Albemarle County's planned improvements to infrastructure may be delayed because of a loss of more than 90 percent of its funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation for the next fiscal year - a move that will effectively eliminate secondary road projects, according to county officials.
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors allocated $330,000 to the county's secondary roads fund last Wednesday - far lower than the $5.15 million allocated in 2004.
"You can build about an eighth of a mile of sidewalk from that," Board of Supervisors Member Dennis Rooker said. Funding has declined precipitously since 2004, he added.
Consequently, the Board of Supervisors will not enact building plans to accommodate community growth, including major road improvements, as well as funding for new parks and libraries, said Thomas Loach, planning commissioner for the county's White Hall district.
Such improvements have become a necessity since county population has increased by about 1,000 people each year, Rooker said, adding that transportation deficits do not surprise him at all, because the state has not increased the gasoline tax rate in 20 years though the cost of road building has tripled during the same time period.
Transportation funds also have been depleted because of this season's remarkable snow maintenance costs, said Sean Moone, executive vice president of S.L. Williamson Co., Inc., a road paving company.
"We're going to see more potholes and lines not getting painted as quick as they should be," Moone said.
Albemarle officials planned to improve Jarmans Gap Road, Georgetown Road and Meadow Creek Parkway, among other projects. Jarman's Gap improvements have been in the workings for almost 10 years, Rooker said.
Albemarle County's Community Relations Director Lee Catlin said such projects probably will be delayed still further with the decline in VDOT funding.
"This has eliminated the possibility of new roads in the next couple of years," she said. "I think the county needs to look seriously at whether we are able to make up that funding gap in some kind of way or if we have to accept not doing those projects."
Board of Supervisors member Ken Boyd noted that Gov. Bob McDonnell plans to call the Virginia General Assembly back into session to discuss transportation.
"There's got to be a sustainable plan - it can't just be a quick fix because [constituent] needs are not going to go away," Boyd said.
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