Rep. Frank Wolf this week urged the creation of a blue-ribbon panel, headed by two former governors, to explore how to pull Virginia’s transportation network out of gridlock.
Wolf, a Republican representing the 10th District, sent a letter to Gov. Tim Kaine asking that two of Kaine’s predecessors, Gerald Baliles and George Allen, head a commission to examine the needs of highways, rail, bridges, ports and airports and “provide comprehensive recommendations on how to ensure that Virginians stay on the move.”
“It would look at everything,” Wolf said Wednesday. “It would be a comprehensive look at transportation needs in every way, but also in preparation for when we come out of the recession so the state of Virginia is poised and ready to go.”
The call for the commission comes at a time when the national recession is forcing state transportation officials to abandon short-term hopes for billions of dollars’ worth of projects. The Commonwealth Transportation Board on Tuesday scheduled public hearings across the state on a more than $2.6 billion reduction to the state’s six-year improvement program.
Wolf said the mechanics of the panel would be left up to Kaine, the speaker of the House of Delegates and state Senate majority leader, but it could be modeled after the Iraq Study Group, another Wolf initiative.
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said the governor would examine Wolf’s proposal after President-elect Barack Obama lays out his plans for spending on transportation projects.
Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon, said Baliles and Allen could offer a “bipartisan look” at the legislature’s transportation struggles. Baliles, a Democrat, held the office in the late 1980s. Allen, a Republican who lost his re-election bid for U.S. Senate in 2006, was governor from 1994 to 1998.
“Governor Baliles was probably the last governor who did something substantial on transportation, and I think Governor Allen certainly had his conservative credentials verified during his term as governor,” Rust said. “If the two of them could [find] something they could agree on, I think it would be a giant step.”
