| Gov. Kaine Explains His Transportation Plan At RU |
|
|
|
| Written by David Grimes | |
|
A standing room only crowd turned out Wednesday night at the Bonnie Hurlburt Student Center Auditorium on the Radford University campus to hear Gov. Tim Kaine explain his 2008 Transportation Plan.
The Governor has called a special session of the General Assembly on June 23 to discuss the still unsolved transportation issues facing the Commonwealth. In an effort to learn the desires of the citizens, Gov. Kaine has been holding a series of town-hall type forums to explain his plan, as well as getting citizens input. Last night’s stop at RU was his sixth forum in the past few weeks. The audience consisted of citizens, government officials from Montgomery County, Pulaski, Radford City, Rocky Mount and Wythe County, as well as Delegates Dave Nutter and Jim Shuler. The Governor’s plan fills our growing road and bridge maintenance deficit to promote safety, provides relief for regional transportation needs, and invests in innovative approaches to Virginia’s transportation challenges. The plan raises over $1 billion annually by fiscal year 2012 and contains no gas tax increase. After explaining the plan to the audience, he fielded questions from the crowd. A few of the questions dealt with the transportation issues, while several others dealt with the proposed intermodal port in Elliston. One of the most interesting questions concerning the intermodal port came from Mickey Apgar of Elliston. Apgar asked the Governor if he owned stock in Norfolk-Southern since he was pushing the intermodal sight. Gov. Kaine responded by saying “I do not own any stock in Norfolk-Southern, nor do I sit on any boards.” Kaine also explained that he had received a letter signed by local government officials from Roanoke and the New River Valley asking that the project be placed in the region, if it meant jobs. Several others spoke out against the intermodal port, while one man suggested that they look at a site located in Dublin. Prior to the meeting, Gov. Kaine held a private meeting with the local government officials. Click here to see additional photos from this event in our photo gallery. Photos by Larry Middleton
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
 |
