Road report is positive

By The Daily Progress

Published: August 3, 2008

For all the criticism leveled at it, the Virginia Department of Transportation has given the commonwealth one of the better road systems in the country.

Virginia was ranked 16th in overall performance and cost effectiveness for the year 2006. That was an improvement from 18th place the year before.
Cost effectiveness is a key issue in Virginia politics. VDOT has been ac-cused by some critics of inefficiencies, and that issue often comes into play during General Assembly debates on transportation budgeting.

Certainly, any organization can find increased efficiencies; perfection in this or any other effort is never achievable but always to be sought.
But this analysis suggests VDOT does a good job of providing value for tax dollars. The state is not in the top 10, but falls not too far outside that number.

And the analysis comes from the Reason Foundation, a libertarian organization with a free-market preference. That puts the organization in a similar camp with some VDOT critics and provides credibility for its assessment that the state’s road system is generally well managed.
The study analyzed statistics in several categories, including traffic fatalities, congestion, pavement condition, bridge condition, highway maintenance costs and administrative costs.

Virginia tied for first in the quality of its rural interstates.
It is 16th in the nation in the number of fatalities per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled.

Other significant rankings place Virginia in the middle of the pack.
It is 22nd in deficient bridges: More than 23 percent of the state’s bridges are deemed “structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.”
And the state stands 22nd in urban interstate condition and 28th in urban interstate congestion.

Those problems deserve more of the state’s attention.
VDOT has been working to repair or replace deficient bridges, although not always as aggressively as needed: Albemarle County’s controversy over replacement of the aged Advance Mills bridge is an all too familiar example. But in the year studied, Virginia was ranked first in the nation in capital and bridge disbursements per mile of state-controlled road.

Nationally, bridge deficiency is a serious concern (more on this tomorrow).
Congestion and condition of urban interstates is a problem that has occupied the General Assembly over the last several years. So far, the legislature has provided nothing but failed strategies for dealing with traffic in crowded Northern Virginian and Hampton Roads.

The legislature has been reluctant to call for more taxes to fund road improvements.
Inevitably, some critics seem to argue that VDOT should do more with the tax money it has. But the Reason Foundation put Virginia in 11th place in administrative disbursements per state-controlled mile. That is a fair measure of efficiency.

Virginia isn’t first — which suggests that some efficiency gains still could be made. Still, it ranks favorably compared to other states, a positive piece of news for which taxpayers should be grateful.