FRONT ROYAL Virginia has not altered its approach to transportation and land-use planning since 1932, when FDR was first elected and Ford introduced the Deuce Coupe. The Byrd Road Act instituted state responsibility for local transportation construction and mainte nance while counties retained control over land-use decisions.

As Virginia's population has more than tripled since, revisiting the dynamic between land-use decisions and transportation is long overdue. Virginia is one of only four states that maintains secondary roads. Encouraging greater local responsibility for transportation improvements and maintenance will allow government closest to the people to make better decisions for their residents.

In recent years, Republican legislators led the effort to better link land-use and transportation. After successfully implementing initial incremental adjustments, Republican leaders recognized that larger changes were necessary to bring Virginia's transportation out of the 1930s and into the 21st century. Unbridled sprawl was fast becoming the major cause of traffic congestion and the broken link between land use and transportation needed fixing.

With the Comprehensive Transportation Funding and Reform Act of 2007, Republicans unveiled the broadest land-use reforms in Virginia since the introduction of zoning. House Bill 3202 included two significant components that brought the transportation paradigm into alignment with reasonable growth measures.

THE FIRST piece requires 67 fast-growing localities to adopt Comprehensive Land-Use plans that focus growth in locally identified, but pre-determined "Urban Development Areas." Targeting growth in and around already urbanized areas maximizes existing public infrastructure. This Republican-authored land-use reform also promotes open space and rural land conservation while reducing stress on Virginia's transportation system. By concentrating growth in urban development areas -- preferably around towns and cities where locally maintained water and sewer systems, sidewalks, parks, roadways, and other infrastructure already exist -- we will create more livable communities throughout Virginia with adequate residential densities to support public facilities at a reasonable tax rate.

Those same localities now have the authority to set road impact fees on by-right development outside of designated Urban Development Areas. This change helps pay for transportation improvements resulting from new by-right development, encouraging localities to focus growth and address mobility needs as development occurs. Road impact fees also discourage large-lot residential growth in rural areas on agriculturally zoned land by making developers pay for the impact of increased traffic. These increased costs to develop large lots in rural areas will help preserve the scenic vistas and natural beauty of rural areas within these fast-growing counties.

The second land-use provision in HB 3202 gives large urban counties flexibility to assume responsibility for maintenance of their local roads within an "Urban Transportation Service District." By ending the separation of land-use decision-making from the responsibility for road maintenance, this change is a crucial first step toward devolution of state responsibility for secondary roads that serve only a local function to the governments whose land-use decisions result in congestion.

To encourage localities to provide this service, those counties -- in addition to receiving state payments -- would be authorized to assess full impact fees to help pay for additional public facilities like roads, public safety, and schools. This new growth-management tool will improve coordination between local land-use and transportation decisions because localities will have to address transportation impacts resulting from their own poor land-use decisions.

BECAUSE these two reforms represent a fundamental shift in Virginia's land-use and transportation relationship, I introduced HJ 178, establishing a legislative study of development and land-use tools. This two-year study will monitor the effectiveness of existing incentives to channel development into Urban Development Areas, and determine if additional legislation is needed to help localities combat sprawl. Additionally, the study will focus on whether Virginia's current proffer system should be gradually replaced with a full impact-fee system to further discourage large-lot residential development in rural areas. By ensuring stability in the homebuilding industry and promoting new urbanism, Republicans believe our goal of having more than 1 million acres across Virginia dedicated to open space and parkland is achievable.

Virginia has made tremendous progress, but work remains to ensure those changes accomplish the task of improving our transportation network. While Gov. Kaine and Democrats see Virginia's transportation challenges and reflexively demand higher taxes despite already record-high prices at the pump, Republicans understand that traffic congestion problems facing commuters cannot be solved solely by pouring more money into a broken system. Building on last year's historic land-use reforms, Republicans continue to offer solutions that improve the quality of life for all Virginians.
Clifford L. "Clay" Athey Jr. represents the 18th District -- the counties of Fauquier (part), Frederick (part), and Warren -- in Virginia's House of Delegates. Contact him at DelCAthey@house.state.va.us.