The ailing economy has been affecting industries throughout the country for some time now, and the transportation prognosis for Northern Virginia appears poor, according to the state’s transportation chief.
Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer provided business leaders and local officials a grim assessment of the future of transportation in Virginia at a June 3 meeting sponsored by the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.
“We are approaching a cliff,” Secretary Homer said, according to the NVTA Web site. “If we don’t act quickly (to address the transportation funding crisis), Virginia’s prosperity will go elsewhere.”
Local media reports indicate that even as his agency has implemented layoffs and severe cuts in the operations budget and state’s six-year transportation improvement fund, it faces further financial shortfalls as federal and state revenues continue to decline.
In his speech, Secretary Homer noted that the lack of state funds means the state will:
- lose jobs because it can’t attract majory employers with transportation improvements
- continue to suffer congestion woes
lose federal transportation dollars because it can’t match federal funds - lose private transportaion money because it can’t attract public private transportation partnerships
To view Secretary Homer’s presentation, visit the NVTA Web site at www.nvta.org.
Tags: Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance
