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.
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.