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2000 SESSION

005396936
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 171
Offered January 24, 2000
Expressing the sense of the General Assembly regarding rail transportation.
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Patrons-- Shuler, Jackson, Johnson, Keister, Kilgore, Stump, Tate and Woodrum; Senators: Marye and Trumbo
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, a well-balanced and efficient statewide transportation system requires a careful consideration of the needs and potential of all transportation modes; not only highways, but also air, water, and rail; and

WHEREAS, as more of Virginia's highways become strangled by congestion and the cost of new highway construction continues to rise faster than inflation, the need for greater attention to alternative transportation modes and the benefits of genuine intermodalism become ever more obvious; and

WHEREAS, deregulation of the airline industry has made travel by air either unavailable or unrealistically expensive for many Virginians; and

WHEREAS, while Virginia's port of Hampton Roads is indisputably an invaluable asset both to the Commonwealth's transportation system and to its overall economy, our river ports and seaports do not have any significant role to play in the day-to-day transportation needs of most of Virginia's citizens and businesses; and

WHEREAS, Virginia is served by several major railroads capable both of transporting large quantities of freight and providing passenger service to many densely settled centers of business and population; and

WHEREAS, a careful shift in transportation policy emphasis and resources away from highways and toward railroads has the potential of yielding considerable benefits in reduced traffic congestion, decreased air pollution, expanded travel opportunities throughout the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That it is the sense of the General Assembly that greater attention and resources be devoted to railroads as a part of Virginia's overall, statewide transportation program, particularly the inauguration of regularly scheduled rail passenger service from Bristol via Roanoke and Lynchburg to Richmond and Washington, D. C., and high-speed rail passenger service from Richmond to Hampton Roads and Washington, D. C.; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the Governor and the Virginia Secretary of Transportation in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the Virginia General Assembly in this matter.