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artwork by Bill McCoy

The 38-year old span is a bottleneck: In addition to being a critical link in I-95's Maine-to-Florida route, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is also a critical link for local traffic. Squeezing eight lanes of beltway traffic into six lanes of bridge traffic with limited shoulders means delays, accidents and frustration. Also, the greater Washington area continues to grow, and so does the number of commuters. The bridge is already facing three times the volume of vehicles it was designed to handle.

But in all of the hype surrounding the new bridge, there's one loose end that project leaders don't like to talk about: They're short $700 million, and neither the federal government nor the state governments of Virginia or Maryland want to cough it up.

"There's no major movement in where the rest of the money is going to come from," Underlind says.

That's a common refrain throughout Virginia. Even conservative estimates put existing construction needs for schools and roads billions of dollars above available state and local resources. And those estimates don't include other state infrastructure items like ports, sewers and airports.

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Til Hazel's take on the transportation trouble is clear: State government needs to shell out the cash.

"They decapitated the highway department, and they're absolutely ignoring" infrastructure needs, says the Northern Virginia lawyer and business leader who for years has fought for greater spending on transportation and education. "Sooner or later, somebody has to pay."

Up in Hazel's neck of the woods, the road problems are legion. In addition to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, there's the plan to widen the Capital Beltway -- $2.5 billion. Then there's the complex rebuilding of the "mixing bowl" where Interstates 95, 395 and 495 converge in Springfield -- $320 million. And regional planners say any effort to stop Washington from eclipsing Los Angeles as the nation's worst traffic mess has to include several new bridges, widening Interstate 66 from D.C. to Gainesville, building another beltway west of I-495 and a major expansion off U.S. Route 1.

"And that doesn't even get into your secondary roads, which become real money after a while," says Bob Chase, a spokesman for the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance. "If you said $10 billion, you wouldn't be wrong."

According to the Commission on the Future of Transportation in Virginia, which was appointed by former Gov. George Allen, the state could spend $74.6 billion on its roads by 2017, more than $2 billion a year beyond currently available revenues. That figure is indexed for inflation, and some say it includes unnecessary projects. But even if this estimate were halved, it would still require more money per year than the state could provide -- even if the current $868 million surplus were dedicated entirely to transportation every year.

And the shortfall touches the entire state. In Hampton Roads, engineers estimate the traffic tie-up is a decade behind Northern Virginia's, says Dwight Farmer, a Hampton Roads planner who co-chaired a state advisory committee on transportation needs. To avoid replicating Northern Virginia's traffic woes, the area needs a third Chesapeake Bay crossing, a major expansion of Route 17, a wider Interstate 64 all the way back to Richmond and improvements to the overburdened Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The bridge-tunnel is an especially serious traffic hazard. If it's not improved, says Farmer, simulations suggest there will be 21 backups of 15 minutes or more every day at the tunnel.

Southside and Southwest Virginia have less traffic volume, but the regions have other problems that make new roads a necessity, says Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County. "We're struggling greatly economically," Armstrong says. "For economic development, you need a major university, a major airport or an interstate. The only one that's viable here is the interstate."

The proposed Interstate 73 is the only major interstate highway on the federal drawing board. The route would run from Detroit to Charleston, S.C., passing through Virginia from Roanoke to Martinsville. It would bring an influx of commercial traffic and provide a more direct route from the Midwest to the Southeast. But it requires massive funding -- about $1 billion -- to build the Virginia section alone, Armstrong says.

"We build roads when the traffic dictates," he says. "We need to change that and build roads to bring the traffic."

The widening of U.S. Route 58, the major route across Southside, is well underway. But western Virginia still needs expansions of Interstate 77 and Interstate 81 -- which is clogged with trucks all the way up through the Shenandoah Valley. The I-81 improvements alone are projected to cost almost $2 billion.

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Backers of such highway spending say it's all crucial, but officials at the Virginia Department of Transportation say some of the projects included in the $74.6 billion price tag belong on a wish list, not a needs-assessment list.

"When you consider the innovations in financing and construction, there does not exist a funding gap between what the commission reported as the top needs and existing resources for the next 20 years," wrote VDOT spokeswoman Lynda J. South in a response to the commission report.

That doesn't mean, however, that the Gilmore administration is satisfied with funding only the most critical needs. "This state has never had an overall transportation policy," says Mark Minor, Gov. Jim Gilmore's press secretary. "That's why we're working right now with commissions to address the issues."

In his Jan. 13th State of the Commonwealth address, Gilmore pledged to submit "a bill proposing that possible tobacco settlement money be placed in three funds," one of which "addresses critical transportation and education infrastructure needs." Gilmore also announced the creation of a new Commission on Transportation Policy to examine current policies and recommend improvements. "The task of this commission will be to define a transportation plan that holds a real promise of efficiently moving people and goods," he said. "We must take full advantage of the enormous increase in federal transportation dollars, use existing resources more efficiently, speed-up planning and construction of our transportation infrastructure, and finally, continue to lead in the new and innovative ways to fund this construction."

There's an emerging growth-management force, however, that doesn't share Gilmore's enthusiasm for building new highways. A coalition of fast-growing localities and environmental groups has come together under the "smart growth" banner. These localities say that building more roads encourages even more development. What's needed, they counter, is smarter planning. They believe that local policies designed to encourage higher-density suburban housing would cut down on the need for secondary roads and make mass transit more feasible.

"Building more highways does not solve our transportation problems," says Tripp Pollard, author of a recent transportation report for the Charlottesville-based Southern Environmental Law Center. "We believe that a lot of the so-called needs in that report (Commission on the Future of Transportation) are pretty wasteful and unnecessary projects. Also, Virginia needs to focus more on maintaining its existing roads."

