OUTER BELTWAY BILL

FAILS IN VA HOUSE COMMITTEE

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Virginia House Bill HJ-131, which would have required the Virginia Department of Transportation to study a new Potomac River crossing, has failed in the House Rules Committee.

The bill was tabled on a voice vote.

While the bill, sponsored by Del. J. Randall Minchew was the most overt step towards a DC Outer Beltway in the current session, its failure so early is particularly surprising. Supposedly pro-highway Republicans currently control the House, and by extension, its committees.

Why, then, would they not have the votes to move the bill forward? A voice vote also means that the committee members did not have to go "on the record" individually, regarding their position on the issue.

An embarrassing failure to rise to the occasion on a highway critical to the economic future of the DC region, and an outcome one would expect from Annapolis, not Richmond. After all, it was just a study. What were they afraid of?

This means more time crawling across the American Legion and Woodrow Wilson bridges.

HJ-134, which would have studied the Bi-County and Tri-County Parkways (another Outer Beltway-related bill) was recommended to be tabled by a voice vote in a different subcommittee.

If this is the result in a "pro-highway," "pro-transportation" Virginia House, it's time to replace politicians to both sides of the Potomac River.