Metropolitan transportation group trying to be more effective

The public body that plans regional transportation projects is undergoing sweeping reform in hopes of making it more effective in getting road and transit improvements funded and built.

The Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization has long been an obscure board consisting of local elected officials from 13 cities and counties that studies and plans local transportation.

The changes will make its work more transparent and will more closely align it with state officials who hold the purse strings.

Because of its low profile, few in the community have ever heard of it, know its role or know how to access it. Because of its static structure, some say it's ineffectual, especially when compared to powerhouses like Northern Virginia's MPO.

A hallmark of the group's work is a list of projects that totaled nearly $8 billion in 2002 that included another water crossing between South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula, a new Midtown Tunnel and the Southeastern Parkway.

None has been funded or built.

"The organization has had a long history of planning transportation projects, but very little success in implementing them," said Newport News Mayor Joe Frank, reform committee chairman.

Changes approved in May could raise its profile in the community and its stature in the transportation industry.

The changes include adding General Assembly members and other new faces to the panel, creating a new voting structure that prevents one locality or area from dominating decisions, and engaging citizens in decision-making.

It dropped its vague name and is now called the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization.

"They've changed their attitude, opened themselves up to a lot of criticism and opened themselves up to change their behavior," said Philip Shucet, a transportation consultant and former Virginia Department of Transportation commissioner.

"Hopefully a few years from now they'll have evolved some more."

He said the changes will take time to root and produce results. "We're not going to wake up the morning after the vote and see cranes and hard hats all over the place building something."

Jim Oliver, former city manager of Norfolk and Portsmouth, is among those pushing for reform.

"I think they're making a huge amount of progress but I think changing a culture is a big deal," said Oliver, who just signed on as interim Hampton city manager.

"Heck, I was a member of the MPO and I obviously didn't get it when I was there. "

Reform started after the agency was criticized on two fronts - by the Federal Highway Administration mainly for lacking transparency; and by the regional think tank Future of Hampton Roads for lacking rigor and adopting a parochial instead of a regional approach.

MPOs are mandated across the country to set their regions' transportation priorities; projects using federal or state money cannot proceed without their approval.

A federal review of the planning group ordered 11 corrective actions. Many had to do with openness and public involvement.

As a result, the board, which meets monthly, has added a public comment period to its agendas, is creating citizens and freight haulers advisory committees, and is hiring a community outreach specialist to engage residents.

Many believe the lack of public involvement was to blame for the defeat of the 2002 transportation referendum developed by the planning organization that would have raised the sales tax for road and transit projects.

"A more engaging dialogue and a diversity of opinions will help build consensus," said Dennis Heuer, Virginia Department of Transportation district administrator. "When your boss makes a decision for you, you don't like it as much as if you were engaged in the final outcome."

The group added new voting members to the board, including four General Assembly members and the Virginia Port Authority - plus nonvoting members representing citizens, freight transportation and the airports.

Both state and locally elected leaders agree there's a disconnect between the group that recommends projects and the group that funds them.

Adding legislators to the board "brings a level of reality to what's achievable," Heuer said.

"There needs to be some real-time involvement instead of them coming to us and saying - fork over the cash," said Del. John Cosgrove of Chesapeake, who leads the Hampton Roads delegation. "That just never worked."

Legislators already serve on the MPO in Northern Virginia. "They have a plan, they work their plan," Heuer said, "and I don't see that kind of thing coalescing here."

Budget numbers developed by retired Rear Admiral Ray Taylor of Future of Hampton Roads indicate that the region is not faring as well as Northern Virginia when it comes to transportation funding.

When the current six-year building plan had to be cut, Hampton Roads funding shrank 31 percent while Northern Virginia's fell 19 percent, according to Taylor's analysis.

In addition, funding for interstate projects in Hampton Roads decreased 72 percent while funding for Northern Virginia increased 1 percent.

Taylor, who has done an exhaustive study of MPOs, said the local organization's inability to set priorities for projects has hampered progress.

"They haven't prioritized because the ethic is, 'Something for everyone,' " Taylor said. "It's an arrogant perspective - all or nothing. We always get nothing."

Dwight Farmer was promoted to executive director of the MPO last year, after longtime leader Art Collins retired.

"I personally want to bring better and more information to the table than what we've had," Farmer said. "I think we really can broaden the discussion. And we'll have some of the state money people working hand-in-hand with us... which should allow us to implement things we're planning."

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com