View our interactive TransAction map to see the location and description of each project.

Yes. Public outreach is crucial at every step. From identifying opportunities or constraints, to giving input on specific recommendations, public engagement is the foundation of TransAction. All comments will be reviewed as part of the evaluation stage and a comprehensive report of all comments will be presented to Authority members and made available to the public.

The projects included in the draft TransAction Plan looking out to 20 years are estimated to cost more than $75 billion to construct. Even if NVTA can sustain current funding levels, by 2040, those potential revenues may not reach 10% of the level of funding required. Additionally, TransAction includes projects that are not wholly within Northern Virginia and would require funding from neighboring jurisdictions to proceed. These extra-territorial projects account for more than $29 billion of the TransAction total. Therefore, NVTA does not expect to be able to fund all the projects in TransAction. 

NVTA uses a custom-built model to evaluate how the TransAction projects will perform against a set of performance measures in 20 years. They include:

• Total Person-Hours of Delay in Autos
• Total Person-Hours of Delay in Transit
• Duration of Severe Congestion
• Transit person-miles in dedicated/priority Right-of-Way (ROW)
• Access to jobs by car, transit and bike
• Access to jobs by car, transit and bike for Equity Emphasis Area (EEA) residents
• Quality of access to transit and the walk/bike network
• Potential for safety and security improvements
• Vehicle Emissions
• Transportation System Redundancy

Learn more about the performance measures.

NVTA's model is based on the Transportation Planning Board’s (TPB) regional travel demand model and integrates advanced features such as connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), ride-hailing trips (e.g. Uber, Lyft), and dynamic traffic assignment. This modeling tool is able to assess the impacts of changes to the transportation network on most of the TransAction performance measures. A few of the performance measures are evaluated using other means, including the safety impacts and quality of access to transit and the bike/pedestrian network. 

Long-range transportation planning has its origins in the fact that infrastructure can take years/decades to come to fruition. Therefore, it is important that a distant horizon is set when planning for future capacity and growth. Northern Virginia has experienced significant growth in the last 25 years, resulting in congestion on our region’s roadways and transit systems. That growth is expected to continue, adding an additional 600,000 residents and 500,000 jobs within the next 20 years. NVTA proactively plans for transportation network changes by evaluating how well TransAction projects will help to mitigate the congestion new residents and jobs are likely to create and considers multiple scenarios (such as technology advancements) on how travel and mobility trends will change in the future.

NVTA recognizes the uncertainty inherent in predicting the future of transportation, especially given how significantly trends like widespread telework, e-commerce, ride-hailing, electric vehicles and connected and automated vehicles could impact the future of travel in Northern Virginia. To prepare for this uncertainty, NVTA models and analyzes three alternative scenarios to understand if the region should consider proactively planning for some needs that may not yet be observable. NVTA also uses the scenarios to understand if the projects included in TransAction will still be good investments if the future of transportation looks significantly different than what we might currently be expecting.

No, TransAction does not make recommendations about which projects should be funded. Rather, TransAction identifies how the projects included in the Plan would help make progress towards achieving NVTA’s vision for transportation in Northern Virginia. NVTA’s vision is “Northern Virginia will plan for, and invest in, a safe, equitable, sustainable, and integrated multimodal transportation system that enhances quality of life, strengthens the economy, and builds resilience.” Decisions about which projects to fund are made as part of the Six Year Programming process. Learn more about the Six Year Program.

NVTA addresses the reduction in vehicle emissions through adopted performance measures. In December 2021, NVTA adopted 10 performance measures utilized to conduct the quantitative analyses in both Northern Virginia’s long-range plan, TransAction, and the NVTA’s funding program, Six Year Program. One of the ten performance measures focuses specifically on reducing vehicle emissions.

NVTA adopted a Transportation Technology Strategic Plan (TTSP), comprised of strategies that include supporting transportation technologies that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, identifying measures to address avoidable increases in passenger vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

We encourage you to sign up for our NVTA Update and Driven by InNoVation newsletters, a great way to stay in the know and get updates on NVTA’s latest activities. By subscribing to Driven by InNoVation, you’ll get the latest updates on the TTSP and our Transportation Technology Committee’s activities and discussions, as well as a recap of our annual Northern Virginia Transportation Roundtable. In fact, during a previous Roundtable, decarbonization and sustainability were addressed. Sign up to receive our newsletters.