The FY 2010-2015 budget reflects $650 million in cuts to the highway program and $880 million in reductions to rail and transit. The highway declines are largely a result of continued state and federal revenue shortfalls, while the transit and rail declines are mainly attributed to the transition of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which reduced the program by $776 million.
“The commonwealth is continually challenged to meet federal obligations and state maintenance requirements for our highway system while dealing with drastic declines in state and federal revenues,” said Pierce R. Homer, Virginia secretary of transportation. “We have been able to maintain our rail and transit programs and services.”
Transportation revenue reductions have forced the CTB to significantly reduce the six-year program over the past several years:
• FY 2008-13 program adopted June 2007: $11 billion ($8.7 billion for highways); • FY 2009-14 program adopted June 2008: $10.6 billion ($7.9 billion for highways); • Revised FY 2009-14 program adopted February 2009: $8.9 billion ($6 billion for highways); and • Proposed FY 2010-2015 program: $7.4 billion ($5.4 billion for highways).VDOT also applied previously allocated but unused dollars from interstate projects to fund two major ready-to-go projects in order to match federal funds for FY 2009. More than $97 million from projects with phases that were not currently under way was reallocated in order to complete the I-95 bridge rehabilitation and I-64 paving projects in the Richmond District.
“After reducing the highway program by $2 billion in the revised FY 2009-2014 program, VDOT is again faced with more program funding challenges,” said VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern, P.E. “VDOT is stretching every dollar to ensure federal and state obligations are met, and using available funds to keep projects that can move forward progressing as quickly as possible.”
