Virginian-Pilot: “Deeds can see that a helping hand to Hampton Roads will lift the entire Old Dominion”

Virginian-Pilot Editorial
February 8, 2008

Buyer’s remorse over the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority quieted this week as several bills that threatened to capsize the fledgling road plan flamed out.

With those distractions out of the way, a new conversation is beginning at the Capitol about the importance of constructing a 21st century road network in the region. Some lawmakers from across Virginia have begun to recognize the economic benefits that will ripple out from the Port of Virginia only if it isn’t choked by the region’s traffic.

Leaders in Hampton Roads must seize this opportunity to articulate the port’s $41 billion annual impact on the state’s economy. They can’t make a strong case for greater state investment in the region’s highways, particularly the third bridge-tunnel to the Peninsula, until they’re on the same page on transportation.

Friction over road funding in recent years threatened to cleave the state as rural, suburban and urban regions clawed after scarce dollars. That experience convinced some state leaders of the urgent need to fashion a few transportation priorities that can unite the state.

Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Bath County Democrat who wants to be Virginia’s next governor, zeroed in on one of those last week. During a Senate Transportation Committee meeting, Deeds made a compelling case that road projects designed to support port commerce should be a state obligation.

From his vantage point in the mountains of Bath County 288 miles away, Deeds can see that a helping hand to Hampton Roads will lift the entire Old Dominion.

Sadly, his point was lost on the audience. It was made in the middle of an intramural scrum about a Peninsula plan to secede from the regional transportation authority.

Why is it left to a senator from Bath County to make the best argument for Hampton Roads? A few local lawmakers have tried, but they’ve been undercut by their own colleagues bent on revisiting every detail of the compromise adopted last year.

The region’s three dozen lawmakers ought to put the past behind them. If they can’t agree on the value of these projects to the economy of Hampton Roads, then how can they expect lawmakers to see how important they are to the rest of the state?

There are sympathetic ears at the Capitol already prepared to listen.