Virginia's slowing economy will put the brakes on the state's plans to fix its transportation system.

State transportation revenues are expected to be $1.1 billion less than projected over the next six years, according to Reta R. Busher, chief financial officer for the Virginia Department of Transportation.

That drop would wipe out the hoped-for increase in state spending on highways that the General Assembly approved last year to make some headway against Virginia's burgeoning road woes.

"This is a very serious and troubling financial situation," state Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer told the Commonwealth Transportation Board yesterday.

The 5.4 percent projected shortfall in state transportation revenues will eat most deeply into plans for new local roads, officials said yesterday.

State officials won't know for a couple of months exactly where the cuts would fall, but "the priority is going to be finishing what we have started," said board member Gerald P. McCarthy of Richmond.

One project the Richmond Transportation District is well into is the $50.6 million Huguenot Bridge replacement. Work is under way on the bridge's design with construction scheduled to begin in early 2010.

"That's the No. 1 priority for the district," McCarthy said.

By law, the last thing the Virginia Department of Transportation spends transportation money on is building new secondary, urban and primary roads.

Paying off highway loans, maintaining existing roads and bridges, and contributing the state's share toward federally financed projects all have prior call on Virginia's transportation dollars.

As a result, Busher explained, local streets and highway construction will see an average 44 percent reduction, and funding for transit is down an average of 10 percent a year.

The transportation shortfall traces to lower-than-expected tax receipts on vehicle, home and retail sales, fuel consumption, and vehicle licenses, she said, as well as the pending repeal of abusive-driver fees.

"I just don't know how far the money we have . . . will stretch," McCarthy said, "and we won't know for a little while yet."

However, VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern said he has told his staff that "your primary job is to complete jobs we have in the program," not add new highway projects.

Last year, Virginia officials had forecast that the state would have $20.4 billion to allocate across all its transportation modes over the next six years, Busher said. That prediction has shrunk by $1.1 billion, to $19.3 billion.

Before the latest revenue estimates came out, VDOT's budget for the 2008 fiscal year was $4 billion, of which maintenance work would receive $1.6 billion and construction $1 billion.

At 57,867 miles of state-maintained roads, Virginia has the third-largest highway system in the nation.
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.