A history of roads in Virginia: Federal legislation sets stage for the decade

Establishment of the Virginia Railway Express in 1992 provided a new alternative to commuting on congested highways.

In December 1991, Congress passed a six-year, $151 billion transportation act called the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). It was the first reauthorization of federal surface transportation legislation since the beginning of the interstate program. While ISTEA provided funds for highway construction and repairs, the emphasis of the legislation was on preservation, operation, and better management of existing transportation facilities. Intermodal transportation, in which various modes of transportation are designed to work together to move people and products, was a key theme.

In tune with that theme were two major manifestations within the commonwealth in the early 1990s of increased reliance on intermodalism. One was the establishment of the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), developed to provide 4,500 or more Northern Virginia daily commuters a reliable alternative to congested highway travel. With VDOT’s support, the VRE opened 36 miles of service between Manassas and Union Station in Washington, D.C., in June of 1992 and a 57-mile VRE line from Fredericksburg to the capital city in July of that year.

That same month, the General Assembly elevated VDOT’s Division of Rail and Public Transportation to separate agency status. The new department would help Virginia achieve a balance between building more highways and improving and expanding public transit. As the decade proceeded, a citizens’ campaign to establish rail passenger service between Bristol and Richmond and Washington, D.C., built up steam. In addition, planning for high-speed rail service from Washington to Richmond and on to Charlotte, N.C., gained momentum.

The move toward intermodalism reflected to a large degree the intensified concern for the environment, as did a change in VDOT’s mission statement in 1991. No longer would the statement provide only for “a safe, efficient, and effective surface transportation system”; now it also would include an “environmentally balanced” system. Consequently, environment-protecting policies of the department were given new priority, and minimizing disturbances to the state’s natural and historic resources took on new importance. Roadway noise levels in neighborhoods were lowered by shifting highway alignments and constructing sound barriers. Wetlands lost to highway improvement projects were replaced with similar and even additional wetlands nearby. HOV lanes were constructed and motorists were encouraged to carpool.

Historic sites were assessed and, whenever possible, were preserved before highway projects commenced. In addition, VDOT’s Adopt-a-Highway Program, inaugurated in 1988 to remove litter from Virginia’s highways, became one of the nation’s largest volunteer programs in the 1990s.

A popular feature of ISTEA was a provision for “enhancement” grants, which were awarded to localities for increasing the usefulness of transportation facilities, making them more aesthetically pleasing, or creating them from scratch. Consequently, the CTB awarded millions of dollars over the decade to restore old railroad stations, preserve historic sites, create hiking, biking, and driving trails, landscape transportation facilities, and more.

Even as a new priority was being placed on the environment and alternative modes of transportation, federal funding levels for Virginia’s highways increased dramatically through ISTEA — from $290 million annually to an average of $436 million. At the beginning of fiscal year 1992-93, VDOT’s budget was increased, for the first time in two years, to $1.89 billion. The budget allocations included a total of $829.5 million for transportation improvement programs and $518 million for state highway maintenance.

VDOT Commissioner Pethtel was positive in his outlook, predicting that ISTEA “allows us to deliver a strong, stable transportation improvement program.” Virginians looked forward to spending $5 billion during the next six years in state and federal funds on highway improvement projects, mass transit, ports, and airports.