BY KELLY HANNON
Hoping to get a plan in place before President Obama signs the stimulus bill into law, Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board approved a six-year, $8.9 billion transportation budget yesterday.
The rare winter vote on the 2009-14 budget cut $2 billion worth of projects.
The state expects to receive $2.6 billion less than anticipated in transportation funding over the next six years from gas and real-estate taxes and car sales.
Projects in the Fredericksburg area that lost funding include a planned State Route 3 widening in Spotsylvania County, the second phase of the Spotsylvania Courthouse Bypass, widening U.S. 17 in Stafford County and the reconstruction of the Courthouse Road I-95 interchange in Stafford.
The budget kept $21 million to rebuild the Falmouth intersection at U.S. 1, Warrenton Road and Butler Road. The money will let construction move forward within the next six years.
Fredericksburg-area officials knew the cuts were coming.
A draft plan announced most of the cuts in December, and there were few changes.
Stafford Supervisor Cord Sterling is a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Sterling said he hopes some or all of the Fredericksburg-area projects that lost funding will be eligible to receive money from the federal stimulus package.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com