• Inadequate road conditions and congestion costs Virginian drivers $4.7 billion annually in delays, auto repairs, lost time and wasted fuel, or nearly $1,000 per year per licensed driver.
  
  
• Specifically, in 2003, Virginians wasted nearly 157,000,000 hours and 254,000,000 gallons of gas stuck in traffic.
  
  
• Moreover, every full bus removes up to 60 cars and a full commuter rail car removes up to 200 cars from Virginia's roads.
  
  
• More than 50 percent of the roads in metro Washington, D.C., Richmond, Roanoke and Hampton Roads, and 29 percent of the roads statewide, are in mediocre or poor condition. Additionally, more than 3,000 of the state's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
  
  
• From 1990 to 2004, Virginia's population increased 21 percent to 7.5 million people. The number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased 31 percent to 78.9 billion. Vehicle travel in Virginia is expected to increase another 30 percent by 2020, to 103 billion vehicle miles of travel, resulting in increased traffic congestion and longer commute times.
  
  
• From 2000 to 2004, an average of 930 people in Virginia were killed in motor vehicle accidents annually. Specifically,
  
  
  • 362 people were killed each year in the Washington, D.C. area.
    
    
  • 92 people were killed each year in Richmond.
    
    
  • 57 people were killed each in Roanoke
    
    
  • 128 people were killed in the Hampton Roads area.
    
    

• The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) maintains 57,515 miles of roadway, the third highest amount in the nation. It also accepts more than 200 miles of local roads into the state highway system each year, with no additional money to maintain them.
  
  
• Virginia's budget for new transportation construction and expansion projects is shrinking and the demands on the state's transportation system are increasing. The last significant infusion of new transportation funds was enacted January 1, 1987 when the Commonwealth raised the gas tax by 2.5 cents to its current 17.5 cent level, added one-half percent to the state sales tax and increased the motor vehicle sales and use tax by 1 percent.
  
  
• Funding for Virginia's primary, secondary and urban roads, which carry about 70 percent of traffic, has shrunk by nearly 30 percent since 1996. Meanwhile, during the past five years, highway construction costs have increased by more than 25 percent.
  
  
• The VDOT Six-Year Improvement Program (FY 2007-2012) estimates the cost to complete Virginia's primary, secondary and urban road projects is $8.9 billion. The current and projected funding identified for these projects is $4.5 billion over the next six years. An additional $4.4 billion is needed to complete the projects.
  
  
• Considering inflation since 1987, the motor fuels tax revenue's purchasing power has decreased by more than 40 percent. Also, an additional $408 million for local road funding would be needed this year to give Virginia the same purchasing power it had in 1996. This is factoring in inflation, a decrease in state funding and increased fuel, construction and highway construction materials costs.
  
  
• With Virginia's limited state funding, 70 percent of VDOT's construction programs are paid for with federal dollars; the national average is only 42 percent.
  
  

For more information about Virginia 's transportation funding crisis or Virginians for Better Transportation, visit www.itstimevirginia.org or call 804-237-1399.