History
Planning began in earnest for VRE in 1984 following a regional feasibility study by R.L. Banks and Associates, Inc., for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Discussions about the potential of commuter rail service in Northern Virginia had occurred as early as 1964 at the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission. Earlier efforts faltered due to opposition from the freight railroads whose tracks offered ready access to core employment areas.
By 1986, it became apparent that the jurisdictions outside of NVTC could not reach agreement on how to support VRE by joining NVTC so the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission was created for Prince William and Stafford counties and the city of Manassas. Legislation established a 2% motor fuels tax to support VRE expenses and other transportation investments.
By 1988, NVTC and PRTC established a VRE Operations Board, consisting of three voting members plus alternates from each of the two commissions, plus a voting representative of the Commonwealth of Virginia (currently a representative of the Director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation).
In 1989, NVTC and PRTC executed a Master Agreement with the jurisdictions participating in the VRE project. The participating jurisdictions agreed to pay for VRE through a formula that weighted ridership by jurisdiction of residence with a factor of 90% and population with a factor of 10%. Arlington and Alexandria agreed to contribute to the project and have paid each year approximately what their formula share would be. The cities of Fredericksburg and Manassas Park joined PRTC in 1990 and signed the VRE Master Agreement and became VRE participating jurisdictions in 1992. Spotsylvania County joined in February 2010.
Read more about this topic: Virginia Railway Express
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.”
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929)
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)