General Assembly kills transportation funding bills, adjourns

Thank for your insight into a blown out of proportion commute but surely, if even slightly true, you would know that the democrat transportation plan would do nothing to improve your situation. You would know that your despised predicament would remain the same or get worse while your pocket gets picked by tax-em-til-they-drop democrats. Sad part is, even if passed, the money would be diverted anyway.

We already bring in a boat load of money - probably enough to pave from here to Taiwan and back. Of course, we spend a huge portion of it on public education, because throwing money at socialized education makes our kids smarter - and the government simply does a much better job at running the nation's education than the private sector ever could. We also spend a ton of money on traveling, benefits, social programs and other services that government simply shouldn't be in the business of providing, but is, largely because citizens have been taught (in the public school system, no doubt) that our government is here to take care of us. So now, when it comes to our roads - the one thing we all agree our taxes ought to pay for - omg we must raise taxes to accomplish this. No. Cut your spending elsewhere, my liberal democrat friends. We Virginians pay enough in taxes already to support many small nations.

I would like to thank you for, once again, failing to come up with a solution for the state's current traffic situation. Without your inept leadership, stubborn nature, and complete incompetence, I would miss out on the joy of sitting in traffic for hours at a time. I was very afraid that, this year, common sense would prevail in Richmond and I would only have a limited time left to experience the sheer entertainment of stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic inching towards a bridge, or a tunnel, or both. Indeed, the mere thought that I would no longer be able to waste gallons upon gallons of fuel doing this filled me with terror. But thanks to the fact that you're all a bunch of complete morons, I've got at least another year to do what I love, which is crawl down I-64, 264, and let's not forget 164 at a snail's pace for most of the day.

Thanks for nothing.

Problem solved! No one has to make a decision, no one pays for anything, no rantings back and forth, and everyone is happy. But that's not true, they won't be happy because we will still have the transporation problem that no one want to pay for, but some how we should be able to pull the money out of the skies. Good luck with all that!

I can commiserate with most of you on the anger and frustration. And those of you who don't want to pay for better roads 'cause you're freaked by the price of gasoline, well, you should consider how much of it you're burning when you're sitting in traffic or three cycles of a red light.

I've lived through too many years of this, from the GOP and Dems alike. Tom Moss and his crew didn't do any better, and this problem didn't crop up with the spring daisies.

So we're putting our house on the market, after 30-plus years here, and heading off for the Carolinas. There are several reasons, but high among them is the reality that living in a metropolitan cul-de-sac has gotten too oppressive. My wife is a native, I never thought I'd see her want to leave, but she's had enough, too.

You can only use the highways here if you plan your timing and route as intricately as Eisenhower planned D-Day. You can't get anywhe

Has anyone thought that maybe PART of the problem may be due to the tourists who are coming to our region and perhaps VDOT needs to start routing traffic thru Monitor Merrimac? MMBT is usually light on traffic when the rush is on.
As far as Governor Kaine goes, thank God! he is almost out!

Democrat ATM (Automatic Tax Machine)

We need better roads – go to the ATM
We need the light rail extended – go to the ATM
We need a new day care center – go to the ATM
We need a better marine terminal – go to the ATM
We need more social services – go to the ATM
We need to build a better house for the NSU President – go to the ATM
We need to develop more resorts at the beach – go to the ATM

There is an ATM conveniently located in a Capital building/City Hall close to you

Just yesterday there was an article that stated the population of Virginia Beach and Norfolk have dropped, and yet, we've still got a congestion problem. Our representatives of the General Assembly, the people we are paying to assist us with these problems, managed to do NOTHING about them. Complaining and not doing anything is only going to make the situation more difficult and more costly. Congratulations to our do-nothing GA for proving that so-called great minds can't get anything accomplished even when the people that put them there are screaming for them to take action.

Gotta love the comments like "do nothing republicans", "they wasted our time" and "lack courage to raise taxes" (I like that one best). The republicans were forced to waste time couragiously killing tax increases, again, that democrats keep trying to force down our throats. The republicans offered other solutions but demos cry about not getting their tax increase. Plainly, we all know that the MPO projects are BS, massive amounts of tax money is already tossed down the socialist drain and demos refuse to lock down transportation funds for roads only. We all can smell this sewer pipe miles away but demos just keep hammering away at a losing proposition.

