Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 20, 1993 TAG: 9307200320
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Virginians for Better Transportation, a 2-year-old lobbying group, contends the state will be unable to fund $24.2 billion of its $52.1 billion in transportation needs through 2010, imperiling economic growth and development efforts from Arlington to Bristol.
"What's at stake here is the future of our commonwealth," said Steve Musselwhite, a Vinton insurance executive who last month completed his second and final term on the state Transportation Board. "We want to alert the commonwealth to a pending transportation crisis that could very well cripple the state's economy."
Coalition leaders insist the group's membership - more than 100 businesses, trade groups and individuals - seeks additional funding for all parts of the state, though it does not suggest ways to increase that funding.
"We are not `calling' for anything," Musselwhite said. "All we are saying is we need additional funds."
Joined by two Roanoke business leaders heading Virginians for Better Transportation - Jack Lanford of Adams Construction Co. and Abney Boxley III of W.W. Boxley Co. - Musselwhite stood before Roanoke's aging Fifth Street Bridge and began his litany, culled from a study prepared by a Washington-based research group:
Of Virginia's 12,000 bridges, 12.7 percent are considered "structurally deficient" - unable to handle the expected weights and speeds. Another 21.5 percent are "functionally obsolete" - too narrow or too low.
The average Virginia driver spent $79.72 cents in 1991 on wasted fuel, vehicle repairs and excess tire wear caused by deteriorating roads and highways.
Road needs for the 12-county Salem District - including the Roanoke Valley - are among the most acute in Virginia. The district leads the state in approved projects that remain unfunded. And that alarming trend is likely to continue.
"The power has shifted," Musselwhite said, acknowledging the increasing influence of Northern Virginia and Tidewater on the state spending priorities. "We've almost become a state of haves and have-nots.
"We're already grossly underfunded in the Salem district to begin with. I want there to be more money for Northern Virginia, Tidewater and Richmond, but not at our expense. Don't fund their needs on our backs."
For fresh evidence of the eastward tilt, Musselwhite points to the membership of an ad hoc General Assembly committee charged with studying the funding formula for state transportation needs: Not one member hails from either the Salem or Bristol districts, the Western-most portion of the state.
The committee's membership "is a matter of concern," said Lanford, president of Virginians for Better Transportation. "You have to trust they're going to do the right thing. We don't have any hidden agendas, except to tell the people what's going on."
Today and Wednesday, the committee will hold hearings before drafting revisions in Virginia's transportation funding laws, including the first revision of the state Transportation Trust Fund. A Roanoke-area hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Roanoke County supervisors' chamber in the County Administration Building.
IF YOU WANT TO GO to the public hearing of the General Assembly Select Committee on Transportation Funding, show up at the Board of Supervisors' chambers in the Roanoke County Administration Building at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
by CNB