State budget cuts to delay road projects in Hampton Roads

RICHMOND

South Hampton Roads, like regions across the state, would lose hundreds of millions of dollars for new roads under a plan to sharply cut the state road building budget.

Virginia highway department officials on Thursday announced a $1.3 billion reduction in construction funds that would cause the delay of some new road, rail and transit projects and the cancellation of others. Those affected would include the U.S. 17 Steel Bridge in Chesapeake, improvements to the Interstate 64 and Interstate 264 interchange in Norfolk, and the Interstate 64 widening in Newport News.

On its face, the revelations are a stark reminder of the economic crisis sweeping Virginia and the nation.

But the downward revision, which follows a $1.1 billion reduction to the $9.3 billion six-year construction plan in June, actually sends another signal: Virginia's highway department plans to dramatically change its function.

"The paradigm we have operated under for the last 75 years is broken," said E. Dana Dickens III, president of the Hampton Roads Partnership and a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Historically, the state highway department has taken the lead on building new roads and fixing old ones. Going forward, state transportation officials said, new major road projects will be "episodic" and maintenance will take priority.

That harsh reality is because of dwindling state and federal money for road projects - both funding sources are fueled by gas taxes, a declining revenue source - which leaves Virginia with an overall $2.6 billion reduction in transportation revenue.

"We have to look at what the transportation system and funding stream of the future is going to be," Dickens added during a break in Thursday's transportation board meeting in Richmond. "It is not what we are currently used to."

The planned transportation budget cuts were announced one day after Gov. Timothy M. Kaine unveiled a bleak budget picture calling for billions in state spending cuts to offset a $2.9 billion revenue shortfall.

And like the overall state budget, which some lawmakers suggest needs deeper cuts, the road fund might have to be slashed further, transportation secretary Pierce Homer said.

"I wish I could say this is the end of the budget reduction process," Homer said at Thursday's meeting as he detailed the proposed project cuts.

From interstates to city streets, many road and rail projects will be stalled or scrapped outright under the revised state highway department construction plan. Other savings would come from the elimination of about 1,000 jobs at the department.

Transportation officials hold out hope that a stimulus package proposed by President-elect Barack Obama will provide an infusion of money.

For the moment, officials said, funds for the development of the Martin Luther King Freeway extension and the Midtown Tunnel projects will be preserved.

A study of the various options for expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, meanwhile, is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

Were funding available now for that project - it isn't - the price tag would exceed $3 billion.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com