Virginia must rely increasingly on partnerships with private companies for its transportation projects as state and federal funds dwindle for the state’s growing needs, Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday.
“We’re all in the business in state government of diversifying our portfolios these days,” Kaine said at the National Governors Association transportation summit. “[Public-private partnerships] are a big and important part of what we need to do going forward.”
Virginia ranks low among states in the amount of money it spends per lane mile but is above average in its use of public-private partnerships to fund large projects.
Such deals pump private dollars into highways and roads but often mean tolls, the revenue from which feeds the private sector and not state coffers for a set amount of time.
Virginia is using or exploring partnerships for nine large transportation projects, including the addition of high-occupancy toll lanes to the Capital Beltway and Interstate 395, the continuing construction of the Dulles Greenway, and the proposed extension of Metrorail to Washington Dulles International Airport.
The state has completed two projects using public-private deals — Route 288 and the Pocahontas Parkway, both in the Richmond area.
Kaine, who was taking a break from pushing a transportation-funding proposal at a gridlocked special legislative session in Richmond, stressed that while useful, public-private partnerships are not “the silver bullet.”
The deals work more effectively for building new roads than they do for maintaining existing ones because drivers resist the idea of adding tolls to roads they are accustomed to using for free, he said.
Tolls are not viable for some projects because there is too little traffic in the area to cover the cost of construction, or because they increase congestion on roads that are already gridlocked, Kaine said.
Arlington County board member and regional transportation leader Chris Zimmerman said public-private partnerships can be an asset, depending on the terms.
“There are times, for some projects that are proposed, where it’s clear to me what the private sector is going to get out of it, but what is the government going to get out of it?” Zimmerman said. “I think you do have to approach it with a critical eye.”
