Virginia

[1995hoo]

Washington Post: Cuccinelli and McAuliffe on transportation issues

Cuccinelli released a transportation plan Monday calling for transferring authority for much of the commonwealth's transportation system to county and local governments. Cuccinelli opposed a landmark transportation-funding measure signed by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) this year as a "massive tax increase"  and raised legal objections about the legislation as attorney general. He also declared unconstitutional the imposition of taxes only on Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. The taxes would raise a total of about $500 million a year, to be used regionally. But he also offered guidance on making the bill constitutionally sound and said he would not try to change it as governor. He has spoken out against the Metro system's second phase of expanding the Silver Line into Loudoun County, saying the costs outweigh the benefits except for landowners in its path. He has also expressed concerns about the impact of the project on Northern Virginia motorists, whose tolls are helping to pay for the rail line's construction.

McAuliffe supported the transportation bill and said he would pursue similar bipartisan approaches to solving the state's transportation challenges. Earlier this year, he ran a TV ad suggesting that he made phone calls in support of the landmark measure that helped it pass in the Virginia General Assembly, a claim that met with objections from Republicans who supported the bill. He has said he will emphasize infrastructure to roads, rail lines and bridges focused on safety and economic development. He also said he would avoid a "laundry list"  approach to transportation projects by setting priorities. And he said he would search for ways to improve regional planning to prevent gridlock, as well as smart-growth planning in which land development decisions are made in ways that don't worsen traffic. He reiterated his desire to widen Route 58 to four lanes along the southern flank of Virginia. He has said he supports the Silver Line that will expand Metrorail service into Loudoun County.

I noted that a commenter posted information from Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis's website detailing Sarvis's positions on transportation. The big thing I noted was that Sarvis seems to be sympathetic to the idea that people who don't own cars shouldn't be paying taxes to support roads. I think that position is nonsensical because the overwhelming majority of non—car owners still realize significant benefits from the roads to the point that the road system is essential to their lives, regardless of how they commute and get around. How do they get their groceries, for example? There are very few people out there who grow all their own food to the point of complete self-sufficiency. Just about everybody else goes to a grocery store. The store receives groceries that arrive via motorized vehicles using the roads. That's one very simple example.

I may vote for Sarvis anyway. McAuliffe has no platform other than "don't vote for Cuccinelli." I haven't heard a single peep out of his campaign saying why we should vote for him–he focuses entirely on negative ads. I'm not sure I like Cuccinelli either, though. Something about him reminds me a lot of Jerry Kilgore, the Republican nominee in 2005 who was probably the worst candidate in recent memory (he spent his whole campaign arguing that Tim Kaine wasn't strong enough on the death penalty, which is simply not an important issue in most voters' daily lives). I voted for the independent candidate, Russ Potts, in 2005 in part because he was the only one of the three who was up-front on transportation in saying, "Voters want transportation improvements. But they insist they don't want government services cut. That means either higher taxes, tolls, or both." He was right! Saying you'll raise taxes is not a way to get elected, of course.

I don't believe in the old canard that voting for a third-party candidate is throwing away your vote. So many people say, "I'd vote for [fill in the blank] except he won't win." If everyone who said that voted for the third-party candidate, he'd win! My concern is more with splitting the vote and potentially ensuring McAuliffe gets elected.

[cpzilliacus]

I noted that a commenter posted information from Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis's website detailing Sarvis's positions on transportation. The big thing I noted was that Sarvis seems to be sympathetic to the idea that people who don't own cars shouldn't be paying taxes to support roads. I think that position is nonsensical because the overwhelming majority of non—car owners still realize significant benefits from the roads to the point that the road system is essential to their lives, regardless of how they commute and get around. How do they get their groceries, for example? There are very few people out there who grow all their own food to the point of complete self-sufficiency. Just about everybody else goes to a grocery store. The store receives groceries that arrive via motorized vehicles using the roads. That's one very simple example.

Absolutely correct.  The hardest-core anti-auto and anti-highway activists still depend on those highways.  Even if they live in Arlington County, Virginia or Takoma Park, Maryland.

