January-February 2007, Vol. 73, No. 1
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Special Report | Commissioner's Column | Share Your Thoughts | News Briefs | Career Moves | All in the Family
Special Report:
Working closely with localities
Through much of the 20th century, VDOT was responsible for most of Virginia’s highway system. However, the department’s responsibilities for that system and its relationships with cities, towns and counties are evolving by desire, necessity and law. The changing relationships are reflected in VDOT’s business plan.
First Cities initiative
In 2003, new legislation enabled interested cities and towns in the urban road system to choose to manage their entire highway construction program. Hampton, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg and Bridgewater have joined the “First Cities” urban construction initiative, with Lynchburg expected to follow this year. Today, locally administered road projects comprise about 25 percent of the projects on VDOT’s construction advertisement schedule.
Q. What are the benefits of a locality joining the First Cities initiative?
A. “The localities' staffs have a close and more accurate understanding of the purpose and needs and the goal of each project. This gives them
greater opportunity to add more valuable input for the initial phases of the project. This would also potentially help minimize the need for scope changes down the road during the later phases of the project.
Additionally, based on the above, localities will have more ownership of the project, the residents will be more closely involved, and public information meetings will be more critical and productive in terms of responding to the needs.”
- Morteza Salehi, Ph.D., Culpeper District administrator, has also been assistant district administrator for maintenance and operations in the Northern Virginia District, as well as a senior engineer there. Earlier he was a research associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before that he was an associate professor of engineering in Tehran, Iran.
Q. How do you see "First Cities" changing VDOT’s relationship with the participating localities?
A. “As localities take on urban construction program responsibilities, there is new appreciation for VDOT’s professionalism and technical expertise. Of significant change is the locality’s appreciation as it takes on VDOT’s role of public accountability concerning project progress. Another plus is a more engaged dialogue between localities, legislators and VDOT in reviewing federal and state mandated processes. VDOT will emerge as an overseer and technical resource that will assist localities in managing design and construction challenges.”
- Garrett Moore, P.E., Staunton District administrator, previously held the position of resident engineer in Warrenton and assistant resident engineer in Fredericksburg. His first career was as an engineer officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from which he retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Responsibility for secondary roads
In 2001, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing counties to voluntarily assume responsibility for planning, constructing, maintaining or operating all or a portion of their secondary system. Partnering with Stafford and James City counties, VDOT is studying the feasibility of counties assuming varying levels of responsibility of their secondary roads, also known as “devolution.”
Chapter 527 – Traffic impact analyses
As localities make decisions about future developments and rezoning, as a result of a new regulation,
VDOT will soon have a formal seat at the table. The regulation is the result of legislation (Chapter 527) proposed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and unanimously passed by the
2006 General Assembly. A policy advisory committee comprised of stakeholders including representatives from localities, private industry and other interested parties led the effort to draft a regulation. The regulation requires that information on the traffic impacts of a proposed change in land use be provided to citizens and the local governments before significant land-use decisions are made.
The regulation establishes uniform standards by which localities will work with VDOT to determine the potential impacts that a proposed development will have on the state's transportation network. Before Chapter 527, traffic impact analysis information was only provided by VDOT when a local government requested it. The regulation will ensure that local governments are not surprised by the traffic impacts of new developments by providing them with accurate information while they consider land-use decisions.
Q. How will carrying out the Chapter 527 regulation differ from what we do regarding land development today?
A. Unlike many regulations and requirements we carry out, Chapter 527 puts VDOT employees in an advisory role. We will provide traffic impact information to localities and citizens to help with land-use decisions; we won’t dictate what the localities can or can’t do. I compare the traffic impact analyses required by 527 to nutrition labels on food packages — they only let you know what you’re eating, they don’t tell you whether or not to eat it.Under Chapter 527’s requirements, we’ll also be establishing new relationships with localities we haven’t worked that closely with before — such as cities and towns who are responsible for their own highway system. We’ll be working with a lot of new people and in new ways.
- Richard L. Caywood, P.E, Salem District administrator, heads up the Chapter 527 Implementation Team. Previously, he served as Petersburg resident engineer, managing preliminary engineering, construction, land development and maintenance programs there. Earlier, he was an assistant resident engineer in Charlottesville Residency and a project engineer in Salem District.
Continue with "Steps in the Journey":
Working with private partners >
