NVTA staff outline six‑year program evaluation; public comment set April 2–May 17

Northern Virginia Transportation Authority staff presented an evaluation of candidate projects for the Authority's six‑year program and announced a public comment period that will run April 2–May 17, with a public hearing scheduled for May 14.

Starla Cuso, the presenter, said the Authority received 27 applications, "all of which were deemed eligible," and that "the requested NVTA funding amount totals to $1,200,000,000," a sum she said the region does not have. She described the multistep selection process: eligibility checks, quantitative analyses (including CRRC, congestion reduction relative to cost), a transaction project rating built from 10 performance measures, and a long‑term benefit analysis intended to allocate benefits across member jurisdictions over time.

"Virginia code requires that [the Authority] give priority to projects that achieve the greatest congestion reduction relative to cost," Cuso said, describing why staff present the CRRC ranking first. Keith Jasper, transportation planning and programming staff, told the committee staff will then produce a holistic recommendation that considers both CRRC and other transaction metrics and qualitative factors such as past performance, funding gaps, external match, and alignment with NVTA values of equity, safety and sustainability.

Jasper said staff keep the scoring components separate "for transparency" rather than collapsing them into a single algorithmic number, and that while the CRRC order is the legal starting point, projects can be skipped or partially funded for other compelling reasons. He cited precedent for funding only preliminary engineering (PE) rather than construction for projects where community consensus was divided or cost estimates were uncertain.

On budgeting, committee members asked how much money will be available. Jasper said final revenue projections for the six‑year program are typically finalized in May and that past cycles have shown amounts "in, I want to say about the $700,000,000 range," though he emphasized staff will provide finalized projections when the finance team completes its work.

Cuso explained the public engagement process: after the April 2–May 17 comment period staff will compile and summarize comments by project and present the summary to committees in June; staff said public comments provide supplemental information and may influence final recommendations in cases where projects have similar scores or raise concerns not captured in the quantitative tables. Jasper added that staff verify and validate analytic inputs with jurisdiction staff before public comment and that it is uncommon for public comment to require redoing model runs, though it is possible if an error is found.

The presentation packet includes tables and maps showing applications by jurisdiction, total project cost, requested funding and modal distribution. Staff also highlighted the long‑term benefit analysis, which compares each jurisdiction's share of NVTA revenues with the distribution of transportation benefits from funded projects to keep benefits roughly proportionate to revenue shares over multiple cycles.

Votes at a glance Pass summary notes (Feb. 25, 2025) — Motion to approve made and moved by Keith Jasper; voice vote recorded as "aye" with no opposition heard; chair declared the minutes approved. Adjournment — Motion to adjourn made later in the meeting and carried; meeting adjourned.

What happens next Public comment opens April 2 and closes May 17; staff will summarize comments and brief the committee in June. The Authority is expected to consider the six‑year program in July. A public hearing on the six‑year program is scheduled for May 14 during the Authority's regular evening meeting.

Speakers quoted in this report are drawn from the meeting transcript: Starla Cuso (presenter), Keith Jasper (transportation planning and programming staff) and Linda Colbert (chair).