Subcommittee approves NVTA-directed study on Northern Virginia bike and pedestrian funding after wide discussion

Senate Bill 1007, presented by Senator Servill, would direct the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) to work with Northern Virginia localities to study and recommend funding options dedicated to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Planning District 8.

Servill described the bill as the latest phase of a multiyear effort to identify a dedicated funding stream for bike and pedestrian retrofits in Northern Virginia. He summarized prior efforts — including attempts to tax parking and prior study requests — and said a recent VDOT study estimates "there's between 9 and $19,000,000,000 of unfunded bike and pedestrian infrastructure in Northern Virginia, plan District 8." He said projects do not compete well under existing NVTA or SmartScale scoring and that dedicated funding or a different scoring approach is needed.

Members pressed several operational and scope questions. Delegate Reid and others asked whether existing local tools (proffers, local NVTA allocation of 30 percent) and SmartScale funding might already cover needs; Servill and other members explained that much of Northern Virginia was built mid-20th century and requires expensive retrofits (right-of-way acquisition, moving utilities) that do not score well against congestion-focused projects. Delegates and the sponsor discussed that NVTA's 70 percent regional fund is tightly focused on congestion mitigation and that a separate statutory directive or funding mechanism may be necessary. Members also raised timing concerns for NVTA to complete the study within statutory deadlines.

Several organizations and local officials testified in support: Kanitra Pollard of the Southern Environmental Center described regional needs for targeted funding; Fatima Kamara (Virginia Conservation Network) and Noel Dominguez (Fairfax County) also expressed support for a regional study and additional resources. Committee members emphasized the need for a distinct scoring matrix for bike/ped projects and for ensuring any enforcement or revenue streams be paired with appropriate guardrails.

Delegate Austin noted concerns about the state's overall transportation funding shortfall and said a 10-year delayed enactment in the bill could limit near-term effect. Multiple members said the study could identify options, including statutory changes to scoring, new revenue sources, or redirected local revenues, but no concrete revenue method was included in the bill text.

After discussion, the subcommittee voted to report SB 1007 favorably; the clerk recorded the result as 6 to 2.