CHAPTER 100
An Act to amend and reenact § 1 of Chapter 6 of the Acts of Assembly of 2008 Special Session II, as amended by Chapter 130 of the Acts of Assembly of 2010, relating to the extension of the proposed light rail system in the City of Norfolk to the oceanfront area in the City of Virginia Beach.
[H 1789]
Approved March 15, 2011

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 1 of Chapter 6 of the Acts of Assembly of 2008 Special Session II, as amended by Chapter 130 of the Acts of Assembly of 2010, is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 1. The General Assembly determines that expansion of the Norfolk Light Rail system, including extension from its current construction of a public transportation project extending from the terminus of the Norfolk Light Rail starter line at Newtown Road in the City of Norfolk to the Oceanfront oceanfront area in the City of Virginia Beach, along the Interstate 264 corridor on the right-of-way of the Norfolk Southern Railway, is in the public interest and qualifies for public funding, to the extent that any may be required, from the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund, established by § 33.1-221.1:8 of the Code of Virginia, or other funding available to the Commonwealth. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, the funds provided to the City of Virginia Beach under the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund to purchase railroad right-of-way from the Norfolk Southern Railroad Railway shall be expended and used subject to such requirements as the Federal Transit Administration shall determine to be most effective for the construction of the a public transportation project. Nothing herein shall be interpreted to preselect the mode of public transportation to be constructed on the right-of-way to be acquired or any other public transportation alternative under study. Any public transportation project selected pursuant to the federally required environmental process currently underway will be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this act.