Gov. Timothy M. Kaine met this afternoon for about an hour with Senate Democrats, working on another plan to fix Virginia's roads.

Kaine conferred privately with about a dozen Democrats including Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw of Fairfax and the Finance Committee chairman, Sen. Charles J. Colgan of Prince William County.

The governor is readying to roll out, probably early next week, another proposal to pump about $1 billion a year into Virginia's transportation system.

Kaine also is expected to take his proposal on the road, meeting with Virginians in town-hall-style sessions in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads -- both areas beset with growing traffic congestion.

The General Assembly is likely to return to session in late June in a third attempt to come up with reliable long-term financing for highways and mass transit.

The assembly is responding to pressure from the public and the courts to come up with new dollars for transportation.

Earlier this year, lawmakers junked unpopular bad-driver fees, and the Virginia Supreme Court threw out as illegal regional authorities for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to collect new taxes for transportation improvements in those regions.