When it comes to investments in transportation, Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has made one thing clear: Decisions should be data-driven.
At a conference of state transit agencies in September, Youngkin said he was enthusiastic about testing innovative ideas in transportation and pledged to be “a partner” to agencies in improving service.
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“As a businessman by profession and an engineer by training, I believe data should drive decisions,” Youngkin said in a recorded message to the Virginia Transit Association, which includes officials from Metro, Virginia Railway Express and Hampton Roads Transit. “And when it comes to making investments in our transportation network, I will ensure that taxpayer dollars are always doing the most they can to move people and commerce effectively and efficiently from point A to point B.”
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Outside of vowing to freeze a recent gasoline-tax hike, little was revealed on the campaign trail about Youngkin’s transportation platform or his stance on issues such as funding Metro, the proliferation of toll lanes in Northern Virginia and the state’s vision of an expansive rail system.
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Neither Youngkin nor his opponent, former governor Terry McAuliffe (D), made transportation a key issue in the race for the governor’s mansion. The near-silence on infrastructure, which has risen to become a top national concern, leaves many unanswered questions for Virginians, according to industry experts, advocates and elected leaders. But they say there is no reason to think the Republican businessman will change course on the state’s recent transportation goals, including the expansion of commuter and intercity rail, transit investments and addressing highway congestion and climate change.
They said they expect Youngkin will continue Virginia’s tradition of bipartisanship in addressing major transportation needs. Observers also say transportation will be key to Youngkin’s achieving his goals for economic growth.
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“Most Virginians of either party would agree that Virginia has some substantial transportation needs — and issues like traffic, tailpipe pollution and access to jobs are not red or blue issues,” said Trip Pollard, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who has worked on rail policy and other transportation issues in the state for more than two decades. “Virginia has definitely been moving towards a more efficient and cleaner transportation system in recent years, and there’s strong support for that from Republicans and Democrats.”
Youngkin’s staff did not respond to multiple inquiries about his transportation platform this week.
Youngkin, a multimillionaire from Great Falls who won his first run for political office, will take over at a time when Virginia has become a case study on expanding a state’s rail network. With a $3.7 billion program, Virginia is set to widen passenger service significantly this decade by building a new rail bridge over the Potomac River, adding new track in the Washington-Richmond corridor and buying hundreds of miles of passenger right of way from CSX.
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Gov. Ralph Northam (D) earlier this year finalized agreements with CSX, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express, advancing toward a goal to double passenger train traffic in that corridor. Plans also call for new or improved Amtrak service to Southwest Virginia and the Hampton Roads areas, and for reaching more rural communities across the state.
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Youngkin also must advance an accord with Maryland to replace the American Legion Bridge, a multibillion-dollar project to relieve congestion at the worst traffic bottleneck in the Washington region. In western Virginia, officials are pushing for improvements to the Interstate 81 corridor, which carries significant freight traffic.
Virginia is on track to complete a 90-mile network of high-occupancy toll lanes as early as next year — one of the largest networks of variable tolling in the nation. The transformation of Northern Virginia’s highways in the past decade followed support from Democrats and Republicans in Richmond, dating to the administration of Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) in the early 2000s.
Although the prospect of toll lanes has been unpopular in Maryland, Virginians embraced the concept as elected officials in both parties have touted it as a route to securing more revenue to help pay for road maintenance and transit programs. Toll revenue in recent years has paid for new bus routes, bike trails and kiss-and-ride parking lots.
Virginia begins last piece of Beltway toll lanes expansion, reaching the American Legion Bridge
Youngkin’s campaign website contained a small transportation platform: investing more money in roads and highways, “fixing” the Department of Motor Vehicles and suspending for a year a recent increase in the state gasoline tax.
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In a speech on election night, Youngkin again mentioned freezing the 5-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase as part of his promise to reduce the cost of living and “declare the largest tax refund in the history of Virginia.”
The gas-tax increase was part of a major piece of legislation proposed by Northam that passed with bipartisan support last year to increase funding for transportation spending, including road and rail programs. Some Virginia political analysts wondered whether Youngkin would have executive power to freeze the tax.
Youngkin hasn’t expanded on his promise to “fix” the DMV, although the pledge coincided with Virginians’ continuing to see long lines and wait times at local branches amid pandemic-related restrictions. Although many DMVs closed to in-person service at the onset of the pandemic, they are now dealing with lengthy backlogs, problems that have been widespread at motor vehicle agencies across the nation.
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Some business and elected leaders say that although Youngkin has listed investments in roads and highways as a priority, they hope those will not be pursued at the expense of investments in alternative modes of transportation such as transit, rail, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and in road safety.
“We are hopeful and optimistic,” said Joe McAndrew, a transportation policy expert with the Greater Washington Partnership, a civic alliance of the region’s top chief executives. “Nothing would lead us to believe that he is planning to alter course. Infrastructure has traditionally been bipartisan, whether it be investing in the port, investing in rail, investing in roads or investing in transit.”
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Transportation, some observers say, is key to a number of Youngkin’s priorities, including job creation and raising Virginia’s profile to attract businesses. Bipartisan support for transit investments in recent years has been driven by a recognition that investments in services such as Metro are critical to the state’s economy.
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In 2018, a Republican-led legislature took a historic step to create a source of dedicated funding for Metro, which the agency had lacked since it opened in 1976. The General Assembly agreed to provide funding to Metro as part of a new plan for Virginia, Maryland and the District jointly to give the transit agency an additional $500 million annually.
Republicans had been skeptical of investing in public transit, but state GOP leaders eventually supported the funding for Metro partly because of pressure from the business community — and the desire to lure Amazon to Northern Virginia, where the company is establishing a second headquarters. Chambers of commerce and other groups had said Metro was critical to the prosperity of Northern Virginia, a region that is the economic engine of the state.
“He has emphasized throughout his campaign that he is an innovator and a business owner,” Katie Cristol (D), a member of the Arlington County Board and chair of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, said of Youngkin. “And I think that someone who is hoping to create jobs in Virginia will see that transportation and specifically investments in transit are absolutely essential to that goal.”
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Cristol said investments in commuter and intercity rail, as well as supporting Metro and other local transit agencies, is critical to Northern Virginia’s success in attracting companies such as Amazon and improving residents’ quality of life. With much unknown about Youngkin’s plans for transportation, she said the region will be tasked with continuing to be a strong voice for staying the course.
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“This is a challenge when there is very little public comment or even a platform; you sort of are left to read the tea leaves,” she said. “But there is a really strong coalition for transportation in this region. Even if we have an administration that perhaps doesn’t fully embrace transportation as a priority, or as enthusiastically as the previous two administrations have done, we will be here as a multifaceted coalition to remind this administration how absolutely critical transportation is.”
In his address to the transit association, Youngkin said transportation infrastructure is critical to business activity, productivity and job growth. And he said that with his plans to expand the state’s economy, “we will need a world-class transportation system.”
While acknowledging challenges that transit agencies have faced during the pandemic — with ridership far lower and social-distancing protocols constraining operations — he also highlighted on-demand public transit services that Virginia recently launched for technology-driven and flexible service in rural communities.
“There’s much work ahead of us, but there’s a tremendous opportunity to innovate,” he said. “I look forward to working with you as you continue to innovate.”