Fairfax County officials are discussing whether to seize control of the county’s roads from the Virginia of Department of Transportation, a move that would give Fairfax greater control of road construction and maintenance projects. A recent report from the county’s department of transportation highlights the increasing gap between road needs and resources at the state level, and VDOT standards that conflict with the county’s increasingly urban areas.
“We wouldn’t be studying this issue if we weren’t unhappy with the level of control we have over maintenance and operations in Fairfax County,” said County Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova.
While VDOT is responsible for interstate highways, Virginia cities and large towns such as Alexandria have control over other local roads within their jurisdictions. But only two Virginia counties have control over their own roads: Arlington and Henrico.
Those two counties are similar to Fairfax County in that they border a major metropolitan area — Arlington, adjacent to Fairfax, borders the District; Henrico abuts Richmond.
Cities and counties with control over local roads have proven that they are better able than Fairfax County to respond to citizen requests and to shift funding to meet new transportation priorities, according to Fairfax’s report.
However, those other communities have dedicated sources of transportation revenue — such as meal taxes — that Fairfax County currently does not have. The county would need to find additional revenue sources to pay for the care of the roads before it can take control of them, Bulova said.
“Bottom line, there is no cost savings, certainly, by taking state roads,” Bulova said. “And what’s more, we would not get sufficient funds from the commonwealth to maintain the roads at the level they are now.”
When Fairfax voters were asked in the past to approve new taxes, they rejected them, leading Bulova to question whether the board has enough support from residents to take on more responsibility.
If the board decides to pursue control of local roads, more analysis would be needed, particularly estimates of how much it would cost the county.
For now, the transportation department will study different scenarios under which the county could control only some of its roads, while allowing VDOT to keep control of the rest.
