As promised, here's Albert Pollard's newly unveiled Common Sense Principles for Transportation (below).
His GOP opponent, Richard Stuart, has already hit the airwaves, via radio ads in Fredericksburg. Howell and Chichester, who know Stuart is their firewall for retaining control of the Senate, are pouring money in from Richmond.
In other Pollard news, the right-wing blogosphere in VA is calling foul on the recent 'Republican and Independents for Pollard' event, saying that in the commonwealth anyone can claim to be a Republican; and apparently former Gov. Holton doesn't count because he's Gov. Kaine's father-in-law. However I can confirm that Albert Pollard has received very generous donations from a constituent during his recent tenure in the House. One, Richard Stuart. Explain that one. Maybe he and Albert were distant cousins until a few months ago? (about the time Stuart suddenly became a pro-life conservative)
Pollard's Common Sense Principles for Transportation
One state senator in Richmond cannot solve all of Virginia's transportation crisis, however, each member of the General Assembly can bring a set of values and perspectives which are useful in the decision making process.
It is these values and perspectives which provide philosophical underpinnings when giving the broad policy oversight to agencies and when prioritizing specific projects in a system that seemingly has unlimited wants.
Common Sense Principle #1: "Sometimes Perfect is the Enemy of Good"
The goal of every highway engineer seems to be to make a "perfect fix" for any given intersection, turning lane, shoulder widening and lane for a school bus pull off. However, I believe "perfect is the enemy of good".
A perfect (excuse the pun) example of this is a shoulder widening I advocated on Route 3 near George Washington's Birthplace in Westmoreland County. Route 3 really needs to be 4-laned along this portion of the road. Traffic piles up behind school buses and slow-moving cars, many folks make dangerous attempts to pass the slow moving traffic. As a member of the House of Delegates, I fought for the money to 4-lane Route 3, but when that was unsuccessful I advocated widening the shoulders considerably and having a pull off for buses and slower vehicles - thus eliminating the dangerous situations.
But, because the pull offs didn't meet "engineering standards" they were met with resistance in VDOT. According to VDOT, they needed to be longer, have signage, required right-of-way acquisition, etc. VDOT wanted to make them perfect, but that would have taken years and required millions of dollars.
I pushed, and, eventually, VDOT did an excellent job of implementing my fairly straightforward solution. Today, the pull-offs and shoulder -widenings help alleviate the worst of the problem without years of backlog and bureaucracy.
I believe the Falmouth intersection and other such places have long suffered because Virginia has a policy of trying to make perfect fixes. Instead, I will advocate for good, rather than perfect fixes, spending considerably less money so we can get the next project rolling.
Common Sense Principle #2: Pick the Lowest Hanging Fruit First
Commuter lots fill up by sunrise, using VRE is limited by tight parking, lights are not timed for the proper flow of traffic, and Route 17 and 610 are needed every time we want to buy a gallon of milk. In looking for transportation solutions, we need to pick the lowest hanging fruit first in order to keep people moving.
Picking the low hanging fruit, means adding capacity to commuter lots; common sense tells us that every time we fail to provide a commuter parking space we add a car to I-95 during peak demand times.
It is that simple.
We can build 8x16 parking spaces or we can widen I-95? which is more affordable?
The same goes with making sure lights are timed for flow of traffic, improving VRE reliability and adding capacity and convenience, and insuring that turn lanes are long enough to provide good flow of traffic. These cheap, good, fixes won't solve all the problems - HOV still needs to be extended all the way through Stafford to Massaponax for example- but they will jump start the system with relatively fast results.
Common Sense Principle Value #3 Poor Land Use Decisions Fuel the Problem
As one who believes the free market is the most efficient means to deliver good and services, it galls me that we are subsidizing developers, creating terrible traffic, adding tax burden and causing family stress all because of poor land use decisions.
In short, if the true cost of sprawl were reflected in new subdivisions, development would be much more compact and closer to the major transportation nodes.
Sadly, because the developer lobby is so powerful in Richmond, Stafford has very few tools to use to make sure the market reflects the true cost of a new development. In a truly market based economy, if one adds to the problem, one should help shoulder the burden of fixing the problem.
In Richmond, I will again advocate for impact fees, making sure growth extends outward from services and I will advocate for tighter coordination of transportation and land-use plans. High density development near transportation systems is great -- but such high density is not appropriate in the far reaches of the county or where high costs for additional roads and utilities drive up taxes for the entirecounty.
Mixed use zoning should be encouraged, regardless of density. It seems like the only way to buy agallon of milk in Stafford County is to add traffic to our entire network of primary and secondary roads.
A wag once said "you can't solve obesity by loosening your belt". While we need to build and widenroads, the corollary is we cannot fix the problem solely by building more roads. Just throwing money at the problem won't work.
Common Sense Principle #4: Get the Resources for the Large Projects
Stafford and Central Virginia , your local Senators and Delegates have got to step up to the plate and fight for the resources for big projects.
Extending HOV through Stafford and improving VRE service so that it truly becomes a dependable "express" are two of the big ticket items that can't be completed without prioritizing resources.
As state senator, I will fight for two things.
First, I will continue to find efficiencies in VDOT and government so that higher percentages of money go to proper maintenance of what we have, increasing capacity where we most need it and also improvingthe safety of our heavily traveled secondary roads. Part of this includes twice annual audits of priority projects so the pubic and policy makers can know in plain and simple language if priority projects aregetting finished on time and on budget. Project Dashboard is a good first start, but it does not speak in plain language or provide the depth of information needed (the who, what, when, where and how) for priority projects.
Significant strides have been made at VDOT, but our dire needs means that we must continue to push if VDOT is to be more efficient and more focused.
Second, I will fight to make sure the Fredericksburg Transportation District gets its fair share of resources. This district includes Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, Essex, Gloucester, Middlesex,Mathews, King William, King and Queen, King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond County and Westmoreland County.
Indeed, for all of this area - fast growing Stafford as well as the rural areas, the total of new money under the 2007 Transportation Act is approximately $20 million. If one figures it cost roughly a million dollars a mile to pave a road, one can readily assess that the dollars don't meet the need. In fact, in the last transportation bill, this district got the second smallest percentage increase of any transportation district.
I can't promise to fix the whole problem, but I will fight to get our region its fair share of resources and I will advocate for common sense "good" solutions to our most difficult problems.
Pollard has clearly identified what the real transportation issues are for this area.
Campaign Suggestion: Put a billboard up on the north side of the Falmouth Bridge for those who sit in the gridlock have something to read while they wait to get across the bridge: "Sick of sitting here everyday in this endless gridlock? Vote Democrat next time!!!"
"Allen was Governor: Expect Delays"