Regional transportation officials on Wednesday chastised Virginia for not ponying up its full share for a regional disaster response program created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The program, called the Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination, operates on a $1.2 million annual budget funded equally by the District, Maryland and Virginia transportation departments. But the Virginia Department of Transportation said it’s committing only $150,000 this year, according to a Tuesday letter from Northern Virginia District Administrator Garrett Moore obtained by The Washington Examiner.
At the monthly meeting of the Transportation Planning Board, which created the program, officials said they were frustrated with the seeming lack of progress after the Jan. 26 snowstorm that stranded thousands in the region. They placed some of the blame on the commonwealth.
Chris Zimmerman, an Arlington County representative, said Virginia is “reneging” on its financial responsibility.
“They believe the money should come out of federal funds if it’s something which only the local authorities have discretion,” he said. “Which is a polite way of saying the commonwealth of Virginia is not interested in funding this.”
Kanathur Srikanth, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s representative on the board, said the agency “remains committed to the concept” but has concerns.
“The question is this: how much money is needed for [the coordination]?” he said.
Moore’s letter said additional funding could compete with transportation “congestion mitigation priorities” and the state would need “more data” to authorize further spending.
Established in 2005 through a $1.6 million federal grant, MATOC’s mission is to coordinate a single, regional response through the three jurisdictions to major incidents, including synchronizing communication and traffic directions and keeping the public informed of its options.
Board members repeatedly referenced Sept. 11, saying they were frustrated that the Washington area was ill-equipped to handle regionwide events that weren’t even deemed actual disasters.
“In this case it cost people in the region probably tens of thousands of hours out of their lives,” said David Snyder, who represents Falls Church. “In other cases it’ll cost their lives.”
