THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605160393
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
A regional transportation expert predicts that within 10 years, Hampton Roads motorists will face traffic gridlock that rivals Northern Virginia's, because funds aren't keeping pace with the area's road needs.
Maintenance on local highways is consuming so much of the transportation budget that fewer new roads can be built, while the amount of money available to spend remains steady.
This grim outlook was presented to regional planners Wednesday by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
``Every year we wait and do nothing, we're basically inflicting on ourselves some degradation in mobility,'' said Dwight L. Farmer, transportation director for the public planning group. ``We don't know yet what that means for the motorist going to work except that they will go slower and it will take longer.''
Farmer predicts that within the next 10 years, traffic here will move as slowly as in Northern Virginia, where the average highway speed is 10 mph.
By 2002, the Monitor Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel will be as packed as the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, he said. And the Downtown and Midtown tunnels will be parking lots.
``Even if we decide to do something today, we can't stop the problem completely,'' Farmer said.
Alternatives are: increasing existing funding, finding new sources of revenue, privatizing some road projects, increasing mass transportation and changing people's driving habits.
State road projects are primarily paid for with gasoline taxes. Planners say it's unlikely that increasing the gas tax would be the only answer, as it would require about a 30-cent hike to meet the roads' needs.
Local transportation planners are examining the finances now, as the state prepares to review highway funding and needs set 10 years ago by the Commission on Transportation in the 21st Century.
According to a report prepared by the planning district commission, the amount of revenue generated for Virginia roads is basically keeping pace with inflation (gasoline sales are fairly flat as cars are becoming more fuel efficient), while maintenance costs are double the inflation rate.
Ten years ago, Hampton Roads received 35 percent of state transportation funds. Today, it receives 22 percent.
Based on the current funding structure, the report shows that $1 billion in highway needs in Hampton Roads will not be met by the year 2000. That will increase to $5 billion during the next 20 years.
Farmer warned that the longer it takes to correct the funding inequities, the harder it will be to get traffic volumes under control.
``We'll never be able to muster the political energy to fix the problem quickly,'' Farmer said. ``So do we accept these deteriorated levels as our standard and just not let it get any worse?''
Even though the population growth rate of the region is 1 percent per year, Farmer said, the annual growth of travel on our major thoroughfares is 3 to 4 percent.
``We have more people coming in and everybody is driving more,'' he said. ``We are our worst enemy in terms of congestion. I guess that's a sign of prosperity.''
Members of the planning district commission agreed Wednesday to meet with the local delegation to the General Assembly to begin talking about how to resolve the funding problems. by CNB