It's Time Virginia

In September 2004, Virginians for Better Transportation conducted a series of focus groups in areas across the state including Northern Virginia, the Tidewater area, Richmond and Southwest Virginia to determine the public’s opinion of transportation issues and general awareness of the transportation funding crisis facing the Commonwealth.

The participants expressed a fairly high amount of interest in overall transportation issues, however they indicated little to no awareness about transportation funding across the state.

The focus groups also revealed that participants believe transportation and related funding to be a quality of life issue for residents of the Commonwealth. This message was, by far, the strongest with focus group members – surpassing safety, economic development, tourism and several other issues.

In fall 2004, transportation industry representatives, businesses and interested individuals banded together to form Virginians for Better Transportation - a broad-based coalition to inform Virginians about the funding needs for all forms of transportation including rail, public transit, highway systems, aviation and port.

In November 2004, Virginians for Better Transportation launched the It’s Time campaign Web site (www.itstimevirginia.org) – an easily accessible resource that offers up-to-date information about the campaign and access to communications materials including fact sheets, news releases, FAQs and more.

A working steering committee and executive council has been formed to help guide the campaign and direct its goals and communications efforts.

The coalition has organized a stakeholders group comprising more than 60 individuals throughout the state. This group consists of Virginians who are concerned about transportation issues in their respective areas and who work to communicate the crisis to their friends and neighbors.

In April 2005, Virginians for Better Transportation conducted a public kick-off of the It’s Time campaign and formally launched the coalition, explained its mission, and introduced its executive council and steering committee members.

The It’s Time public education campaign is an integrated communications initiative that has incorporated paid advertising, publicity and interactive communications to inform Virginians about the issues the Commonwealth currently faces and those it will be challenged with tomorrow if the issue continues to be ignored.

To date, nearly 850 individuals, businesses and organizations have signed on to support Virginians for Better Transportation.

It’s time to solve this transportation problem. Tomorrow’s transportation crisis cannot be dealt with tomorrow – it must be addressed today.

We need your help! To demonstrate your support for Virginians for Better Transportation, contact the coalition at 804.237.1399 and encourage your friends, family members and co-workers to sign on too. Consider joining the stakeholders group to address this issue at the local level and help increase awareness of the impending crisis by speaking about it to clubs and organizations in your region.