Consider that the Amish people who do not usually own motor vehicles and live in various rural parts of the East and Midwest (including Cecil, Charles  and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland) depend on the public highway network, even though they don't pay highway user taxes (since the feed that their horses and other draft animals consume is not subject to any tax that resembles a motor fuel tax).  Not sure if there are any Amish in Virginia (I've never seen them during my travels around the state). Besides, it is my understanding that most Amish do not vote.

I may vote for Sarvis anyway. McAuliffe has no platform other than "don't vote for Cuccinelli." I haven't heard a single peep out of his campaign saying why we should vote for him–he focuses entirely on negative ads. I'm not sure I like Cuccinelli either, though. Something about him reminds me a lot of Jerry Kilgore, the Republican nominee in 2005 who was probably the worst candidate in recent memory (he spent his whole campaign arguing that Tim Kaine wasn't strong enough on the death penalty, which is simply not an important issue in most voters' daily lives). I voted for the independent candidate, Russ Potts, in 2005 in part because he was the only one of the three who was up-front on transportation in saying, "Voters want transportation improvements. But they insist they don't want government services cut. That means either higher taxes, tolls, or both." He was right! Saying you'll raise taxes is not a way to get elected, of course.

IMO, that you vote is much more important than that you vote for the candidate that I might like.  I am not enthused about either of the  "main" candidates for governor of Virginia for various reasons (the usually very conservative editorial page of the Richmond-Times Dispatch declined to endorse anyone in the 2013 race for governor, and their reasons for not doing so are worth a read if you have not already).  In a race like this one, being able to vote for "none of the above" seems like a good idea.

I don't believe in the old canard that voting for a third-party candidate is throwing away your vote. So many people say, "I'd vote for [fill in the blank] except he won't win." If everyone who said that voted for the third-party candidate, he'd win! My concern is more with splitting the vote and potentially ensuring McAuliffe gets elected.

For reasons off-topic to this forum, I know who I would vote for if I lived in Virginia, but I don't, so I won't bore you by naming a name.

[1995hoo]

IMO, that you vote is much more important than that you vote for the candidate that I might like.  I am not enthused about either of the  "main" candidates for governor of Virginia for various reasons (the usually very conservative editorial page of the Richmond-Times Dispatch declined to endorse anyone in the 2013 race for governor, and their reasons for not doing so are worth a read if you have not already).  ....

Thanks for the link. I knew they had declined to endorse anyone but had not gotten around to reading the column. It's a good read.

I won't go further down the path of discussing the election in order to keep politics off the forum, with one exception. Some media outlets are complaining that Cuccinelli held up the transportation bill by objecting to its constitutionality. That's exactly the sort of thing an attorney general is supposed to do. He opined that the General Assembly's version violated the Virginia Constitution because it impermissibly imposed different sales tax rates upon different areas of the Commonwealth (Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area would have paid 6%, everyone else 5.3%). In response, Governor McDonnell asked the General Assembly to amend that aspect of the bill and they did by making the rate 6% everywhere. Cuccinelli may have opposed the bill for other reasons, but I cannot find fault in him stating that it would be unconstitutional in its original form over an issue like that one.

Turning aside from political discussion, it's been interesting to watch the price of gas in Virginia since the new transportation funding law took effect in July because the new tax is not a per-gallon tax paid at the pump but is instead a wholesale tax that gets passed on to the consumer by the station owner. It's not quite that simple, of course.

The gas tax rate is based on the wholesale price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline, determined twice a year to get a six-month statewide average, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

The two base periods for the gas tax will be Dec. 1-May 31 for the tax period starting July 1, and June 1-Nov. 30 for the tax period starting Jan. 1.

To set the initial tax rate, which is going into effect today [July 1], state law used the wholesale price on Feb. 20: $3.17 a gallon.

The new gas tax also uses that Feb. 20 wholesale price as the minimum for calculating future semiannual rates for the gas tax. In short, the tax can go up, but not below 11.1 cents a gallon.

