We can't pave our way out of congestion

When I first joined Virginians for High Speed Rail (VHSR), one of my board members from Northern Virginia told me about a business deal that went wrong. He said that he had landed a potential contract with an Asian microchip manufacturer to bring a new plant to his region that would have created hundreds of six-figure jobs and millions in economic development. But right as the CEO was about to sign the contract he made one simple request; he wanted to see what the traffic conditions were like from a helicopter during the morning rush-hour. So, the next day the CEO, my board member, and a couple local elected officials climbed into a helicopter and went to see Interstate 95 during the morning rush-hour. What they saw was a sea of red lights from Washington to Fredericksburg, and when they landed, the CEO thanked them for their hospitality and moved his company somewhere else.

In his Op/Ed column "Push for rail puts costs in the hot seat," A. Barton Hinkle outlined why trains are bad; train travel is costly; trains rely heavily on subsidies; and benefits don't offset the higher costs. I would disagree.

The reason there has been so much unity behind improved intercity and high-speed passenger rail is because of the reality that we will not, and cannot, pave our way out of congestion. Hinkle stated that "Drivers pay 98 percent of the costs of roadways through gasoline taxes," which if true would mean that our governor wouldn't need to borrow nearly $4 billion to make a down payment on improving our crumbling roads and collapsing bridges. The fact of the matter is that no mode of transportation pays for itself. Government support is the cost of doing business to make sure we can efficiently move people and goods to allow our economy to function properly.

And, functioning properly is what intercity and high-speed passenger rail advocates are striving for. Passenger trains are not the be-all and end-all; they have their benefit along 100- to 500-mile corridors, and work best when interstates/roads are utilized for trips of less than 100 miles, and planes more than 500 miles. Trains do have tremendous benefit when used with roads and runways to create a true multimodal transportation system.

Here are some facts worth knowing: Over the past decade, the Southeast has grown 16.55 percent, which equals nearly an additional million people residing along the Washington-Richmond-Hampton Roads urban crescent. Over the next 20 years, the population in the Southeast is expected to grow another 26 percent, meaning another 2 million or more residents living between D.C. and Hampton Roads.

Over the past decade, the price of gas has increased more than 120 percent, and the average time a resident in Virginia and the Southeast spends stuck in traffic or commuting to work has grown to more than 213 hours annually. The average plane delay out of airports along the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor has increased to 55.6 minutes per flight. These types of delays are having a real negative impact on our economy and our communities. Even today, if a business sends an employee to Washington from Richmond by train, it saves 46 cents per dollar in what it would have paid if it gave the national average for mileage reimbursement -- and train travel is much more productive time for the employee than driving.

Not to mention, one Amtrak Northeast Regional train equals four regional planes. Thus, one of our Regional trains is like four direct flights from Richmond to Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and every other destination that train serves. In terms of government subsidy, according to the Pew Institute, the Amtrak Northeast Regional trains that serve our community make -- as in profit -- nearly $20 per passenger.

Given the virtual certainty that increased congestion and higher fuel prices are in our future, the question then becomes: Are we going to prepare for it by creating a true multimodal transportation system or are we going to stand by and watch our roads become rivers of red lights? Last year passenger trains took nearly 6.5 million trips off our roads and airports, not including through trips or passengers getting on in one state and getting off in another without actually leaving the train in Virginia. Now, imagine if they hadn't.