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Gov. Kaine – No More Cul-de-Sacs
The Kaine administration recently rolled out new regulations that may change the face of the commonwealth. Future subdivisions, it says, must have cut-through roads that connect their interiors to the larger roads beyond; no longer will single-entrance access suffice. That is, at least not without considerable cost. At present Virginia pays the freight for maintaining subdivision streets. That policy adds a couple of hundred new lane miles to the Transportation Department's maintenance inventory every year -- a factor that accounts in part for the diversion of construction money to maintenance needs. (By state law, maintenance takes precedence over new road-building.) Henceforth, new subdivisions that do not provide arterial connectivity will not enjoy state-funded road maintenance. The new rules also require narrower streets and more sidewalks. And they constitute a full-frontal assault on one of suburbia's most cherished features: the cul-de-sac development. Click here to read the full story from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.