What's New

I have heard Sound Transit and the WSDOT describe their projects as "on time and on budget" on several occasions, despite the clear evidence that shows they are late and over budget. Here is a bit of insight from The Olympian into why they continue to make that claim:

When the Department of Transportation says it has completed 108
projects on budget and 21 over budget, what does that mean? Because the
cost expectations change as the project changes, kinda like the due
dates for state mega computers move back routinely.

"I think everything eventually comes in on budget because we have to pay for it," quipped financial master Victor Moore.

At the GMAP meeting this morning, he referred to a chart of construction material costs, which looked like this: "Looking at the graph, it doesn't look like any of these projects have a chance in heck of coming in 'on budget,'" he said.

Transportation
Secretary Paula Hammond said that's been a debate in the department,
particularly since many of the projects in the Nickel and the
Transportation Partnership gas-tax packages were given funding and a
timeline before they got detailed planning.

"We use what we call
the 'last legislative expectation,'" she said. As in, each time the
Legislature tinkers with a project, the new budget line becomes "on
budget."

Using the "last legislative expectation" as a new base line is a tricky way to avoid accountability and thus eliminate any incentive to remain on time and on budget. Sound Move and the Nickel and TPA projects required significant tax increases that were sold on specific cost figures and promise dates. When the agencies fail to mainatin them, they cannot just change what was said for PR purposes.

Sound Transit and the WSDOT should instead use the "public's expectation" of what was originally promised.

On Tuesday, we held our second annual transportation event featuring Dr. Ronald Utt, a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Dr. Utt talked about the value of a performance based transportation policy and presented his findings from a policy paper he co-authored called, Rush Hour: How States Can Reduce Congestion Through Performance-Based Transportation Programs.

Among the
several performance plans imple­mented to date, the most direct is that
of Texas, where the state DOT is mandated to reduce conges­tion in the
state's metropolitan areas by 50 percent in 25 years...By holding public
officials responsible for achieving quantitative goals within a
specified time span, state DOTs have a powerful incentive to spend
their limited resources efficiently on projects that have the maximum
im­pact in reducing congestion and improving mobility.

He also mentioned how Washington's congestion audit on the WSDOT is influencing policymakers in Virgina to implement a similar performance audit there. The Virgina State Legislature is set to meet in a special session next week to counter a proposed tax increase with a Washington-style audit on the VDOT. Here is a statement from Delegate Sam Nixon:

“As the General Assembly convenes its special session next
week to discuss transportation, one of the most important pieces of legislation
that will be proposed is a thorough, independent audit on the efficiency and
effectiveness of the Virginia Department of Transportation. I, along with the House Republican leadership
and many members of our Caucus strongly support having a private sector entity conduct
this performance audit of VDOT in order to identify opportunities for cost
savings, private sector involvement and unnecessary or unproductive programs
that could be reduced or eliminated. While Governor Kaine continues to use questionable justification for his
massive statewide tax plan, House Republicans want to make sure that government
is functioning properly before even considering asking for more money from
hard-working Virginians during this time of economic uncertainty. Our Caucus is firmly behind this initiative
and hope that it receives a clear bipartisan endorsement next week.”

And here is an editorial from the state's Attorney General, Bob McDonnell. He says the first step in solving Virginia's transportation troubles is not to raise taxes but to perform "an audit of annual transportation spending, as was just done in Washington state with dramatic results."

Its nice to know that we are doing something right. Now if we can just get the legislature to adopt the SAO's recommendations and prioritize congestion relief.