Commonwealth Transportation Board invites public feedback on transportation projects, initiatives

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will host nine meetings across the Commonwealth and is inviting the public to share feedback on transportation projects that have been scored and recommended for funding, as well as other transportation initiatives. Members of the community may participate by attending public meetings or submitting comments online, by email, or by mail.

The public will have an opportunity to learn and share feedback about:

• The Draft FY 2020-2025 Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP), which allocates public funds to highway, road, bridge, rail, bicycle, pedestrian, public transportation, and transportation demand management projects. The Draft FY 2020-2025 SYIP identifies projects proposed for inclusion in the final program, which will be approved at the CTB’s June meeting. All federally eligible projects in the SYIP will be included in the federally required Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) to document how Virginia will obligate its federal funds.
• Following Virginia’s third round of SMART SCALE, a data-driven project prioritization process that directs limited funding to the most critical transportation needs, the public can share feedback on projects that have been scored and recommended for funding. The third round of SMART SCALE garnered a record number of applications last fall. Projects are scored using the following factors: safety, congestion reduction, accessibility, land use, environmental quality, and economic development.

Comments will also be accepted for projects valued over $25 million.

• VTrans, Virginia’s long-range, statewide, multimodal transportation plan, outlines a vision and goals for transportation in the Commonwealth. The plan will identify transportation investment priorities and guides transportation agencies’ strategies and programs. The VTrans open house will begin at 3 p.m. at each meeting location (except in Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg, which will begin at 5 p.m.).

Additionally, meetings in the Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg districts will include:

• A required joint meeting with the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Virginia Railway Express, and the Commonwealth Transportation Board (applies only to the meeting in the Northern Virginia District); and
• The I-95 Corridor Study, as requested by the General Assembly via similar resolutions in the 2019 Session (SJR 276 and HJR 581). The resolutions request the CTB to study the portion of the Interstate 95 corridor between the Thornburg interchange (Exit 118) and the Springfield interchange (Exit 170) and potential financing options for improvements thereof (applies to both meetings in the Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg districts).

The public meetings will begin at 4 p.m. in each of the locations except as noted below (a formal comment period will be held at each meeting):