- Purple Line: This critical transit link received final approval from the state of Maryland, thanks to emails to Governor O’Malley, and testimony at public hearings. The line will take 17,000 cars off the road each day!
- Federal Stimulus: We were a leading source of information on D.C. and Virginia transportation American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending.
- High Speed Rail: We mobilized support for regional high speed rail proposals as part of the federal stimulus.
Traffic continues to be a problem in our region, but with some critical transportation reforms, we can get our communities moving again.
2009 Year in Review: Transportation Reform
Transportation spending and project priorities have a profound effect on our quality of life and on where and how we grow. Multibillion dollar decisions are too often made without adequate analysis of alternatives, energy prices and climate change. Long-term funding challenges require fundamental reform in Department of Transportation priorities at the state and federal level.
The year’s highlight was approval of the Purple Line light rail in August by Maryland Governor O’Malley, capping a multi-year campaign and a unanimous vote by the Montgomery County Council. The Purple Line will offer an alternative to the overcrowded Beltway, connect people to jobs and revitalize older inner suburbs, generating economic development and improved tax base. Our involvement in the Purple Line NOW! Coalition and advocacy for this important bi-county transit project was a key part of winning its approval. The nearly 3,000 people who signed our Purple Line petition last year continued to make a difference by emailing key decision makers. In quick response to a breaking news story, we generated 281 pro-Purple Line emails from our petition signers to the Governor, a terrific response rate.
This year we were able to help with the implementation of several goals that date from the 2005 launch of our “Reconnecting Virginia” campaign. We were important advisors to VDOT on implementation of long-time goals including Virginia’s new ped/bike friendly subdivision street standards, traffic impact regulations, and urban development areas. We also educated Virginia statewide and delegate candidates on land use and transportation.
I-81 is an important example of a failure to fairly consider a range of sustainable solutions for a transportation corridor. Here VDOT proposes an $11.4 billion, 325 mile widening, most of it to 8-lanes. Serving as transportation advisors, we have worked with the Shenandoah Valley Network and other partners to offer alternatives -- but ultimately we had to challenge the decision in court. Due to the deference granted to state agencies by the court, we have lost two counts but are awaiting a ruling on the third count. SVN continues to receive strong support from Valley legislators who are pushing for a rail alternative.
In Loudoun County, we lent our support and technical expertise to residents advocating for an improved Countywide Transportation Plan and have helped to promote bus priority corridors and other transit projects around the region.
2009 marked the first time we’ve been actively involved with federal transportation policy, starting with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We partnered with Smart Growth America to analyze stimulus spending in Virginia and D.C., and were told by elected officials that we delivered information faster than they received from VDOT. With your help we were successful in ensuring that most of the money was spent on critical maintenance, transit, local road and bicycle/pedestrian facilities. We helped to publicize maintenance backlogs that built up while VDOT pursued new highway construction, including $3.7 billion in structurally deficient bridges. Looking ahead, we intend to weigh in on the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill which will direct billions of dollars to our region over the next six years.
Read on to learn what else we've been doing in the region in 2009:
