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Virginia C apitol C onnections, Fall 2014
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Within the first ten months of the McAuliffe Administration, we
visited Chicago, San Diego, NewYork, London, Japan, South Korea,
Hong Kong and China, twice.
The Governor is “all in” to take Virginia agriculture and forestry
exports to the next level.
Virginia’s agricultural exports continue to be key catalysts in
creating jobs, supporting existing ones, and generating revenue and
other economic activity right here at home.
This continued growth is proof of how important our industry is
to Virginia and why it is important to provide continued support of
domestic development.
Bottom line: the first step is to support our local farmers and
producers.
With the first-of-its-kind Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry
Industries Development (AFID) Fund, we are able to do just that.
In its second year, we have supported 15 different projects across
the state, including 12 focused on agriculture and three related to
forestry.
The AFID program has invested almost $1,450,000 to support the
creation of 1,247 jobs with over $139 million in private investment in
13 different localities.
Clearly, our local producers and farmers are focused on doing
everything they can to help make Virginia the East Coast Capital for
agriculture and forestry exports.
Agricultural producers in all corners of the Commonwealth are
experiencing increased connectivity, importance and role in markets
around the world.
The future of Virginia agriculture and forestry is bright and
we’re thrilled to see what opportunities we can help provide for our
producers.
Virginia Agriculture and Forestry from page 7
The undisputed truth is there will never be enough money to meet
all of Virginia’s transportation needs, even with the passage of historic
funding legislation in 2013. The economic downturn has reduced
transportation funding by $1 billion. Combined with the uncertainty
of what the federal government will do to fund transportation
infrastructure, Virginia has to be extremely prudent in the way it
selects projects.
My charge as Virginia’s transportation secretary is to make
the best use of public dollars by delivering the right transportation
projects. Governor Terry McAuliffe did not give me a list of specific
projects to build during his term. Instead, he directed me to implement
House Bill 2, legislation passed by the General Assembly this year
that establishes a comprehensive scoring process driven by statewide
transportation needs rather than political whims or executive direction.
House Bill 2 is a significant development in transportation
because—for the first time—law requires a consistent and objective
analysis to score projects according to critical transportation needs.
This process will serve as a valuable tool for the Commonwealth
Transportation Board (CTB) to select projects and be held accountable
for their decisions. Project selection will be more transparent because
the process will be open to the public. You will know how projects
scored and the reasoning behind the CTB’s project selections. There is
no pre-judging of projects. Simply put, House Bill 2 is about funding
the right projects that generate the greatest benefits to the economy
and ultimately our quality of life.
Candidate projects for scoring include key multimodal travel
corridors, regional networks, urban roads, transit, rail and ridesharing.
Critical factors behind project scorings are congestion mitigation,
economic development, accessibility, safety and environmental
quality. The CTB will work with localities to set weights behind the
factors. Projects that reduce congestion will score higher in traffic-
clogged regions in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. For rural
and other regions, scoring may be based on stimulating economic
growth and improving safety.
The CTB is starting now to identify projects for scoring and place
funding aside so that the board will be ready to officially implement
the process come July 1, 2016. About $416 million in future funding
has been de-allocated from more than 60 projects in the existing Six-
Year Improvement Program. These are not project cuts or delays.
These projects have not started construction and funding was not
allocated until the latter years of the six-year program. House Bill 2
directed the CTB to score these projects. Either environmental studies
were not completed or the projects were not fully funded. Enough
funding will remain on these projects to bring them to a logical
stopping point. Once these projects are
scored, it is possible the CTB could select
them for funding. The projects are posted on
the CTB website, for
the public to discern why these projects are
subject to House Bill 2.
Projects that are exempt from the
scoring process include pavement and
bridge rehabilitation projects, revenue
sharing projects, projects funded through
the Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads
regional revenues, and certain federal funding categories.
The CTB has started to engage with communities across
Virginia to make people aware of House Bill 2 and to gather input
into the development of the process. I have held nine public hearings
across the state and Deputy Secretary Nick Donohue has spoken to
metropolitan planning organizations and other groups. This outreach
is just the beginning of a much more aggressive effort to inform the
public and get their input on the measures behind the scoring process,
and suggested candidate projects that should be scored. A House Bill
2 website will be set up this winter to share information and public
input. Regional workshops on draft recommendations will be held in
the winter/spring of 2014-2015.
Other key milestones coming up:
• Draft measures for scoring will be presented to the CTB by end of
this year.
• Localities and the public will provide input on measures from
January to May of next year.
• The CTB is scheduled to approve the final scoring process next
June.
• Candidate projects will be selected for scoring next summer and go
through the scoring process.
• Once the projects are scored, the CTB will select projects to be
funded in the six year program that incorporates public engagement.
• The process will be fully implemented by July 2016.
House Bill 2 will help to determine the most critical of
transportation needs through a consistent and clear cut process. Once
this process is up and running, citizens will have the opportunity to
gain a better understanding of the benefits they will receive for their
transportation dollars. Over time, the new project scoring process will
result in better transportation funding decisions, which will ultimately
protect the most precious of resources—our time and Virginia’s
ability to keep the economy moving.
Moving Virginia Forward:
Funding the Right Transportation Projects
By Aubrey Layne, Virginia Transportation Secretary
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