Woodbridge, Va. –– The second meeting of the Virginia – North Carolina High-Speed Rail Compact will be mostly an organizational one, says one of the local legislators who represents Virginia on the board.
The 10-member board, which includes five members of the Virginia House of Delegates, an engineer and four members of the North Carolina House of Representatives, will meet Friday in Richmond.
Virginia Del. Richard Anderson, R-51 (Lake Ridge, Woodbridge) was tapped by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell to serve on the board.
The board is expected to identify what they will work on over the coming months at the meeting.
“We need to maximize any sort of federal grants we get so that we can press forward on the construction of high speed rail. I definitely agree with the Obama administration on high-speed rail. It’s something we need, and in our area, it’s much more doable than bringing Metro to Woodbridge,” said Anderson.
He campaigned and won his house seat in 2009 on a platform of expanding high-speed rail in the state. His opponent wanted to extend Metro to Woodbridge and Potomac Mills.
“Metro to Woodbridge is a worthy goal, but where do you come up with the estimated $4 billion needed for operations and maintenance?” said Anderson.
The compact was authorized by congress and is tasked to work to implement a high-speed rail corridor between Washington and Charlotte, N.C.
The compact first met in July in North Carolina.
