The Commonwealth Transportation Board voted to transfer funds from construction projects and other areas to address a $193 million budget shortfall caused by increased spending on storm response and employee bonuses on during Wednesday’s business meeting.
The Virginia Department of Transportation reported that emergency responses — including snowstorms, hurricanes, and flooding — cost the agency an estimated $418.4 million. The department also had to come up with an additional $12 million after lawmakers updated the state budget on Feb. 20 to include employee bonuses.
The board questioned the agency on its effectiveness in communicating about emergencies, including snowstorms, during its Tuesday work session in the city of Alexandria. Board member Raymond Smoot expressed skepticism after saying he and his wife sat on Interstate 81 stranded in a snowstorm without information from VDOT 10 years ago.
Stephen Brich, VDOT commissioner, detailed the evolution of traffic operations over the past decade and said more can be done. Brich said the agency has made improvements with real-time signal changes, organizational structure, and technology integration over the past 10 years.
“There’ve been many after-action reports, especially during snowstorms … about communicating before incidents, during an incident, and post-cleanup that has occurred quite drastically, so this is evolutionary,” said Birch on Tuesday. “We continue to lead the organization. I hear you, that we can be better. We are striving to be better.”
The agency identified $60.5 million to help offset costs from two of its support functions and overhead.
Staff also recommended that the board allocate $144.8 million from its construction funds to cover the deficit. The agency said the reductions to the construction funds will not impact existing projects.
“The commonwealth experienced several significant weather events this fiscal year that led to emergency response, snow removal and recovery costs far greater than could have been foreseen,” the agency said in its brief to the board.
As for the employee bonuses, the agency said the additional cost, on top of the emergency response spending, was “too great to address within the currently approved budget for fiscal year 2026.”
During the board’s work session on Tuesday, members also received a presentation from staff outlining the agency’s plans to address future service needs upon the agency’s traffic operations services and safety contract ending in March.
Kevin Gregg, VDOT chief of operations and maintenance, said he is excited about technological advancements and eager to improve operations within the organization. He also added that VDOT’s ability to send location-based alerts to drivers in or approaching areas during events like snowstorms is now possible.
