New transportation formula approved

The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved on Wednesday a new scoring formula for how Virginia spends its money on transportation projects.

The new rules, which were outlined in a General Assembly-passed transportation law, score projects on six main factors:

• Safety
• Congestion
• Accessibility (increased access to jobs and travel options)
• Economic development
• Environmental quality (improved air quality and avoiding impacts to the natural environment)
• Land use (supporting efficient land-use patterns)

Projects in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads will score higher if they reduce congestion. Projects elsewhere in the state will score higher if they increase economic development.

Transportation projects will be scored through early next week, and the CTB first will use the new system when updating the state’s Six-Year Improvement Program, which will be adopted in June 2016.

The new scoring system applies to projects that improve transportation on “corridors of statewide significance,” such as interstates and major primary roads.

Projects funded with federal safety money, and those that rehabilitate aging pavements and bridges are exempt from scoring.