As if the news about Northern Virginia possibly losing 50,000 jobs wasn't bad enough, the Washington Post has another cheery story this morning about life in the region: "DC Traffic Creeps Toward Nation's Worst." According to the Post article, the DC area now has "the third-worst traffic congestion in the United States, behind Los Angeles and San Francisco," and it's getting worse every year. In part, this is due to rapid population growth in the region. But even more, it's a result of policies that encourage sprawl, combined with inadequate investment in transportation infrastructure.So what does Jerry Kilgore have to offer on this issue? Well, let's see, he doesn't favor having the state live up to its responsibility by raising revenues to pay for new roads, rail, and bridges. Instead, he wants to move towards a California-like system of regional transportation authorities, combined with voter tax referenda like the one that was rejected in 2002 after a bitter campaign. Either that, or Kilgore plans to raid the state's general fund to pay for critically needed transportation infrastructure, starving everything else -- public safety, education, health care, environment -- in the process.
As Independent Republican, Russ Potts, says, Kilgore's plans for fixing the traffic mess in northern Virginia are "ludicrous." Potts continues, with regard to Kilgore:
The fact of the matter is, you either need to lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. Do we really want to become like California where they put everything to referendum? Look at the mess that they?re in out there.
In other words, it looks like Jerry Kilgore's shooting to win the gold medal in the "Olympics of Gridlock." Unfortunately, this is one medal we definitely don't want to win.