Legislation signed into law in 2014 directed the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to develop a prioritization process to be used in the selection of capacity expansion transportation projects to be funded.  The legislation, commonly referred to as House Bill 2 or HB2, has been renamed SMART SCALE (SMART stands for System Management Allocation of Resources for Transportation and SCALE stands for the six road project scoring attributes: Safety, Congestion mitigation, Accessibility, Land use, Environmental and economic development).

SMART SCALE is intended to improve the transparency and accountability of project selection as well as improve stability in the Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP).  Using the new prioritization process, proposed projects are scored based on an objective and fair analysis that is applied statewide.  The project scores are a critical part of the information taken into consideration by the CTB and help the CTB select projects that provide the maximum benefit for tax dollars spent.

The CTB approved the FY 2017-2022 Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP) at their meeting on June 14, 2016.  The $14.6 billion SYIP includes $1.6 billion for 163 SMART SCALE projects across the Commonwealth. The Hampton Roads Region received funding on 21 projects totaling over $332 million, with $178 million in District Grant Program funds and $154 million in Statewide High Priority Projects Program funds.

The CTB approved SMART SCALE projects in the Hampton Roads Region are shown in the following table: 

The anticipated SMART SCALE (HB2) yearly cycle is as follows: 

Complete information on SMART SCALE, including updated guidance documents may be accessed on the CTB website at: vasmartscale.org 

Additional information on the SMART SCALE (HB2) process can be accessed on the HRTPO Website at: http://www.hrtpo.org/page/house-bill-2-(hb2)