On the eve of the resumption of the General Assembly's special session on transportation, The Washington Post's Marc Fisher wrote:

"While the rest of us were out on the roads over the holiday weekend, stuffing our paychecks into our gas tanks, Virginia's legislators were wrapping up a two-week vacation from the hard work of defeating every possible solution to the state's transportation mess."

This week the session reconvened.

Early yesterday morning the Assembly adjourned -- without doing anything.

Throughout the year we have discussed our transportation preferences. An editorial tomorrow will reiterate our arguments regarding revenue. There is no need to recapitulate the entire platform here. At least our files have copy we can re-run on slow days next year.

Virginia is not alone. The nation as a whole confronts problems relating to neglected infrastructure. The Assembly's inaction reflects not only ideology but also the lack of a definitive public consensus. Although the citizenry vaguely supports an improved transportation network, for the time being it appears split on the solutions. We suspect that will change.

We also suspect that some years from now -- perhaps sooner rather than later -- Virginians will not look back on the 2008 special session with affection but will consider it a lost opportunity. The failure to come up with a program sufficient to the needs ultimately will hurt Virginia Republicans more than it will hurt Virginia Democrats. Our GOP friends seem blissfully unaware.