Transportation

Congressman Connolly understands that reducing traffic congestion is critical to our quality of life in Northern Virginia. As a former Chairman of Fairfax County, he led major infrastructure investments, including the extension of Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles Airport – a $5.6 billion rail project. He has also pursued innovative and transformative Public Private Partnerships to add capacity to our regional transportation network.

In Congress, he is fighting to fund new transportation projects and fast-track projects already underway. Working with both sides of the aisle, he helped pass a long-term Surface Transportation bill. He was proud to serve on the joint House-Senate conference committee that negotiated the final compromise that will provide nearly $480 million in additional funding for local road and highway projects in Virginia. In addition, it will provide nearly $52 million in additional mass transit support, which is particularly important to regions like ours in providing commuters with more transportation choices.

Congressman Connolly has helped lead the effort to conduct Congressional oversight of safety and accountability at Metro. He sees a system in crisis and in desperate need of a wholesale culture change. Congressman Connolly understands that allowing Metro to fail is not an option. It is too important to our region. He is working to preserve the annual $150 million federal investment in Metro to replace aging rail cars and make other needed safety and infrastructure improvements and secure more federal support so that local taxpayers don’t bear the financial burden of upgrading the system. We need Metro to be a safe and reliable transit backbone for the national capital region.