CHESAPEAKE
Area transportation leaders want to overhaul a new computer ranking system designed to help elected officials prioritize spending on road, bridge and tunnel improvements.
An early version of the computer model picked widening many sections of Interstate 64, rebuilding Interstate 264 interchanges in Virginia Beach, and widening Holland Road in Suffolk as the top road priorities.
Expanding the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Midtown Tunnel were the top-ranked bridge and tunnel projects.
Although the model is being developed as a tool for the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization to choose projects that could win limited state and federal dollars, the stark reality of seeing a number assigned to a project without human input raised eyebrows. The group includes elected city, county and state officials.
When the initial rankings were released last month, Portsmouth Councilman Doug Smith said they made him "a little bit uneasy." Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said he was "uncomfortable," noting that the model placed the Midtown Tunnel expansion, the only tunnel project ready to move forward, as No. 2.
Dwight Farmer, executive director of the planning board, said the model should be revised so it "does not lock anyone into a ranking." Ultimately, he said, board members will set the priorities.
The board's Transportation Advisory Committee, made up mainly of city managers, agreed Thursday to explore revisions.
They want to try evaluating projects on three levels:
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Utility, which would include congestion relief, safety and connectivity.
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Viability, which factors in funding availability and planning readiness.
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And economic vitality. The last measure is the least developed so far but could include employment, tax collections and value-of-time-saved benefits.
The new criteria would indicate whether a project solves transportation problems, reflects financial realities and enhances economic competitiveness, Farmer said.
Each project would get three scores, and elected leaders would have to debate their merits to prioritize them.
The committee also suggested not numbering projects within the categories and instead using A, B, C grades, or high, medium, low rankings.
The planning staff and the Virginia Department of Transportation will make revisions and present them to the planning board as early as its January meeting.
VDOT is paying consultants Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. $150,000 for the work. The revisions will extend the contract, so VDOT and the planning agency need to work out additional payments.
"Once we get something done, I think our tool will be one of the most comprehensive and complex in the country," said Camelia Ravanbakht, deputy executive director of the planning organization.
She said Northern Virginia and Richmond are closely watching the work and have indicated they may adopt similar strategies. In Virginia, only Fredericksburg uses a technically based prioritization tool, Ravanbakht said.
To develop Hampton Roads' model, the planning organization turned to agencies in Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento and Atlanta that already use prioritization models. Ravanbakht said a growing number of metropolitan areas are developing similar tools for road projects because of rising transportation demands and declining revenues.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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No one should be surprised
No one should be surprised at these folks reaction. Why bother with a computer simulator at all if you are going to skew the results anyway.
WHAT ROADS
The unfortunate reality is; our elected officials are not in any position to help us, either by ignorance, or clout. The most qualified folks in this region happen to be the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel folks. They were able to contract and have a new span completed in less than five years… So sell bonds, charge a toll, and leave one lane reserved for people “not enrolled” in easy-pass. Yes, paying a toll will not be fun, but neither is waiting the golden goose egg that will never arrive in this region.
Going North
Would it really matter when, for the third time in recent memory, I've just read about road funds going to NOVA (Northern VA). I'm not trying to be selfish with the funds, I just don't like being lied to. VDOT and numerous politicans (esp. on the campaign trails) have consistently stated that funds are to come here to help spur one the state's biggest economic sources-the ports.
The ports being here and the trucks needing to get out of here cannot do so effectively as it currently stands. It took long enough to get Midtown Tunnel/58 to 164 connected effectively. We all know the choke points at the tunnels and other areas. Growing pains are exactly those but I cannot stand a hyprocrite and a liar. Hampton Roads is in dire straits for roads with little help in the budget for the next several years. Oye...
COMPUTER SIMULATION
GLOBING WARMING AND VDOT SIMULATION OF ROAD PROBLEMS SEEM TO COME FROM THE SAME PILE OF CRAP DATA FILE U THUNK?
STUDY THIS
STUDY AFTER STUDY AFTER STUDY………………………………….STILL NO MONEY FOR US BUT FOR EVERYBODY ELSE.
Exactly where does pathathic ignorance fit in? We find out after all the years of getting drippings in funding from VDOT. Nobody showed up to plead our case. We need to fire the mto, cto, mio, EOE and the eieio (as Old Mc Donald use to say) and whatever, board organization makes up this mess and start from scratch. Furthermore, the head of the VDOT eastern region which would know how the system works offered no guidance as to how we could procure our share but here is a suggestion “SHOW UP TO THE MEETING INTSTEAD OF PHONE IN YOUR REQUEST MIGHT HELP” hello Mr. Heuer and Mr. Farmer stop the studies and show up to get the money we have paid and deserve. To fix this mess.
Midtown Tunnel
If there was a way to get across the Elizabeth River, I would take the MMBT when the HRBT is badly jammed; however, the downtown and midtown tunnels cost more time than the HRBT even on a bad day. I live in NN and work in VB. The HRBT is usually good for a 15 minute delay on average. If you try to take the midtown tunnel, it usually takes 15 minutes just to get past the light on Brambleton and Colley. Yes, when there is a rush hour wreck at the HRBT and the tunnel closes for an hour (usually about 4 times per year), it is a disaster. I'm not sure widening the tunnel would alleviate the traffic if the tunnel was closed for a wreck. On average, I would say the midtown should be a priority.
ridiculous, just start
ridiculous, just start working on at least one project while your discussing how to make the computer output your favorite pet projects
get to work please...
Waste
Just another way to waste tax payer dollars and NOT solve any of our transportation problems.
Forrest Gump said it best!!
Stupid is as stupid does! Based on this article I can't think of anything more appropriate!
another waste of taxpayers money
What a great Brain trust we have spending our tax money.
$150,000 to state the obvious, I wonder how much it is going to cost to adjust the obvious to the needs of the lobbiest.
1 of 2 Problems
Problem 1: Someone is funneling money to the computer simulators.
Problem 2: Someone's district is not getting enough money for roads.
1 of 2 problems
#1 someone did not like the results
#2 someone got got short changed
Road Priorities
Easy, and FREE!! (instead of some silly computer program)
Here's how: simply drive across the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel during rush hour
Nothing like having a
Nothing like having a computer program changed to support your opinion as "fact". Doing so in the end simply makes the development cost of the software a waste of taxpayers money. Eureka! the computer came up with the same results we did! We sooo smart. Give us them moneys for them roads now.
laughable
So a computer system, using logic and without emotion, figured out which are the top priority transportation needs in Tidewater.
But then we inject the childish behavour of elected "leaders" bashing the program because it did not support their emotional whims, their paybacks to contributors, or the "special perk" projects they promised.
This is why NOVA gets funding, and Tidewater is laughed at!
"So a computer system, using
"So a computer system, using logic and without emotion,"
without emotion, and without regard to the realities of the funding situation.
I mean, my life would be a lot better if I wasn't driving a vehicle with a quarter million miles on it. But I do it, because I can't afford to buy a new one right now. So, an oil change, alignment, and tire rotation are probably good expenditures.
how much...
money did the board waste on the software that will now let the board members still decide amongst themselves what they want. So now they want to tweak it so that the results are the way they want them.