In certain jurisdictions in Northern Virginia and in Hampton Roads there's a 2.1 percent tax on top of that.

What would be really complex is if you drive a diesel car. See the end of that article.

[cpzilliacus]

IMO, that you vote is much more important than that you vote for the candidate that I might like.  I am not enthused about either of the  "main" candidates for governor of Virginia for various reasons (the usually very conservative editorial page of the Richmond-Times Dispatch declined to endorse anyone in the 2013 race for governor, and their reasons for not doing so are worth a read if you have not already).  ....

Thanks for the link. I knew they had declined to endorse anyone but had not gotten around to reading the column. It's a good read.

I won't go further down the path of discussing the election in order to keep politics off the forum, with one exception. Some media outlets are complaining that Cuccinelli held up the transportation bill by objecting to its constitutionality. That's exactly the sort of thing an attorney general is supposed to do. He opined that the General Assembly's version violated the Virginia Constitution because it impermissibly imposed different sales tax rates upon different areas of the Commonwealth (Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area would have paid 6%, everyone else 5.3%). In response, Governor McDonnell asked the General Assembly to amend that aspect of the bill and they did by making the rate 6% everywhere. Cuccinelli may have opposed the bill for other reasons, but I cannot find fault in him stating that it would be unconstitutional in its original form over an issue like that one.

To the extent that Cooch was honestly expressing his legal opinion (which may not be shared by others, but so what, since he was (and is) the elected Attorney General, and expressing such opinions is part of the job), I absolutely agree with you.   

Though if he considered those provisions to be wrong, then how are the special motor fuel taxes that are collected for WMATA and VRE operating subsidies in the counties and cities that belong to the WMATA compact legal?  And the same question can be asked about the motor fuel taxes that are collected in the jurisdictions belonging to the Potomac-Rappahannock Transportation Commission to fund OmniRide, OmniLink and VRE subsidies?  In other words, it seems that collecting more tax on fuels sold in certain parts of Virginia is long-standing and accepted by most (though I also believe that many Virginia drivers are not aware that they are paying higher prices for fuel to subsidize transit than their fellow Virginians in rural and "small-town" parts of the Commonwealth).

Turning aside from political discussion, it's been interesting to watch the price of gas in Virginia since the new transportation funding law took effect in July because the new tax is not a per-gallon tax paid at the pump but is instead a wholesale tax that gets passed on to the consumer by the station owner. It's not quite that simple, of course.

The gas tax rate is based on the wholesale price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline, determined twice a year to get a six-month statewide average, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

The two base periods for the gas tax will be Dec. 1-May 31 for the tax period starting July 1, and June 1-Nov. 30 for the tax period starting Jan. 1.

To set the initial tax rate, which is going into effect today [July 1], state law used the wholesale price on Feb. 20: $3.17 a gallon.

The new gas tax also uses that Feb. 20 wholesale price as the minimum for calculating future semiannual rates for the gas tax. In short, the tax can go up, but not below 11.1 cents a gallon.

In certain jurisdictions in Northern Virginia and in Hampton Roads there's a 2.1 percent tax on top of that.

What would be really complex is if you drive a diesel car. See the end of that article.

This is where having a computer to do what looks like simple arithmetic is a great idea!

Speaking of Diesel fuel, my state of Maryland also recently passed a significant increase in motor fuel taxes, yet curiously, the prices for Diesel fuel that I saw during my trip to Pike County, Kentucky for the Corridor Q meet were higher in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia than what I saw posted at several stations in Maryland.

[mtfallsmikey]

Being that I live on a "secondary" (a.k.a. backroad), these are more than neglected, not only with maintenance, but snow removal as well. As far as the politics go, looks like The Carpetbagger has the lead. the 'Pubs probably should have had Bill Bolling, but Cooch was the preferred establishement candidate.

[1995hoo]

Being that I live on a "secondary" (a.k.a. backroad), these are more than neglected, not only with maintenance, but snow removal as well. As far as the politics go, looks like The Carpetbagger has the lead. the 'Pubs probably should have had Bill Bolling, but Cooch was the preferred establishement candidate.