There is no logic in adding more lanes. Here in Tidewater, if there is an accident in one lane then all other lanes back up. Adding an additional lanes only creates a situation where 3 lanes are now backed up instead of 2 lanes. The most logical answer is to reduce the number of cars on the road on any given day. This can be accomplished by mandating that employers with greater than 5 employees institute a 4 day work week, or 4 days in the office and one day of e-work from home, or any variation that would accomplish at least a 30% minimum reduction on any given day of workers commuting. Then tax the employers that do not provide proof of compliance.

Hotels should stagger their weekly rentals, there is no reason they are all based on Sat to Sat bookings. Again -- tax those hotels that do not comply.

These taxes can be earmarked for road or transit funds.

And the Pilot could help out by mandating that all empl

The ONLY fair way is the tax on fuel. Then it is a "pay as you go" plan. PLEASE no tolls. I don't want to pay for toll booths or people to operate them. I don't want to have it on my real estate bill either!!! As this only taxes the local people. ANY fuel taxes collected should go back to the geographic area they were collected in (IE: Hampton Roads). I am tired of paying for those roads in Northern Virginia! Again, this is the only fair way to pay for our roads!!!

I too will ditto Doc Tabor on his posts. It's really all the democrats fault though. Right George?

I'll have to agree with Mr. Tabor on this one.

So, what was so terrible about the republican idea? It would have put a greater amount of responsibility for funding on the ports here and the airports in the north. Seems fair and equitable. Then do a 1 cent gas tax increase once every 2 years for 6 years (3 cent increase vice 6 cent increase). Now that sounds like a compromise to me.

I'm voting for Ira Tateu. It sounds like he is promising something that he will actually come through on. Now there is something new, a promise fulfilled.

As has been said many times before, the state budget has doubled in the past decade, far outstripping the rate of inflation and population growth, but the politicians tell us they need more money for roads. It seems to me that roads are need-to-have items, but our taxpayer dollars have been spent on nice-to-have items or get-me-reelected items. A pox on both parties for giving new depth and meaning to the word, incompetent.

We all benefit (all over the state) and we all should pay for the roads. To pretend that only those that use the roads receive a benefit is ludicrous. Efficient and effective transportation result in less congestion, less air pollution and more commerce. Less congestion on the roads saves us ALL time and gas. Less air pollution results in fewer health issues and resulting lower health care costs. More commerce grows the economy of the state. A reasonable toll system is understandable, but to rely solely on tolls will only shift traffic to untolled roadways. Even those that don't drive need/use goods that are transported through the ports. How would the coal belt ship its product if not for the port. It's past time for the GA to have a solution. Lets confine them to a bus that has to drive through these problems all day every day until they can find a way to make it work. They are elected to make the hard decisions so make it and move on so we can all move forward.

no new taxes! Tolls are taxes. The children we have in office will only spend their lunch money and then cry for more. We have had 2 major tax hikes despite the voters proving they don't want higher taxes. All these roads were built with fewer people paying lower tax rates on less income. There should be plenty money to maintain and upgrade them if the money is used wisely, since every pay raise is a tax increase. I am impressed that the house has enough sense to know that raising our taxes will likely put them out of office. There simply needs to be a restructuring of our commonwealth's spending. Cut the waste and I'm not talking about showing an effort by closing down a few DMV branches to make it so inconvenient and aggravating for us that we suddenly decide we need to be taxed harder. We are smarter and more sophisticated than that.

I64 looks horrible, so I know they are not spending money on filling the holes.

Im sure some basic oversight of our budget can find waste that can be used to find solutions.
I think the bigest problem is not money, but how, how do you fix the HRBT problem? I live in oceanview and i have grown to hate the commuters that live in Hampton and work over here, then use my neighborhood as a high speed cut through.

Despite the overwhelming view of most Virginians, especially those in urban areas, that we must invest more in transportation, the republican majority in the House has steadfastly refused to show the courage to pass the needed increases in taxes and fees. This despite the fact that last year, they agreed about the nature of the crisis, and adopted a solution, but required others to actually levy the taxes. Rather than be unkind, I won't publicly express an opinion about that action. But frankly, now it is up to us. We must elect delegates that will face the hard issues facing our Commonwealth, and not expect someone else to solve problems that should be solved by the Legislature. If we, the voters, don't make a change, we deserve to sit in traffic forever.

and we all should be doing it. Carpool, ride sharing, working w/in your community, stagered shifts, work from home etc. etc. etc.. Stop waiting for the pols to fix your problem, fix it yourself. Ride a scooter or better yet a bike, you might even loose those saddle bags or beer gut. And, as far as ports & airports go, they should bear the brunt of taxes & fees because they're the ones profiting from the new roads. Rt. 460 for example is just a trucking line. I never drive 460 anymore, know why, I'm a little car in their big truck world. Not very safe for cars like mine. Get a grip people, gov't. is not there to solve every problem for you, sometimes you have to think for yourselves. Time has come to help yourself, be creative, be opportunistic, be smart. Big changes are coming and best to be ahead of the curve than behind it. I bet when gas goes to $7, $8 or $9 per gallon you'll start thinking like this, but it may be to late. Take a step back & look @ the big picture, time to slow down to speed up. Think about that.

