Opinion in Brief: Quitters
The Virginia General Assembly ended its special session last week without a solution for Virginia’s transportation needs. In refusing to compromise, the House of Delegates blocked any chance of progress until the next statewide elections are held in 2007.
The Virginia General Assembly ended its special session last week without a solution for Virginia’s transportation needs. In refusing to compromise, the House of Delegates blocked any chance of progress until the next statewide elections are held in 2007.
The debate centered over the ideologically charged debate of whether to raise taxes. While there is an argument for fiscal responsibility, it is not repsonsible to ignore an aging transportation funding regime that hasn’t been overhauled since the 1980s.
Among the projects awaiting funding are high-speed rail between Washington and Newport News, as well as the widening of I-64 from Richmond to Hampton Roads – infrastrucutre improvements that would have been ideal to have in place for the influx of tourists expected for the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement next year.
Who knows how bad traffic will have to get before the problem becomes painfully obvious? Let’s hope anti-progress legislators are forced to quit the General Assembly altogether Election Day next year.
