By Allen B. King
Times-Dispatch Guest Columnist
After many years of effort to raise awareness of the need for investment in transportation, it appears that most of our elected leaders understand that Virginia's transportation infrastructure is inadequate. Further, most understand that there are significant and mounting costs associated with the failure to adequately address our transportation problems.
These costs include the simple, straightforward escalating costs of land acquisition, materials, and labor, which, over time, have significantly increased the cost of doing the same proposed transportation improvements. Looking back at what could have been accomplished had adequate investments been made 10 or even five years ago, one sees a painful example of the very significant costs of delay.
These costs also include the more substantial and serious costs of reduced safety and mobility, lost economic growth and opportunity, and a declining quality of life for many Virginians. According to the commonwealth's data, the average bridge in Virginia is 45 years old, and approximately 1,800 bridges need to be replaced today. The average Northern Virginian spends the equivalent of a two-week vacation each year stuck in traffic, and the citizens of Hampton Roads are not far behind. Businesses are evaluating expansion and relocation plans with the increasing costs of transportation gridlock becoming an even more significant factor.
WITH MOST legislators understanding that our transportation system is inadequate and with the very serious consequences at stake, one would assume that our elected officials will forge an agreement that addresses this challenge during the General Assembly special session. Yet, the prevailing wisdom is that this will not occur.
Apparently, most legislators understand -- but many have not yet accepted -- the transportation challenge. Accepting this challenge requires reaching consensus on adequate and sustainable new revenue for investment in seriously needed new and improved transportation infrastructure.
Accepting the transportation challenge will put Virginia on the road to continued success and prosperity. Simply understanding the transportation challenge without taking the action needed to address it will keep Virginia's infrastructure headed in the dangerous direction of decline.
The time is now to move beyond simply understanding the challenge, and to begin accepting the challenge by taking the action needed to adequately address it.
Allen B. King is chairman of the Virginia Business Council, which is composed of the senior management of Virginia's largest employers. Contact him at (804) 359-9311 or brennaj1@universalleaf.com.