Transportation Package Nears Approval in Northern Virginia

Despite those reservations, the package still appears to have enough support among the nine authority members representing area governments. But the path to approval, like many transportation issues in Northern Virginia, is a little complicated.

Under the authority's voting guidelines, two-thirds of the nine jurisdictions must approve the plan, and those voting in favor must represent two-thirds of the population of Northern Virginia. The population of the region is about 2 million, and two-thirds of that would be about 1.4 million. The seven authority members who say they support the regional roads package more than meet the population threshold.

In Loudoun, where road-building has lagged far behind home construction and population growth, response to the package from the county's nine elected supervisors was scattershot, ranging from tentative support to derision. Supervisors made it clear in interviews that the board's majority has yet to settle on a consensus position.

Loudoun's representative on the transportation authority, Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large), said a vote by the county's representative would "not necessarily" need to reflect the majority opinion of a county board. Assuming any questions about the authority's legal taxing status are resolved, he said, he probably would vote for the plan.

"I will probably be inclined to support it because, simply, we need the revenue if we want to fix our roads. You can't fix it with the tooth fairy. It's a multibillion-dollar problem," York said.

Prince William County Supervisor Martin E. Nohe (R-Coles), vice chairman of the authority, said he and the Board of Supervisors support the plan. He predicted that it will be approved by the authority but said that it might take a while.

"It will probably be later in the year, is my sense," he said. "There are several members of the [authority] that really want to take a lot of time to understand all the ramifications of this. It is a complicated document, and every comma and semicolon means something."

Staff writers Tim Craig, Michael Laris, Leef Smith and Bill Turque contributed to this report.