Northern Virginia would have greater influence in deciding how the state spends its transportation money under legislation gaining traction in the General Assembly.
The Virginia House this week voted to give Northern Virginia two more seats on the Commonwealth Transportation Board. It would achieve that by electing board members from each congressional district rather than from transportation districts created in 1930. Northern Virginia, with one seat on the 17-member board, would have three seats and possibly an extra at-large member.
Northern Virginia leaders have complained for years that the region is shortchanged by the state despite its dense population and chronic traffic problems.
The bill passed 51-47, with lawmakers from suburban or urban districts besting rural lawmakers in a vote that highlights the continuing shifting of power away from rural Virginia to its suburbs and cities.
Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon, a bill sponsor, said the rule would make transportation decisions fairer.
“Currently you have one person representing as few as 5 percent of the state of Virginia, and you have one person representing Northern Virginia, which is 25 percent of Virginia,” Rust said. “This [bill] makes the representation more proportional.”
That doesn’t mean Northern Virginia will suddenly receive a flood of road money.
“I think it’s good news for Northern Virginia, but I don’t think it means that the rural areas will have a huge loss,” said Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, which supported the bill. “Everybody works together on the CTB.”
The measure may have more difficulty in the Senate, where a committee killed a similar bill earlier. “It will be a struggle,” Rust admitted.
The House on Tuesday approved a second bill that could benefit Northern Virginia by ranking state transportation projects by how much congestion they relieve per dollar spent,.
“In this way, the highest priority projects that offer the biggest ‘bang for the buck’ can be identified in a publicly available list,” wrote Del. Jim LeMunyon, R-Chantilly. “Because our transportation dollars are limited, we should first be funding the projects that help get Northern Virginia moving.”
