Virginia transportation officials are proposing to pump reserves of federal cash into upgrades on Interstate 66 and Route 50, two of Northern Virginia’s biggest east-west arteries considered sorely in need of improvements.
A draft plan released Wednesday charting six years of proposed road and rail projects includes $103 million for the highways and several other projects across the state. The total $7.7 billion blueprint is expected to be adopted by the Commonwealth Transportation Board in June.
The infusion would provide partial funding for major pavement rehabilitation on a seven-mile stretch of Interstate 66 between the Capital Beltway and Route 50, a project expected to cost $70 million, said Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Joan Morris. Officials hope repairs will begin next year and finish two years later, she said.
The deteriorating condition of the heavily traveled interstate has long worried transportation officials, especially as revenue dries up.
“It is definitely a pressing need to replace that pavement out there,” Morris said.
The plan also would fund improvements at the precarious intersection of Route 50 and Courthouse Road, a long-time priority of Arlington County.
The $103 million in federal dollars had been held in reserve in previous plans “due to uncertainty in transportation funding at the federal level,” according to VDOT.
The money also would go toward project development costs on the Midtown tunnel and Route 164 Median Rail, both in Hampton Roads, as well as Interstate 581 improvements in Salem. VDOT is holding four public hearings on the six-year plan, including one at Fairfax City Hall on May 26. The document includes $5.6 billion for highway construction projects and $2.1 billion for transit.
Virginia has seen its transportation ambitions shrink in recent months to match a sharp downturn in funding. In December, the Commonwealth Transportation Board pared nearly $900 million from the plan, bringing total reductions since spring 2008 to $4.61 billion.