But will the smart-growth agenda influence the state's infrastructure spending? For it to work, Virginians would have to reconcile themselves to a wholly different lifestyle than most yearn for now -- mass transit instead of two cars, clustered communities with smaller yards instead of sprawling suburban tracts. And that's unlikely, says University of Virginia economist and public policy analyst John Knapp.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see some change of attitudes ... but there's still quite an American love affair with large houses with lots of square footage on oversized lots," Knapp says. "Traffic congestion and such is incremental. I think an idea that just all of a sudden one day everyone wakes up and says 'this won't work' is not feasible."

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Analysts say the residential construction boom in Virginia is likely to slow down in the next few years, but Bill Paulette isn't concerned. As president of Richmond-based KBS Construction Inc., Paulette knows KBS will have plenty of school-construction business well into the next century.

"There are so many old schools that were built in the '50s," he says. "They're wearing out, and they either have to be restructured or rebuilt."

Construction industry leaders around the state echo Paulette. They say the state's reticence to make infrastructure improvements means a full plate of long-term work for them. And when it comes to schools, there's a double load: Not only are replacement schools needed statewide, but rapidly expanding communities have left many localities with a backlog of schools to be built -- almost two dozen in Loudoun County alone.

Hazel, the Northern Virginia lawyer, is no kinder to the state on the school infrastructure issue than he is on roads. "You've cut the locals off at the knees by taking away the car tax and keeping all the income tax , and you have a need for new schools in all these communities," he says. "A lack of decent schools ... could thwart or diminish the opportunity to take advantage of the economic growth available from the booming technology sector."

Minor writes these accusations off as a matter of political difference: "Til Hazel will never be happy unless there are tax increases, which the governor is opposed to. ... The governor has proposed major initiatives to address these funding issues."

These initiatives include earmarking lottery profits for schools, which should provide an extra $245 million over two years. But a state legislative study several years ago put state school construction needs at more than $6 billion, according to Hazel. And while Gilmore has proposed putting a chunk of the surplus toward school construction, it's the same story as roads: Schools are old and obsolete, localities are strapped for cash, and every cent of the state's surplus isn't enough to pay for all the repairs.

A recent state school survey by The Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design illustrates some of the need: At least 3,000 trailers -- not to mention two converted coal bins -- are being used as classroom space statewide. Lack of air conditioning and broken furnaces are also a major problem. According to another survey -- released in December by the General Assembly's Commission on Educational Infrastructure -- more than 200 schools have leaky roofs and dozens are more than 50 years old. In more than half of school districts, efforts to cut student-teacher ratios are hampered when classes are combined to conserve space.

Some of those needs will be addressed by new state funds. But in the meantime, new schools -- costing, on average, $10 million -- are helping to fuel a boom in the construction industry. Paulette says KBS does $15 million to $20 million of school construction each year -- about a quarter of its business. Norfolk-based W.M. Jordan Co. just finished a $25 million renovation to one high school and plans to bid on a $33 million high school project in Virginia Beach, says President and CEO John Lawson. They're just two of dozens of firms around the state that handle loads of school construction work.

"They put off the proper funding of the infrastructure work for so many years that it's unavoidable,'' Lawson says. "Pay now or pay later."

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Compared with schools and roads, the cost of improving Virginia's airports is relatively small -- but still big bucks.

Officials at Richmond International Airport, for example, say they'll need $200 million by 2005 for improvements to runways, terminals and other facilities to keep up with central Virginia's growth.

Most of that will come from traditional federal and state grants and self-generated funds. But to close the gap, Gilmore is pushing for a revolving loan fund for the state's airports, but has yet to mention a dollar figure. Richmond International spokeswoman Ann Steele says she's hoping for at least $25 million.

At Roanoke Regional Airport, where many of the buildings are nearly 50 years old, officials are seeking FAA approval for a $128.5 million upgrade. The project would repave runways, add a parking deck and replace buildings.

Most of the funds will come from the federal government and fees, with a smaller amount coming from established state entitlement dollars, says Mark Courtney, the airport's deputy executive director. But to finish the job and to accommodate expanding jet traffic, the airport will be looking for about $2.2 million in state discretionary funds over the next decade.

"Obviously airports, not just here but nationwide, have been looking for whatever multiple sources of funding we can receive," Courtney says.

Norfolk International Airport is no exception. The number of airlines serving the airport has doubled from four to eight in the past two decades, but facilities haven't been improved to keep up, says Deputy Executive Director Wayne Shank. To bring things up to date, the airport is planning to build a $60 million international arrivals building and a $40 million parking garage. Shank says most of that money will come from the federal government and from bond issues. The airport receives $2 million a year in state entitlement funds.

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So the question remains: Where will funding for the billions of dollars of infrastructure improvements come from?

In the transportation sector, the potential financial options are broad: fuel-tax surcharges, bonds, public-private partnerships and shifts in how gas taxes are collected. But all have their problems: Bonds have to be paid back, taxes are politically unpopular, and partnerships are unproven.

Another option, several analysts and advocates say, are more tolls. Virginia has relatively few toll roads, and several of those tolls have been lifted in recent years. Commuters despise tolls, but that hatred may subside as electronic toll booths become the norm.

Then there are the regional financing plans. In parts of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, localities tired of waiting for state or federal help have banded together to seek authority for multijurisdictional fund-raising schemes. Chase, at the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, suggests a regional sales tax. "It sounds like a hard sell," he says, "but if you said: 'For a 1 percent sales tax, these are the specific projects you would get,' I think that would pass."

Some of these ideas may catch on, but most are still in the planning phase. Meanwhile, projects like Underlind's new Woodrow Wilson Bridge are waiting for the various governments to figure out how to pay for the bricks and steel.

"We're moving forward," Underlind says, "under the assumption that the money will come from somewhere."