Marshall says Assembly not to blame

Delegate Danny Marshall says Gov. Timothy M. Kaine should not blame the General Assembly for not passing any of his transportation initiatives.

After the governor’s plan was voted down 98 to 0 in the House of Delegates, Kaine said he had never seen a group work so hard and accomplish nothing.

Marshall responded Friday, noting that Kaine failed to line up Democrats to support his plan.

He said Kaine traveled to 12 communities, including Danville, to sell his transportation plan, but “he (Kaine) didn’t have anyone to carry the bill.”

The special session was called to get lawmakers to address road funding. Figures from the Virginia Department of Transportation show rising road maintenance costs will increasingly suck money away from new road construction.

Delacey Skinner, Kaine’s communication director, said every Democrat went to Richmond to pass a real transportation plan. She said Republicans were not interested in anything that included addressing statewide road needs.

Road needs are most pressing in Northern Virginia and Tidewater, Marshall countered.

Marshall said Danville and Southside Virginia have no pressing transportation needs.

He agrees that work needs to be done to replace Robertson Bridge as development continues on Piedmont Drive, but there are alternate routes people can take to get to places like Coleman MarketPlace in case there are traffic problems.

“Sitting through two traffic lights won’t stop people from shopping here,” he said.

Skinner said that stance might be why Marshall supported a plan to spend $900 million out of the general fund for traffic needs in Northern Virginia and Tidewater.

Republicans wanted to get approval from the federal government to allow 40 percent of Virginia offshore drilling proceeds to be used for transportation. That move was killed in the Senate.

Skinner said that’s not a genuine transportation plan. The GOP move would require Congress lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling. It would also depend on oil being found off the coast of Virginia, among other concerns.

“The Commonwealth needs more than ifs,” Skinner said.

Marshall reiterated his call for an independent audit of VDOT. He questions how VDOT decides to spend money, pointing out that the new Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge was considered maintenance and not new construction.

An audit of VDOT was done by then-Transportation Secretary Whitt Clement, but Marshall complained that was a case of the agency auditing itself.

“VDOT was checking VDOT,” he said.

Skinner said VDOT has had six independent audits in the last eight years. She said it is one of the most efficient transportation agencies in the country.