Builders Offer to Fill Void On Roads

Amid Va. Inaction, Plans Entice but Come With a Catch

For more than 10 years, frustrated commuters have waited for Virginia to fix the notoriously clogged interchange of Interstate 66 and Route 29 in Prince William County.

Now, at last, county officials are considering an offer to do the work. But it's not the state coming in with bulldozers. It's a developer who is proposing to spend tens of millions of dollars on the work in return for approval to build 6,800 homes nearby.

The offer, and others like it, underscores an overlooked aspect of the transportation debate dominating Richmond, where Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) has made solving the state's traffic problems a top priority. Even as lawmakers are debating major transportation funding legislation, some Northern Virginia officials say they have so little faith in the state's ability to deliver that they have accepted or are considering offers from developers to pay for major projects.

But those offers come with strings attached: a promise from local officials to approve huge developments in the areas suffering from gridlock.

The proposals dangled before county officials illustrate how the initiative for transportation upgrades has moved out of the control of the state and into the hands of builders who see opportunity in the frustration of local governments.

"This is one of the prices we pay for not adequately funding our transportation system," said Ronald F. Kirby, director of transportation planning for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. "We're getting into a situation where we're so desperate for improvements that we're willing to make deals like this."

County officials say they are aware that the offers are a Faustian bargain of sorts, since the deals would draw even more cars onto the roads that need fixing. But they are fed up with waiting, they said, and if legislators fail to agree on a funding package in the coming weeks -- one with clear guidelines for where the money's going -- turning down the developers will be more difficult.

"We just don't trust the state. According to the state's six-year plan, this interchange [I-66 and Route 29] has been rebuilt at least five times," said Sean T. Connaughton (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, which will decide on the developer's proposal this spring. "We're facing a very tough choice. We've got to figure out: Do the benefits outweigh the costs of this project? And a big part of this decision is our trust in the state."

Far from taking offense, state transportation officials say they recognize that a shortage of money has put counties in a difficult position. They urged jurisdictions not to take builders' offers just to get the roadwork done.

But if counties think a development is acceptable, transportation officials said they would have no problem ceding some of their responsibilities to developers -- and, in fact, would be happy to do so.

"If the state's going to keep up its transportation system in the region, the counties and developers are going to have to be a partner," said Dennis C. Morrison, who oversees Northern Virginia for the state Transportation Department. "There just aren't enough state dollars to keep pace . . . and right now we're just falling behind. If they can do it faster, we'd like to see it done."

Virginia has long encouraged the private sector to take an active role in road improvements. For the past decade, the state has invited companies to propose road upgrades, most often new toll lanes, in return for sharing in the proceeds. And rather than being assessed a predetermined impact fee, as occurs in Maryland and elsewhere, developers in Virginia negotiate "proffers" for road improvements to help them win approval for projects.