REALITY CHECK REPORT:
PLACES29 MISSING $175 MILLION DOLLARS IN COSTS
Charlottesville, VA – Albemarle County’s Places29 Master Plan for the North US 29 corridor under counts cost by over $175,000,000 (40.5%) according to the ‘Reality Check Report’ released today by the Free Enterprise Forum.
Using cost data buried on the back pages of Places29’s Technical Memorandum 11 and Federal Highway Transportation Administration (FHTA) historic cost data, the Free Enterprise Forum’s Reality Check Report generated a road inflation escalating trend line analysis. The land costs were increased by a similar historic trend line analysis of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The ‘Reality Check Report’ suggests the Albemarle County Planning Commission’s decision to use constant (2007) dollars instead of the Virginia Department of Transportation preferred project year dollars may be a backhanded attempt to mislead the public regarding the real dollars that will be required to complete Places29.
“If anything, I believe the shocking numbers included in the ‘Reality Check Report’ are understated,” said Free Enterprise Forum President Neil Williamson. “For over four years, we have raised concerns that Places29 costs have not been properly quantified. Now the Planning Commission will not agree to use project year dollars. While they accept the projected traffic figures that support their positions, they refuse to accept the reality of escalating costs. This is beyond bad project management, it is deceitful. The public deserves better,” Williamson concluded.
The Free Enterprise Forum is a privately funded public policy and research organization covering The City of Charlottesville, and the Counties of Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, and Nelson.
