Virginia transportation secretary: Inflation impacting road projects

ABINGDON- Inflation is making Virginia road maintenance and construction more expensive, the state's Secretary of Transportation told local officials from across far Southwest Virginia Thursday. Secretary and Commonwealth Transportation Board Chair Nick Donohue joined Virginia Department of Transportation Bristol District staff, VDOT Commissioner Stephen Brich and other CTB members at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center during one of a series of fall public meetings in the state's transportation districts. Donohue outlined the state's transportation funding status, noting that inflation has almost doubled projected maintenance and funding costs for new projects in the past two years. Rising fuel, vehicle process and vehicle maintenance costs also have impacted both Virginia drivers and VDOT maintenance costs, Donohue said. As for funding priorities across the state, he said Virginia is a "maintenance-first state" when it comes to funding road projects. Several large road construction projects have involved developing regional funding sources, Donohue said, such as a regional sales tax to fund the Hampton Roads Tunnel expansion. Other road projects might depend on bonds with tolls to pay that debt, he said, while VDOT has used money from an overfunded debt service fund or redirected money from flexible agency funds and existing construction money to cover some projects. The state's SmartScale program – which allows local governments to recommend transportation enhancement projects as opposed to new road construction – has approximately $715 million to fund projects across the state. Applications for the 2027 SmartScale funding cycle are now under review, according to VDOT Bristol District staff, and a draft list of projects scored by suitability and readiness should be ready sometime between December and February. Public comment on those projects would be accepted through June, with a CTB decision on funder projects expected that month. Scott County Administrator Josh Wilson, who attended Thursday's meeting, said a proposed Natural Tunnel turn lane improvement on U.S. Route 23 is among the state's menu of project applications. The Natural Tunnel project – approximately $1.14 million for preliminary engineering, $437,168 for right-of-way acquisition and $7.052 million for construction – did not make the VDOT cut in the previous SmartScale cycle, Wilson said, but is on the list for consideration by CTB. "The VDOT staff we've talked to about the Natural Tunnel project have said that it's a strong project," Wilson said. Two other projects – the proposed Inland Port container-to-tractor trailer cargo handling site in Washington County and the 34-year Coalfields Expressway – are also subject to state transportation funding issues, Donohue said.The Inland Port has received $20 million for feasibility studies, Donohue said, and a similar facility at the Interstate 66 and 81 junction near Front Royal has been a success in handling container cargo for shipment. Jonanthan Belcher, director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority and the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, asked Donohue for advice on how to continue seeking funds to continue the expressway. Donohue said VDOT project funding for the project would be a lower VDOT priority for the CXWay, with regional taxes, tolls and bond issues being the preferred means of funding. Since 1994 – when then Virginia U.S. Sen. George Allen got congressional designation of the CXWay project as a federal priority corridor – the project has gotten federal and state study, engineering and construction funding for short sections of the project. Construction continues on a section linking the current stretch with State Route 83 near Grundy.