Virginia’s Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization early this year presented the following data to explain the difficulty of financing major transportation projects in urban areas:

To raise enough money for a $1-billion project that has 50,000 daily users would require either: (1) a $4.30 toll; (2) a  regional gas-tax increase of 9.6 cents; (3) an 0.5% regional sales-tax increase; (4) or a combination of a $1.45 toll, 3-cent regional gas tax hike, and 0.2% regional sales tax increase.

Hampton Roads has identified 125 core transportation projects with an estimated construction cost of $30 billion that it needs to build to sustain its economy. Vehicle miles travelled in the region is growing at 11% a year, vs. 7% nationally. The planning agency has identified available funding of $7.7 billion.