Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell outlined proposals Thursday that he said would provide $4 billion for transportation projects over the next three years.
The plans involve leveraging a $400 million state budget surplus and money discovered during an audit of the state’s transportation department into about $1 billion through a transportation infrastructure bank.
Others proposals included having the General Assembly agree to accelerate the sale of transportation bonds authorized in 2007 and modifying the state code to allow for what are known as GARVEE bonds, which allow investors to be paid through future federal highway funds.
The two bond initiatives would raise a total of about $2.9 billion.
“This is the best opportunity in modern Virginia history to build roads,” McDonnell said at the Governor’s Transportation Conference in Roanoke, citing competitive bidding environment and low interest rates.
“We need the jobs now, we need the congestion relief now, and we need to make the deals now,” he said.
The 2007 bonds had been tied to federal match requirements, but using federal toll credits, as recommended in an independent audit released in September, will free up that money to be used on state projects, Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton told reporters Thursday.
The state obtained verbal approval from the Federal Highway Administration to use $450 million in toll credits.
