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Count us among those who were surprised - and
more than a little disappointed - to learn that
Virginia officials took nearly four months to formally request federal stimulus money for transportation.
For those keeping score, no other state in the United Stats - needed that much time to get its paperwork in.
We’ve heard numerous reasons for the delay, but the one that crops up most frequently is public buy-in. I'r ms? citation Secretary Pierce Homer and other state officials sav they wanted to hear from everyone - localities. legislators and the public - before putting a “wish list” in the mail.
While that approach sounds reasonable on the surface. we’re left wondering what new information Homer and his colleagues expected to receive. Virginia has been behind the eight ball on transportation for the better part oi three decades. We should have a pretty good handle on what our problems are. If not, simply check in with the mother who needed 55 minutes to get to her daughter’s soccer game recently or the father who missed his son’s high school graduation because it took him nearly two hours to get from Leesburg to the Patriot Center at (leorge Mason University in Fairfax.
Even President Barack Obama could have pointed local officials in the right direction.
Way hack in February. Obama and Virginia Gov. Tim Kami- visited Fairfax County Parkway in Springfield to talk about area projects that would benefit from stimulus dollars..
"Were here today because there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on our nation’s congested roads and highways, crumbling bridges and levees, and crowded trains and transit systems,” Obama told a gathering of about 80 people Feb. 11. “We see the consequences every day in ways that may he less drastic, but are, nonetheless burdens on local communities and economies - time with family lost because of longer daily commutes; growth held hack by streets that can’t handle new busines-: money wasted on fuel that’s burned in worsening traffic. These are problems that people of Northern Virginia understand acutely.”
Apparently, officials here didn’t share Obama’s sense uf urgency.
From our vantage point, the delayed stimulus application is simply a microcosm of decades of failed leadership n Virginia's transportation front. Year after year, short-og'ited state legislators fail to deliver the ideas or money ' i • ctify a problem that gets worse every day.
In addition to resolving quality-of-life issues tied to traffic-choked roads, stimulus-related transportation dollar.- are designed to give the state’s economy a shot in the arm They would create thousands of new jobs and serve as a lifeline for small- and medium-sized businesses across our region and state.
Waiting 120 minutes longer than necessary to apply for those funds is wrong. Waiting 120 days is absolutely inexcusable.
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