OK, I said I wouldn't make any more political comments, but I'll make one exception: It was most likely a reaction to 2005, when the Republican establishment had pre-ordained Kilgore as the nominee but the mayor of Warrenton, George Fitch, also ran in the primary and got 18% of the vote. The establishment saw it as a big embarrassment for both Kilgore and the Powers That Be in the party and have made an effort not to allow the party to conduct contested primaries for state office since then. They knew Bolling would have drawn a lot of support had there been a primary.

It's a chickenshit way to do things.

[Thing 342]

Ah, they joys of living in a swing district... in a swing state... with off-year elections. The local news is solid political ads.

[deathtopumpkins]

While politics is often relevant to roads, please keep it relevant to the topic at hand,and preferrably neutral.

[mtfallsmikey]

My apologies...

[cpzilliacus]

Dr. Gridlock in the Washington Post: Fight over Virginia transportation priorities takes on new importance

The Commonwealth Transportation Board, Virginia's decision-making panel on roads, rails and other mobility efforts, is ready to spend money. Now that the governor and General Assembly have given the board more revenue to work with, a lull that set in over the past few years may yield to a more active phase of transportation projects.

Many Northern Virginians are aware of this changing dynamic, so they came to a public meeting sponsored by the board Tuesday night in Fairfax County to argue for or against particular projects. The most frequently mentioned were the rebuilding of the interchange at Interstate 66 and Route 28 – everybody's for that one – and the proposed Bi-County Parkway, which has generated strong opposition in the neighborhood bordering the north-south corridor on the western edge of the Manassas National Battlefield Park.

The broader issues at play emerged when two people spoke: Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Bob Chase of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Baby boy delivered just off Beltway en route to hospital

A 27-year-old woman gave birth Friday morning to a baby boy just off the outer loop of the Capital Beltway.

The woman, whose name was not released, was driving around 5 a.m. on the Beltway near the Route 123 exit in Tysons Corner when she called 911 for help because she started having contractions, according to police.

[froggie]

Drove through Opal today...the new US 17 loop and connector looks close to completion, with overhead signs in place on southbound 15/29 (though covered) and pavement and lane striping on the ramps.  No indications yet of exactly when it'll open.

[Takumi]

Sounds like a little progress since I went through there 3 weeks ago. I don't think the ramps were striped yet then, and the advisory speed sign on the loop had no speed on it.

[1995hoo]

I also drove through Opal on Friday, though I couldn't get a good look because it was dark. I found myself wondering how many people will continue to try to turn left at the intersection out of habit.

I'll download video later today and I'll see whether that area is at all visible.

Edited to add: Here's the video. Click to play. I couldn't tell in the dark why the southbound carriageway rises up south of the interchange.

[Mapmikey]

I couldn't open the video on my work computer to see exactly where the road rises in your query.  However, I do know that US 15-29 has some waviness in that area as the 1930s (or older) alignment follows the terrain...

Under certain circumstances turning left will probably still be faster than going to the ramp further south...

Mapmikey

[1995hoo]

I couldn't open the video on my work computer to see exactly where the road rises in your query.  However, I do know that US 15-29 has some waviness in that area as the 1930s (or older) alignment follows the terrain...

Under certain circumstances turning left will probably still be faster than going to the ramp further south...

Mapmikey

Yeah, I know, and the southbound side has a bit more of that than the northbound, which makes me assume it was built first. I think the rise I referred to is something new because I don't recall the road rising in quite that manner at that point in the past, but frankly in the dark it was just too hard to tell. I may go that way again in a few weeks en route south for Thanksgiving and if so I'll follow up, but the Street View image of that area (which is from 2008) appears to confirm my recollection that the road was flatter through there and that the waviness started a little further south.

We just don't go that way as often anymore because from our house it's more direct to Charlottesville to take I-95 south to Route 3 or Route 208. In this case HOV-2 on a Friday evening trumped directness.

