Virginia local and county transportation projects get a $100 million boost

The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), Richmond, Va., recently approved $50 million in matching funds for localities to improve their roads and bridges. The funds are made available under the Revenue Sharing Program, in which every dollar a participating locality puts toward a project is matched by a dollar from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).

This year, VDOT received a total of $67 million in fund-matching requests from 98 localities, including counties, cities and towns. The CTB approved the legal limit of $50 million in state matching requests.

This year's action by the General Assembly and Gov. Mark Warner's transportation package expanded the Revenue Sharing Program to get more localities involved with the funding and management of their transportation projects. The program increased by allowing towns and cities to participate. Before the expansion, only counties could participate. The maximum match per locality increased from $500,000 to $1 million. The total program funding increased from $15 million to $50 million a year.

The funds will go toward maintenance, operations or project construction on the primary, urban or secondary road systems. Projects include bridge replacements, road widenings, signal repairs, pedestrian and bicycle access improvements, new turn lanes, intersection improvements and re-paving.