State Must Meet Its Transportation Responsibility, Local Leaders Say, FairfaxNews, September 5, 2012

Fairfax County Board Chairman Sharon Bulova led the mayors and chairs of the Urban Crescent yesterday in sending a letter to top Commonwealth leaders urging them to meet the state’s responsibility to adequately fund transportation and head off the “transportation funding crisis currently facing the Commonwealth.”

The letter, addressed to Gov. Robert McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and members of the General Assembly, points out the poor condition of Virginia’s secondary roads, the looming end of highway construction funds needed to match federal dollars, and numerous other challenges that are the state’s responsibility to meet. . . .

This article is a good overview of the letter from the Urban Crescent coalition.  You may read the article here in its entirety.  

To read the full letter, click here.     Here are some of the ugly details in the letter:

• State secondary and urban system construction funds have been eliminated.
• By 2017, no state funds will be available for highway construction, and the
  Commonwealth will be unableto fully match federal funds.
• Approximately 26 percent of VDOT‐maintained roadways statewide are in poor condition, according to VDOT. However, that number is 34 percent for the Urban Crescent, including 39 percent in Northern Virginia, 36 percent in Hampton Roads and 31 percent in Richmond.
• Only 66 percent of Virginia’s secondary roads currently meet pavement performance targets. The cost, using VDOT’s estimates, of meeting VDOT’s goal of 82 percent of secondary roads in fair or better condition could be $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion.
• As localities continue to address congestion by providing more transit options, transit funding provided by the Commonwealth is far short of what is needed. 
• In the Richmond area, commuters waste 20 hours per year stuck in traffic 
• In Hampton Roads, commuters waste 34 hours, and in
• Northern Virginia, commuters waste 74 hours. 
• The morning and evening rush hours in the Urban Crescent last as long as two and a half to even hours each day.