The Transportation Planning Board (TPB) approved a new strategy to ensure the region’s next transportation plan moves forward on time despite unresolved funding issues in Northern Virginia.  The TPB will now perform two air quality studies—one that includes all new regional transportation projects submitted earlier this year, and another that does not include projects dependent on money from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA).  NVTA’s taxing authority, a primary funding source for these projects, was declared unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court on February 29, 2008. 

If the Virginia General Assembly does not act to restore NVTA funds by June, projects reliant on NVTA funds will be delayed or removed entirely from the region’s 2008 Financially Constrained Long-Range Transportation Plan (CLRP) and FY 2009-2014 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). 

Board members said they wanted to ensure the plan meets all of its deadlines so new transportation projects can move forward.  For projects to get final approval by the TPB in the fall, they must be included in an air quality analysis.