[Mapmikey]

One of the terrain rises is a lot higher...

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=opal,+va&hl=en&ll=38.612411,-77.800283&spn=0.015442,0.033023&sll=39.009931,-77.102652&sspn=0.015356,0.033023&t=h&hnear=Opal,+Fauquier,+Virginia&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.612364,-77.800594&panoid=mhOzA9hagwv0zT5zYQRFlg&cbp=12,151.96,,0,0

Living in Fredericksburg I never have occasion to use that part of US 15-29 so it's practically a foreign country to me right there...

Mapmikey

[1995hoo]

As I say, who knows. Driving at night can throw off your perception anyway.

For the trip home we took a different route. Our usual route home would have been up Routes 22 and 231 to Gordonsville, then US-15 to Orange, VA-20 to Wilderness, and VA-3 across to I-95. A guy at our tailgate suggested we take Route 208 across the bridge over Lake Anna instead. We had done that route once before and emerged onto I-95 at Thornburg and we thought it seemed slower, but he noted the new Lake Anna Parkway speeds up the trip considerably because you avoid all the traffic lights on Route 3 and it makes it a direct shot to Fredericksburg (you emerge on US-1 just north of the Massaponax interchange) once you turn from US-522 onto Route 208. Nice drive. It didn't save us any time because I only decided to go that way once we were already on Route 22 near Keswick Hall, so that meant using the country roads across to Louisa instead of using I-64 east to 208 (it did allow me to complete a clinch of Route 22). I also think any time you're on an unfamiliar road it often makes it seem longer than a route you know really well. Still, we'll go that way again under the right circumstances. It seems like every year they're throwing up more and more traffic lights on Route 3 west of I-95 as they build more retail, so avoiding those is nice even if the time works out about the same.

[1995hoo]

Ok, after seeing the pictures in Takumi's latest blog post I think it was just my eyes deceiving me at night. The slog out I-66 directly into the sun hadn't helped my alertness.

[froggie]

I was just on it Sunday and, while I didn't have my camera, I don't recall any significant/noticeable grade changes near the loop.

[deathtopumpkins]

In other Virginia news, it looks like tolls at the Midtown and Downtown tunnels are starting in February. The state Supreme Court overturned the local judge's ruling against them:

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/10/va-supreme-court-reverses-ruling-tunnel-tolls

[cpzilliacus]

As I say, who knows. Driving at night can throw off your perception anyway.

For the trip home we took a different route. Our usual route home would have been up Routes 22 and 231 to Gordonsville, then US-15 to Orange, VA-20 to Wilderness, and VA-3 across to I-95.

Hoo, I have had business in Charlottesville a few times (it is a long drive from anywhere in Maryland for a meeting), but I absolutely love the drive from Fredericksburg by way of Va. 3 and then Va. 20 all the way to U.S. 250 (Richmond Road/Long Street) on the east side of Charlottesville. 

[cpzilliacus]

In other Virginia news, it looks like tolls at the Midtown and Downtown tunnels are starting in February. The state Supreme Court overturned the local judge's ruling against them:

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/10/va-supreme-court-reverses-ruling-tunnel-tolls

TOLLROADSnews: Virginia Supreme Court makes important ruling for tolls and P3s in Meeks case

[1995hoo]

As I say, who knows. Driving at night can throw off your perception anyway.

For the trip home we took a different route. Our usual route home would have been up Routes 22 and 231 to Gordonsville, then US-15 to Orange, VA-20 to Wilderness, and VA-3 across to I-95.

Hoo, I have had business in Charlottesville a few times (it is a long drive from anywhere in Maryland for a meeting), but I absolutely love the drive from Fredericksburg by way of Va. 3 and then Va. 20 all the way to U.S. 250 (Richmond Road/Long Street) on the east side of Charlottesville. 

