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VDOT releases 'troubling' list of cuts
Virginia's stalling economy and multiple cuts to state transportation revenues have resulted in a long list of projects cut or delayed, a circumstance that Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay (D), head of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors Transportation Committee, called “troubling” for Fairfax County.
“The road projects cut or delayed must be completed – many are decades overdue,” McKay wrote in an e-mail to The Times. The projects removed from the plan range all over the county, from widening projects on Route 1 near its intersection with Route 123 to the reconstruction of important bridges on Interstates 495 and 95.
The cuts aren't limited to road projects either. Plans to make improvements to the severely crowded platform at the Vienna Metro Station have also been put on hold. The Vienna Metro project was delayed rather than cut and was part of a long list of projects that were hurt by the Virginia Supreme Court decision that struck down the taxing authority of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.
The Virginia General Assembly may save some of the transportation projects if they reach a resolution for new transportation funding sources during a special session later this month.
“I hope this list signals a wake-up call to the General Assembly and translates clearly into a call for action,” McKay said.
Despite McKay's comments, local lawmakers went into VDOT's public hearings on the six-year plan last month expecting a tough year.
“We have $1.1 billion less than we thought even a year ago. ... We have to make tough decisions about which projects survive and which do not,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, speaking as chair of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
The Vienna Town Council, which had pushed for the improvements to the Vienna Metro, took the setback in stride but without much hope for improvement.
“It's a fantasy list,” Councilwoman Maud Robinson said. “You can't imagine they'll ever catch up to it.”
email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com
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