This week, the Virginia General Assembly convened for a special legislative session to fix what we all know to be a real and significant problem -- the state's ailing transportation infrastructure.

It's not news that Virginia has some of the worst traffic in the nation. If you've ever been stuck on I-95 north of Richmond, battled the deadlock in Northern Virginia during your evening commute, or driven on any number of the overburdened roads in the Hampton Roads area, you know that our state has a serious traffic congestion problem.

The simple fact is that Virginia hasn't been able keep up with maintenance costs and needed road improvements. Just last week, we received more bad news about funding for road improvements and maintenance, when the Commonwealth Transportation Board announced it was delaying or eliminating approximately 200 construction projects. These are projects that Virginia desperately needs to fund adequately and complete.

Now, the Virginia Department of Transportation estimates it would require $8.9 billion in funding during the next six years to keep up with maintenance costs and road improvements. It has currently budgeted to cover only half that amount, and next year's budget will be $3.8 billion, down 5.5 percent from $4 billion this year. That's not going to help Virginians cut their commute time any.

IT IS NOT acceptable for state leaders to allow our road conditions to worsen and traffic congestion to continue. The thousands of commuters who get stuck in gridlock every day deserve a solution to this growing problem. So how can we fill the widening transportation funding gap?

It's time to seriously consider new public-private partnerships as a way to help fix our infrastructure woes. These partnerships provide a real funding source for infrastructure, while at the same time freeing up money for Virginia's other budget priorities. By allowing the private sector to invest in public roads, bridges, and tunnels, the state can raise funding for needed projects at no additional cost to taxpayers.

Virginia has already experienced successful public-private partnerships, including the Pocahontas 895 toll road. In 2006, Virginia selected a private company to manage, operate, and maintain Pocahontas 895, a toll road linking Interstates 95 and 295 to create a southern bypass of Richmond. The company is responsible for the operation, costs, and management of the road, at no expense to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

But we can engage the private sector even further.

Public-private partnerships often utilize a leasing approach, allowing them to lease a road or bridge to a private company for a limited time. As such, the state never sells its infrastructure assets and no company ever owns the road or bridge in question. Rather, the private companies will pay the state an upfront fee in exchange for the rights to operate the roads and collect tolls. Significantly, lease agreements also include strict limitations on how much companies can raise tolls.

LEASE AGREEMENTS also require companies to assume all maintenance, expansion, and security costs. But should a company fail to effectively address safety and traffic conditions, the state retains the right to terminate the lease and keep the money.

These partnerships are not the whole solution in Virginia or anywhere else, but they are one important and necessary part. And they have been proven to alleviate the strain on infrastructure budgets.

Virginia's inadequate and under-funded roadways directly impact the lives of thousands of commuters every day. As our state leaders look at the available and limited options, let's hope they consider public-private partnerships as an important part of the solution.
John M. Palatiello is executive director of America Moving Forward (AMF), a Reston-based nonprofit coalition. Contact him at (703) 787-6665, or learn more at www.americamovingforward.org.