Virginia’s Transportation Funding Crisis
(Updated July 2012)
Alliance Position:
The Alliance believes the objective must be to secure new, sustainable, dedicated revenues totaling a minimum of $400 million per year for Northern Virginia, $200 million per year for Hampton Roads and $1 billion per year for statewide maintenance and construction.
Current Situation:
The 2012 Virginia General Assembly adjourned with no serious progress on transportation funding.
Governor McDonnell and the GOP-controlled House of Delegates proposed a package of initiatives that included increasing the portion of the retail sales tax dedicated to transportation from .5% to .75% over an 8-year period and selling naming rights to transportation infrastructure. The evenly split Senate proposed indexing the gas tax to the Producer Price Index for Highway Construction Materials.
The House defeated the Senate proposal, the Senate defeated the House proposal and the session ended the same as the previous 26 sessions with no new long-term transportation funding.
For a description of Governor McDonnell’s initial 2012 Omnibus Transportation Funding Bill, click here.
For a description of the Senate’s initial 2012 proposal, click here.
During the final budget negotiations, Senate Democrats tried to hold-up the budget until the Governor-House committed to adding $300 million to Dulles Rail Phase 2, a tactic that failed.
Eleven other transportation funding proposals failed. Governor McDonnell now has one year to make good on his pledge to secure significant new long-term transportation funding.
On the plus side HB 599 and SB 531 directing VDOT to evaluate Northern Virginia highway and transit projects on their ability to reduce congestion did become law.
Private Sector Funding Resolution:
In 2011 the Alliance, 27 other Northern Virginia business organizations, the Fairfax and Prince William County Boards of Supervisors, and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission adopted a resolution stating that all funding options should be on the table, that the Commonwealth's transportation funding crisis could not be solved without new dedicated taxes and fees, and that "no new transportation tax" pledges by political candidates are contrary to the Commonwealth's best interests. To read the resolution, click here.
2011 General Assembly Session:
During the 2011 General Assembly session, the Alliance supported Governor McDonnell's $3.2 billion transportation package. While not the new, reliable, long-term funding Virginia's transportation program needs, the $3.2 billion infusion helps jump start and complete hundreds of delayed projects.
For more information, click here.
What Else You Need to Know
To learn more about transportation funding click on the links below:
What you need to know about transportation funding
Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund (HMOF)
The Maintain Drain
Commonwealth Transportation Fund (Transportation Revenues and Allocations)
Transportation Trust Fund
What different funding options generate
Statewide and regional funding needs
Highway Systems Allocation Formula
VDOT Budget 2013
Commonwealth Transportation Fund Six-Year Financial Plan (FY2013-FY2018)