Northern Virginia Transportation Authority staff updated the Planning and Programming Committee on TransAction on Oct. 3, saying they received 223 comments on the draft plan and will return with revisions ahead of an endorsement vote this fall.

The update, delivered by Jasper, an NVTA staff member, covered public engagement results, common themes in comments and technical scenario analysis used to test the plan’s robustness. “We wanted to bring you up to date on where we are with TransAction,” Jasper said, adding staff will present a revised draft for committee endorsement before the authority considers adoption in December.

Why it matters: TransAction is the NVTA’s regionwide long-range plan that identifies projects for the Authority’s consideration and evaluation. The plan itself does not commit NVTA to fund any project; staff emphasized that inclusion in TransAction does not constitute a funding commitment. The draft lists 429 projects with a planning estimate of roughly $75,000,000,000 over the planning horizon.

Staff told the committee that public outreach ran Aug. 1–Sept. 18 and included an online comment form, multilingual materials (English, Spanish and Korean), an interactive map and in-person outreach. The engagement summary shows 223 total comments, of which staff counted 205 unique commenters; 21 people spoke at public hearings; staff also logged six letters, two emails and one voicemail. Comments clustered in the denser central jurisdictions “inside the Beltway,” with notable volumes from ZIP codes in Prince William County (concerned about a road-extension project) and the City of Falls Church (supporting transit and bicycle projects).

Common themes from commenters included opposition to new or widened roadways, concern about vehicle miles traveled and induced demand, safety worries tied to added roadway capacity, and strong support for transit and bicycle investments. “There were a lot of comments that were against roadway, new roadways, building or widening of existing roadway,” a staff presenter summarized.

Consultant Tom Harrington and NVTA staff described three scenarios used in the plan’s analysis: a “new normal” with reduced trip making; a technology scenario addressing shared, connected and automated vehicles and electrification; and an incentives-and-pricing scenario that models policy actions to change travel behavior. Staff said scenario analysis is intended to show which projects perform well under different futures and that the scenario descriptions and certain assumptions will be clarified in the next draft because some readers found the definitions unclear in the posted materials.

Committee members pressed staff to clarify terminology used in the analysis. Several members asked for clearer definitions of the “no-build” and “build” networks; staff explained that their no-build network includes projects already funded or under construction and that the “build” network adds the 429 projects on the TransAction project list. “The build network takes the no-build network and on top of that adds the 429 projects in the project list,” an NVTA staff presenter said.

Staff flagged several planned technical and editorial changes before returning to the committee: remove duplicate entries from the project list, correct project sponsors and locations where misstated, fix mislocated points on the interactive map, and improve Chapters 6–8 (impacts, uncertainty/scenarios, conclusions) to explain findings more clearly and emphasize key takeaways. Staff also said they would “beautify” the draft document for readability while keeping it as a working draft.

No formal action on TransAction was taken at the meeting. Staff asked the committee for feedback to incorporate into revisions that will be circulated ahead of a November committee review and an expected Authority endorsement or adoption vote in December.

What’s next: Staff will update the draft plan and project list, address the public comments and return to the committees in November; the Authority is scheduled to consider the plan in December. The committee meeting packet and interactive project map remain the primary sources staff cited for the public comment tallies and project details.