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.  This legislation, commonly referred to as House Bill 2 or HB2, 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 will be scored based on an objective and fair analysis to be applied statewide.  The project scores will be a critical part of the information taken into consideration by the CTB and will help the CTB select projects that provide maximum benefit for tax dollars spent.

The HB2 prioritization process must consider a project’s impact on the following factors:

• Congestion Mitigation
• Accessibility
• Safety
• Environmental Quality
• Economic Development
• Transportation and Land Use Coordination (areas with over 200,000 population)

The legislation requires the CTB to solicit input on the development of the prioritization process from localities, metropolitan planning organizations, transit authorities, transportation authorities, and other stakeholders.  The Office of the Secretary of Transportation is coordinating stakeholder input and has held two rounds of input sessions across the state since January 2015.  The HRTPO staff has been fully engaged in the stakeholder input sessions and is carefully monitoring the status of the development of the HB2 prioritization process.

The current schedule for development of the new statewide project prioritization process is as follows:

• March 2015 – Present draft process to the CTB
• March/April 2015 – Public comment period on draft process
• May 2015 – Present revised process to CTB
• June 2015 – Final process considered for adoption by CTB

More information regarding the HB2 Statewide Prioritization Process is available on the web at: http://www.virginiahb2.org/.