
Six more groups sign on to McDonnell transportation plan
Six more business, transportation and labor groups today joined the growing list of supporters of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s “Virginia’s Road to the Future” long-term transportation solution.

Six more business, transportation and labor groups today joined the growing list of supporters of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s “Virginia’s Road to the Future” long-term transportation solution.

The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association has endorsed “Virginia’s Road to the Future,” the comprehensive, long-term transportation funding plan proposed by Gov. Bob McDonnell to inject $3.1 billion in road, rail and public transportation funding over the next five years.

With legislators and transportation leaders by his side, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced on Tuesday a plan that would provide more than $3.1 billion in transportation funding for the Commonwealth over the next five years, tying transportation funding to economic growth and replacing the state’s outdated gas tax revenue model with a 0.8 percent increase in the state’s sales tax dedicated to transportation.

“One-and-done” is a phrase oft-used to describe the NBA’s controversial draft eligibility rule. Yet it also describes what happens to a team when it wins in the first round of the playoffs, only to lose in the second round. Most transportation projects can take “roughly 1 to 3 construction seasons from funded year to completion.” They aren’t “one and done” undertakings.

Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton and the Commonwealth Transportation Board are holding meetings across Virginia so the public may discuss projects and programs in the CTB’s current Six-Year Improvement Program and provide comments for the development of the Fiscal Years 2014-2019 SYIP, including multimodal initiatives for highways, rail and transit.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced last week that the Commonwealth has selected US 460 Mobility Partners to finance, design and build a new 55-mile stretch of Route 460 in southeastern Virginia.

The bridge over Elk Run on Route 733 (Moffett Branch Road) in Augusta County has been closed by the Virginia Department of Transportation on Tuesday, Oct. 16. This location is 0.6-mile south of Route 835 to 0.9-mile north of Route 734 in Augusta County.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced today that the Virginia Department of Transportation has received an additional $52 million in federal funds that was originally allocated to other states.

The news from Thursday that the Virginia Department of Transportation is initiating environmental work related to Interstate 81 widening in the Roanoke Valey was met with some concern by a Shenandoah Valley environmental group

The Virginia Department of Transportation will begin the next phase of environmental work on I-81 improvements between Roanoke and Christiansburg, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced on Thursday
Local news is in “serious jeopardy,” according to experts. Pitch in and help AFP continue to deliver news to the Valley, Virginia and beyond.