We don't normally use Route 20 the whole way because it can be a slow drive, even though it's a very scenic drive. I've found over the years that the part between Charlottesville and Barboursville is often extremely slow and that the part between Barboursville and Orange is only a bit better. It's a combination of a 45-mph speed limit, a twisty road, slow drivers, and (at certain times of year) a lot of slippery leaves. We gave up our football season tickets a few years ago because we preferred to use the money for our Capitals tickets, but most of our trips to Charlottesville are still football-related once or twice a year. I'm sure that contributes to my sense of Route 20 through there being slow, as the football games obviously lure a lot more traffic. It's true that there also aren't a lot of passing zones on Routes 22/231 between Shadwell and Gordonsville, but for whatever reason traffic usually moves a little better on there (probably due to a less-twisty road) and the nine-mile dual-carriageway segment of Route 15 between Gordonsville and Orange is a chance to overtake some of the "Sunday driver" types.

Our usual route has been like this: http://goo.gl/maps/kCKpe

This past Saturday we instead went like this: http://goo.gl/maps/k7wtc  (There's a secondary road I could have taken that would have cut off going through Mineral, but I forgot about it. Just as well, this way I clinched Route 22. It would have been faster to have taken I-64 east to Route 208, but we only decided to use this route once we were already passing Keswick on Route 22.)

So not much difference in the overall mileage. The biggest difference was that this weekend's route eliminated all those traffic lights west of Fredericksburg on Route 3. It seems like every year they throw up a few more lights in that area. It can be a very frustrating drive if you hit it at the wrong time. I didn't really get a feel for whether this weekend's route was any faster, but either way I don't think it would have felt any faster because we don't know those roads very well (aside from I-95) and, as I said in a prior post, I've always felt that when you don't know the road it often makes it feel faster than when you recognize all the landmarks.

I may consider using that route south later this month when we head to Florida for Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure. We're leaving the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I think I want to avoid I-95 due both to boredom with the road and traffic, so I've been considering going down Route 29 to Greensboro, then continuing south on 220 to the Rockingham area and then down US-52 through Darlington to Florence. We've never done that segment from Greensboro to Florence. So the question is whether I want to take Route 29 the whole way from Gainesville or whether I want to drop south on I-95 before cutting west. Don't know yet. (What I would REALLY like to do is to take I-81 down to I-26, then I-26 through western North Carolina, but I don't think Ms1995hoo will stand for it. It's way out of the way, I-81 is frustrating, and I think she will lose her temper if we're still in Virginia after over five hours on the road! She wants to get to Florida to see her sister, which I certainly understand.)

[cpzilliacus]

As I say, who knows. Driving at night can throw off your perception anyway.

For the trip home we took a different route. Our usual route home would have been up Routes 22 and 231 to Gordonsville, then US-15 to Orange, VA-20 to Wilderness, and VA-3 across to I-95.

Hoo, I have had business in Charlottesville a few times (it is a long drive from anywhere in Maryland for a meeting), but I absolutely love the drive from Fredericksburg by way of Va. 3 and then Va. 20 all the way to U.S. 250 (Richmond Road/Long Street) on the east side of Charlottesville. 

We don't normally use Route 20 the whole way because it can be a slow drive, even though it's a very scenic drive. I've found over the years that the part between Charlottesville and Barboursville is often extremely slow and that the part between Barboursville and Orange is only a bit better. It's a combination of a 45-mph speed limit, a twisty road, slow drivers, and (at certain times of year) a lot of slippery leaves. We gave up our football season tickets a few years ago because we preferred to use the money for our Capitals tickets, but most of our trips to Charlottesville are still football-related once or twice a year. I'm sure that contributes to my sense of Route 20 through there being slow, as the football games obviously lure a lot more traffic. It's true that there also aren't a lot of passing zones on Routes 22/231 between Shadwell and Gordonsville, but for whatever reason traffic usually moves a little better on there (probably due to a less-twisty road) and the nine-mile dual-carriageway segment of Route 15 between Gordonsville and Orange is a chance to overtake some of the "Sunday driver" types.

Next time I need to head down that way, I am going to give your route a try.  Looks interesting.

Thanks for sharing it.