Frustrated area motorists should soon learn which transportation projects will be among the first built with revenue from the eagerly awaited funding package approved earlier this year by the General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine.

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, charged with generating the new revenue and deciding how to spend the funds, expects to release a proposed list of projects at least week before its July 12 meeting in Falls Church.

At the meeting, the regional government will hear public comment on the project list and the sources of the revenue.

The initial construction list will be limited to projects that can be started and finished relatively quickly, such as intersection improvements, as well as some transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects.

This story continues below
Advertisement

“It is mostly small things,” said Chris Zimmerman, the authority’s president and a member of the Arlington County Board. “We are not talking about billion-dollar projects.”

Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, said work to relieve the commute-killing bottleneck at the Fairfax County Parkway-Fair Lakes Parkway-Monument Drive interchange should be on the authority’s list.

“The design and engineering work are all done,” Chase said. “It is in Fairfax County but the parkway is a major regional road. That project is literally ready to go.”

Local jurisdictions will holding public hearings prior to the authority’s July 12 meeting to gauge their constituents’ feelings on the project list and the new taxes and fees that will fund the projects.

The new funding sources are estimated to bring in as much as $400 million a year.

Taxes would be levied on vehicle repairs (5 percent), rental cars (2 percent), hotel and motel rooms (2 percent), first-time vehicle registrations (1 percent) and property sales (40 cents per $100 of assessed value).

The authority will also consider adding $10 to the cost of vehicle safety inspections and vehicle registrations.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com