When communicating about the transportation funding crisis, please feel free to use the bulleted information below as a reference. When writing a letter to the editor, be sure to check the requirements of your local newspaper to ensure your letter fits the guidelines for submission.

• Transportation affects the quality of life of all Virginians.



• Transportation affects the time we get to spend with our families and friends, the time it takes to do our jobs and even our safety and health.



• Twenty years have passed since Virginia made a long-term commitment to improve transportation and the largest revenue source - the 17.5 cents per gallon motor fuel tax - has not increased since 1987.



• Multimodal solutions to the current transportation funding crisis would ease congestion from our roads.



• Multimodal solutions to the current transportation funding crisis save families time and money.



• More than 8,000 of Virginia's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The price to fix these bridges is more than $3 billion.



• For the first time in years the commonwealth's pavement condition rating has declined and the cost to bring our interstate pavements up to standard is in excess of $1 billion.



• Congestion and poor road conditions cost Virginia's drivers more than $1,000 a year in lost time and auto repairs.



• The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) debt service is more than $200 million a year. VDOT is forced to use borrowed money to match federal transportation dollars.



• In two years it is likely that there will be no state money for secondary road construction and unpaved roads.



• Virginia has no money for new major highway corridors, transit or rail initiatives or improvements to expand ports and airports.



• Virginia has no money to support private sector investments in Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA) projects. That private sector money goes elsewhere.



• During the past year, VDOT has had to cut $3 billion from its Six-Year Improvement Program, forcing it to close rest areas, reduce maintenance, cut hundreds of highway and bridge projects and eliminate safety service patrols.



• It's time for comprehensive, long-term solutions to the commonwealth's transportation funding problem.