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By John H. Arundel
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Since 2002, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority has been an orphan entity. With no staff phones, fax machines or office space, its members had little choice but to hold meetings only to make up wish lists.
Given no funding mandate by the General Assembly and by voters who turned down tax hikes, its 16 members, comprised of the most powerful lawmakers in the region, continued to meet monthly, holding out for the day when it would have the money and the mandate to solve the region’s intractable transportation problems.
That day came last Wednesday, when the Virginia Legislature voted overwhelmingly to approve the most meaningful transportation funding bill in a generation. Suddenly, the littleknown NVTA, which had been granted the power and function of preparing a long-range transportation plan for regional transportation plans in Northern Virginia, was back in business.
It has wasted little time, its members calling for an open public meeting tonight at George Mason High School in Falls Church. There it will begin soliciting public comments on, its TransAction 2030 Plan, forged and accepted last fell, putting into motion how to spend $550 million in annual outlays for repairing the region’s clogged road arteries and expand mass transit.
See NVTA, Page A9
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