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2005 GENERAL ASSEMBLY FACT SHEET
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- In March, the General Assembly approved a budget for $848 million toward "new" transportation funding for the next two years.
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- Seventy percent of the total budget was already earmarked for transportation or represents one-time payments; this money is not a vehicle for long-term funding.
- Only $131 million may be used toward on-going annual investments.
- The state's own VTRANS 2025 report on future needs concludes that an additional $1 billion from various sources is absolutely necessary in resolving the long-term funding problem. The "new" funding budget gets Virginians about one-seventh of the way to the billion dollar target.
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- The General Assembly considered studies to examine Virginia's transportation needs, policies and funds necessary to meet those needs. Neither study passed both chambers.
- The Assembly also failed to agree on a method to ensure that money raised for transportation is spent solely on transportation.
- Funding will be delayed for many needed projects now in the planning stages, preventing them from moving forward to the construction phase.
- It will take at least another year before funding sources for Virginia's transportation needs can be identified and even longer before any changes can take effect.
- As a result, Virginia is no closer to a long-term solution to the Commonwealth's transportation funding crisis than it was in 2004.
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