Posted on 07/29/2011 5:30:19 AM PDT by wolfman23601
State officials moved a step closer to a new U.S. 460 on Thursday by announcing that Virginia will put as much as $500 million toward a public-private partnership to rebuild the road to interstate quality between Suffolk and Petersburg, a $1.44 billion to $1.8 billion project.
The four-lane divided highway is Gov. Bob McDonnell's top transportation priority, one he hopes will serve as a public-private model for building roads in Virginia.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has already received three private proposals, which would require tolls from $5.50 to $11 for cars and as much as $75 for tandem tractor-trailers.
(Excerpt) Read more at hamptonroads.com ...
The Democrat-controlled newspapers in Va are always harping about “roads” because they want an increase in taxes, especially the gas tax.
It would be one thing if the road was actually needed, and this Democrat-controlled newspaper has a point: the roads in Hampton Roads suck. If Micky D would spend the $500 million to resurface and pave the roads around here, new roads would not be needed. One thing for sure is that if there was an olympic sport for the pothole slolom, I’d go for gold. Instead of maintaining existing roads for citizens, we get the train to nowhere (light rail in Norfolk), an $11 toll road through rural counties to nowhere, and a 70 mile high speed rail route that saves 6 minutes with a new train station on the light rail route. This clown works for the developers, not the people. It is a shame because I had high hopes after what I thought was an excellent SOTU response a couple of years back. We would have been beeter off with another RAT governor and continued political gridlock in Richmond.
I respectfully disagree. The current Route 460 is heavily traveled, even more so today because traffic jams on I64 between Norfolk and Richmond are frequent and frustrating for travelers and truckers. Also, I read (sorry, can’t cite article) that a new 460 would provide an important outlet in the event of a direct threat posed to Hampton Roads by a hurricane.
Truthfully, I am not thrilled about the proposed new road because of its impact on local farms and other properties. I am proud of our governor, though, who has led Virginia for two years to solid levels of fiscal responsibility. After Tim Kaine, Gov. McDonnell is a blessing to Virginia.
And tolls seldom go away, NY is still paying on them..supposedly for upkeep...Having just visited hubby’s older brother the the Niagra Falls area and paying excessive toles, the roads look like crap. Money must be going into somes one’s pocket, it sure isn’t fixing roads.
Virginia is required to balance its budget. Warner had to do it, Kaine had to do it, and McDonnell had to do it. I can’t stand Kaine or his ideology, but it is hard to say one person is more fiscally responsible than another when they are required to do the same thing ultimately. Kaine got nothing done and was completely ineffective. Thus, it really wasn’t a bad term.
I am aware of Virginia’s balanced budget requirement. How a governor goes about balancing it can be very telling, though. Shutting down rest stops was pretty petty of Kaine when I imagine other spending cuts could have been made instead.
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