We don't have transportation needs, we have a replace all Republicans need.

If I don't do my job, I get fired. FIRE THESE BUMS! And please stop with the partisan idiocy. This problem is everywhere in the commonwealth's political system, starting with the poor leadership ability of Mr. Kaine.

VOTE THEM OUT...

Yet the same low numbers of people vote for tax-em-dorf as mayor and I bet you screm and shout from the rooftops that the majority of VB residents support her huh? Just because the voters are to apathetic to get out and vote does not change the numbers. The majority voted no.

If the GA is that interested in wasting more money on choo-choo trains, then hold another referendum and ask the voters.

No New Taxes.

Doing nothing is considerably better than doing the wrong thing.

First of all, the Southside Reversible Roadway should be opened to all traffic at all times with no HOV restriction. That would greatly reduce congestion between VA Beach and the Naval Base during rush hours. If it is necessary to buy it back from the Feds, then electronically toll it as a HOT lane until it is paid for.

Separate the seven MPO projects and determine the feasibility of each as a self financed project and create a commission for each based on the CBBT to sell bonds or arrange private sector participation. I expect that additional tubes for the HRBT, Downtown and Midtown tunnels would be readily feasible, as would the widening of I64 from the High Rise to Bowers. The 3rd crossing and 460 plans are less likely to fly as the Port interests only seem to want them if somebody else pays.

If we would stop allowing babies to drive (under 18) this would relieve a lot of the congestion and traffic fatalities by at least 50%.

We wouldn't have to raise taxes, build more roads ect...just reduce the amount of child drivers that refuse to put the phone down, or testing away or even the driving while intoxicated and we would have much less of a mess than we do now.

How many underage drinkers do you think drive? 75% of them drink and drive. It's a given so why do we insist in letting them have a license too?

Enough already with trying to dodge responsibilities in reaising the children...just because they turned 15 1/2 doesn't mean they can handle such a huge load...but yet parents run to the DMV to get them licensed so they can be free from drvingin them around themselves..Shame on you all!

Traffic congestion, not the lack of pavement is the problem. If the GA would ban cell phone use by drivers in total, mandate driver training and testing for new drivers in how to drive through tunnels and bridges, add some signage and signals to help keep slow drivers moving through the tunnels, keep trucks in the right most lane several miles before the entrance to tunnels and bridges, create some stiff penalties for preventable breakdowns within 5 miles of tunnels or bridges, and ultimately make knowing how to drive a prerequisite for getting a drivers' license we could improve our traffic flow immensely. (I know, the last suggestion, although critical to solving our traffic woes, is really over the PC line.)

It's a great idea. Possibly the only good thing to come out of this 'special session', which by the way, the politicians shouldn't be paid for. Most work places use a performance standard for pay and increases, and obviously there was no 'performance' in this session...unless we are paying for a comedy performance. And as far as the majority of VB voters not wanting lightrail, I suggest you look at the numbers of the people who voted. Hardly any. A minor fraction of people in Virginia Beach voted on this issue when it was first proposed back in the day. I bet if you took a vote TODAY, with the cost of gas, the congestion on the roads, etc..that the majority would be FOR it. Especially if it was front page news, promoted, and everyone was aware of the importance of it. Maybe MORE of the population would actually trouble themselves to get to the voting booth.

Write in Ira Tateu on the ballot. I cannot wait to get a job where I can come to no conclusion, blame someone else, and then go home without accomplishing anything.

So we just sit and do nothing???? Sounds like a good Republican plan to me!

Raise the gas tax a few pennies. Place toll booths on our state borders on interstates and US highways. You come into the state, you pay to use our roads, you leave the state, you pay for the roads you just used. Also they could put tolls on 58, 460 and 64 right outside the metro area. All of that money could stay in Hampton Roads. You come into our area, you pay, you leave our area, you pay. Simple. This way there would be no tolls IN our local area.