A history of roads in Virginia: Seeking direction at the national level

Highway Safety Corridors are established on high-crash stretches of Virginia’s interstate.

At the national level, politicians and experts were debating the future direction of transportation policy. For almost four decades, it had been unified by a grand vision, the construction of the interstate highway system. As the last piece of that system was completed and that vision was realized, federal policy no longer had a riveting theme.

Not only that, ear-marking federal funds for particular state and local projects was diffusing the focus at the national level, as the 2005 federal transportation act demonstrated. The act, called SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users) authorized spending on an unprecedented number of congressionally designated projects. However, it did focus strongly on safety, a new core program in the federal legislation. Under it, states were required to develop a strategic highway safety plan with goals for reducing highway
fatalities and injuries. Virginia was already taking steps in that direction by establishing “Highway Safety Corridors” on high-crash stretches of interstate. In these corridors, state police enforced speed limits more aggressively and higher fines were imposed.

Planners also were asking complicated questions presented by transportation progress in recent decades, such as: How much did the interstate contribute to the break-up of communities? Do transportation projects create sprawl? Should population density of communities be created or changed to support public transit?

Practical problems emerged. An aging population continued to want mobility, in contrast to earlier generations of elderly; and the transportation system needed modification for their continued use. Global trade was expected to double in 20 years, with growing impact on the transportation network—especially in states like Virginia where traffic to major East Coast ports crowds streets and highways.