Alliance Urges Authority to Exercise Responsible Stewardship With Regional Funds
In June 9th testimony before the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority on its draft FY 2017 Program to be funded by HB 2313 regional funds, the Alliance urged the Authority to “choose wisely.”
“During the next 15 years the Authority will have stewardship over 3-4 billion regional dollars. Its stewardship over this period will determine whether congestion on our regional network will be less or continue to lead the nation,” the Alliance stated.
The Alliance noted that much discussion today revolves around the lack of stewardship and responsible oversight of Metro. “When completed in 2001, the original 103-mile Metrorail system was considered world class. Repeated warning of maintenance backlogs were ignored. Fifteen years later Metro is a mess.”
The Alliance pointed out that only 5 of 24 projects being considered score 40% or higher in congestion reduction and urged the Authority to hold in reserve some FY 2017 dollars until its TransAction 2040 planning process evaluates and scores all projects of possible major regional value.
The Alliance also questioned the merits of the Authority’s quantitative rating system which boosted by nearly 50 points the scores of two projects that ranked lowest (2.2 of 100) in congestion reduction.
“Spreading around lots of money on lots of regionally insignificant projects is easy. Exercising the discipline to choose wisely and focus on projects of greatest regional significance is hard, but necessary.”
To read the entire statement, click here.
“Stewardship” is defined as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care”. Our recent survey reaffirms that —
Area Taxpayers Assign the Highest Priority to Congestion Relief And Delay Reduction