Commonwealth Transportation Board Draft 2015 Six-Year Improvement Program

Download the Draft 2015 Six-Year Improvement Plan HERE

Hampton Roads District Public Hearings will be held Thursday, June 4, at 6pm at the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, 723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake, VA 23320.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) presented a draft Six-Year Improvement Program for Fiscal Years (FY) 2010-2015 to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB). The total proposed program is $7.4 billion, down from $8.9 billion in the revised FY 2009-2014 budget approved three months ago.

The FY 2010-2015 budget reflects $650 million in cuts to the highway program and $880 million in reductions to rail and transit. The highway declines are largely a result of continued state and federal revenue shortfalls, while the transit and rail declines are mainly attributed to the transition of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which reduced the program by $776 million.

“The commonwealth is continually challenged to meet federal obligations and state maintenance requirements for our highway system while dealing with drastic declines in state and federal revenues,” said Pierce R. Homer, Virginia secretary of transportation. “We have been able to maintain our rail and transit programs and services.”

Transportation revenue reductions have forced the CTB to significantly reduce the six-year program over the past several years:

• Fiscal years 2008-13 program adopted June 2007: $11 billion ($8.7 billion for highways)
• Fiscal years 2009-14 program adopted June 2008: $10.6 billion ($7.9 billion for highways)
• Revised fiscal years 2009-14 program adopted February 2009: $8.9 billion ($6.0 billion for highways)
• Proposed Fiscal years 2010-2015 program: $7.4 billion ($5.4 billion for highways)

VDOT also applied previously allocated but unused dollars from interstate projects to fund two major ready-to-go projects in order to match federal funds for FY 2009. More than $97 million from projects with phases that were not currently under way was reallocated in order to complete the I-95 bridge rehabilitation and I-64 paving projects in the Richmond District.

“After reducing the highway program by $2 billion in the revised FY 2009-2014 program, VDOT is again faced with more program funding challenges,” said VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern, P.E. “VDOT is stretching every dollar to ensure federal and state obligations are met, and using available funds to keep projects that can move forward progressing as quickly as possible.”

Funding Reductions for Highway Program from the FY 2009-2014 Revised Program to the Proposed FY 2010-2015 Program

• Interstate: $1.4 billion to $1.3 billion
• Primary: $ 1.3 billion to $1.0 billion
• Secondary: $0.6 billion to $0.5 billion
• Urban: $0.5 billion to $0.4 billion

“While the reduction in available state rail, transit and commuter service funding in the draft FY2010-2015 program is primarily due to the reassignment of the Dulles Metrorail project, the transit and rail programs and services have been spared the drastic reductions of other areas of government,” said DRPT Director Charles M. Badger, P.E.

The Commonwealth of Virginia will host public hearings across the state in June to receive public input on the Fiscal Years 2010-2015 Six-Year Improvement Program for highway, transit, rail and commuter service improvements. CTB members will host the hearings and leaders from VDOT and DRPT will attend and provide information.

Written comments may be submitted to the following locations and must be received by June 12:

Public Information Office
Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation
600 E. Main St., Suite 2102, Richmond, VA 23219
drptpr@drpt.virginia.gov

Programming Director
Virginia Department of Transportation
1401 E. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23219
six-yearprogram@vdot.virginia.gov

For more information, visit the CTB Web site at www.CTB.Virginia.gov, the VDOT Web site, www.VirginiaDOT.org, or the DRPT Web site at www.drpt.virginia.gov.


CONTACTS:
Jeff Caldwell, Jeffrey.Caldwell@vdot.virginia.gov
Jennifer Pickett, Jennifer.Pickett@drpt.virginia.gov