In a follow up to a jobs plan and an education plan he has put out over the past couple of weeks, Gary West, Democratic candidate for the 94th House District, unveiled his transportation plan on Wednesday.
“I want to reduce gridlock on our roads and in the general assembly. While we spend more time in traffic, the House of Delegates does nothing. It’s time for dedicated, stable solutions and VDOT reform,” West said in a press release.
The seven-point plan says West will fight for the Peninsula's fair share of transportation funding; calls for long-term infrastructure projects and a dedicated funding source for transportation projects - although it offers no specifics on what he believes that source should be.
The plan also opposes tolls on I-95 and I-64, and says West will fight against foreign companies receiving contracts to collect those tolls.
“While we have gridlock in the legislature, we continue to have gridlock on our streets. We must change the way operate in Richmond so we can help provide real transportation solutions here in Hampton Roads. My plan puts partisanship aside and the people first. I will fight for our fair share of funding and will fight against a take-over of our roads from foreign companies,” West said.
West in running for the seat vacated at the end of August by longtime delegate Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, who left the House to take over as head of the Ft. Monroe Authority. West is running against Republican candidate David Yancey, a Newport News businessman. West ran against Oder in 2009 and lost.
Here is West's transportation plan in it's entirety as released by his campaign staff:
Gary West
Common sense solutions for transportation
I want to reduce gridlock on our roads in and the general assembly. While we spend more time in traffic, the House of Delegates does nothing. It’s time for dedicated, stable solutions and VDOT Reform. As Delegate I’ll,
- Fight for the Peninsula’s fair share of transportation funding. The current funding formula is in unfair to our region.
- Make long term investments in infrastructure, not just short term solutions.
- Create a dedicated and sustainable revenue source for transportation.
- Use projects for roads and bridges to put people back to work in our area.
- Direct state and local governments to give Virginia companies a weighted preference when awarding contracts for transportation projects so we use our tax dollars to create jobs here, not in other countries like India or China.
- Fight against attempts to add tolls at nearly every exit on I-95 and I-64
- Fight against foreign corporations taking over our roads by collecting expensive tolls.
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