Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Fall is finally here! Not that I
didn’t enjoy the warm weather, but
with Halloween around the corner, it just
didn’t seem right that it was still 90
degrees outside. This Saturday, October
13th, I will be at Main Street Bagel
from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for my
monthly informal office hours. As usual,
this is an informal way to simply catch up on
current issues or to give me your feedback
on issues affecting our community. I hope
that you will consider stopping by.
While much of the current transportation
debate has focused on new projects,
I wanted to focus a little on the
issue of transportation maintenance.
The tragic bridge collapse on I-35 in
Minnesota helped draw national attention to
the issue. Here in the 37th District, while
less dramatic, several years of tight
maintenance budgets are reflected in less
frequent mowing, litter accumulation,
clogged storm drains, and deteriorating
pavement.
The Code of Virginia places maintenance
of our system as the number one priority
– and rightly so. If we don’t
maintain our system, it costs all of us much
more in the long-term. However, the Code is
silent on what constitutes adequate
maintenance, and unfortunately, the
maintenance budget does not reflect actual
need. Only very recently has the General
Assembly required the Virginia Department of
Transportation to report on the condition of
our existing infrastructure based on a
consistent asset management methodology. The
first report was released on September 15th.
The results, while not unexpected, were
dismaying. For instance, the performance
standard for pavement condition was
established at no more than 18% of pavement
in the poor or very poor categories (defined
as deficient). State-wide, the pavement
condition survey found that we come close to
meeting this target (21% for primary roads
and 24% of secondary roads). However,
in Northern Virginia, 42% of our primary
roads and 44% of our secondary roads are
rated as deficient. There is a
similar discrepancy for ride quality.
The problem isn’t just overall
funding, but how the funding is distributed
– which is largely based on lane-miles
rather than system usage. Now that we have
actual statistics, I am hopeful that the
members of the Commonwealth Transportation
Board (CTB) will revise existing formulas to
level the playing field. I have also met
with the Northern Virginia representative on
the CTB (Mr. Doug Koelemay) to see
if the Code needs to be changed to require
that funding is distributed based on actual
need rather than an arbitrary
formula.
The silver lining in all of this is that
our bridges and culverts are in better shape
than the rest of Virginia – primarily
because our infrastructure is newer. In some
parts of Virginia, more than 50% of bridges
are over 40 years old. State-wide, 8.4% of
bridges are structurally deficient, while
14.9% are functionally obsolete. This sounds
scarier than it is. Structurally deficient
means that there are elements that need to
be monitored and/or repaired. Functionally
obsolete means that the bridge was built to
standards that are not used today. In
Northern Virginia, only 1.7% of our bridges
are structurally deficient, while 14.8% are
functionally obsolete. All bridges
and culverts measuring more than 20 feet are
inspected at least once every two years,
with those rated as structurally deficient
subject to more rigorous inspection and
maintenance.
I look forward to tackling this
issue and to developing specific legislative
proposals over the next few months.
I’d appreciate your feedback. Let me
know if you would like additional
information and I will be happy to send you
the reports along with a PowerPoint
presentation by VDOT that outlines the entire
transportation funding distribution process.
Sincerely,
David Bulova
Websolutions
by Questox.com
