia Governor Announces $13.1B in Transportation Improvements Across the State

Highway construction consists of $9.9B of the total budget

Gov. Terry McAuliffe says the public was heard and their transportation priorities were carefully considered, resulting in adjustments to the final Six-Year Improvement Program. The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved the program, which allocates $13.1 billion to highway, road, bridge, rail, transit, bicycle/pedestrian paths and other transportation improvements throughout Virginia over a six year period beginning July 1, 2014.

“When the draft program was made available to the public in April, I directed Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne and the Commonwealth Transportation Board to ramp up public involvement by getting out into the communities and holding hearings in nine regions across the state to solicit public input,” says McAuliffe. “Nearly 400 people attended and 1,620 oral and written comments were collected. From that information, the CTB adjusted the program to reflect the needs and priorities of local officials, residents and the traveling public who use and know their transportation system better than anyone else.”

The six-year program will be updated later this year to comply with the new prioritization process, which was signed into law under House Bill 2 by McAuliffe earlier this year. Under the process, projects will be objectively selected based on regional needs.

Layne adds, “There will be no special governor’s list of projects, but rather a strategic transportation program based on selecting the right projects that provide the maximum benefit for limited tax dollars.”

The CTB will work in collaboration with localities to set weights for key factors like congestion mitigation, economic development, accessibility, safety and environmental quality. Specific projects will then be screened and selected for funding beginning in July 2016.

“Key priorities in the program approved today and future updates will continue to be improving the existing infrastructure, including rebuilding aging bridges and roads across the state,” says Charlie Kilpatrick, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).

Fiscal Years 2015-2020 Six-Year Improvement Program breakdown of allocations:

  • $9.9 billion – Highway construction
  • $3.2 billion – Rail and public transportation
  • $13.1 billion – Total six-year program

Online resources:

Projects of Final Six-Year Improvement Program

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