Kaine Takes Roads Push Back to Town Hall

Higher Taxes Urged For Growing N.Va.

The Transportation Debate
Virginia's government is embroiled in a debate over how to improve the state's transportation network.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) told Northern Virginians at a town hall meeting last night that paying more in taxes to raise nearly $1 billion a year for transportation improvements is a good bargain, and he continued his criticism of less ambitious alternatives.

Before a crowd of about 200 in Woodbridge, where many had just endured another long trek from work, Kaine described a state in which highway congestion and traffic safety problems that have grown dramatically worse. Congestion has increased by 60 percent in Northern Virginia in the past decade, he said.

Over the next 25 years, he said, the area's population will increase by 42 percent, employment will increase by more than half and 59 percent of peak-period traffic will be in gridlock.

Kaine said it will be worse in spots such as Woodbridge, where 75 percent of rush-hour traffic will be in perpetual jams.

"That's where we're going if we don't do anything different," Kaine said. "If we do nothing, we have a reality coming at us that we're going to be living and our kids will be living."

The governor got a standing ovation at the outset of the meeting. But some speakers said his plan could reduce carpooling, overtax Virginians and favor roads over transit.

At one point, many booed when he mentioned the state's plans to build express toll lanes, which some commuters see as a threat to carpooling. "I don't see how you really address the problem of getting us to drive less," said Randy Salzman of Charlottesville. "Really, that's the problem."

Kaine conducted a first round of town hall meetings on transportation after his election in November.

This second round, which includes stops in Norfolk, Salem, Martinsville and Culpeper, comes amid heightened debate in the General Assembly's final weeks about what to do to fix Virginia's road and rail system. The governor, House of Delegates and state Senate have offered competing plans.

"We're three weeks or so from the end of the session," Kaine said. "What are the prospects for a compromise or a solution?"

"I'm an optimist," Kaine said. "The citizens of Virginia have spoken in all parts of the state. . . . This is not a problem that can't be solved. There's only one reason this can't be solved, and that's if people don't have the will to solve it."

Kaine and the Senate back tax plans that would raise nearly $1 billion a year, which they say is necessary to build infrastructure and maintain roads and rail lines.