Saslaw, the state Senate majority leader, came to Jimmy’s restaurant on U.S. 50 east of Winchester on Saturday to speak with the Blue Ridge Democratic Women’s Club, talking about issues facing the state, the General Assembly, and his political party.

He admitted that transportation will be a thorny issue, forcing both Democrats and Republicans to find some resolution for the state’s highway problems.

Saslaw said both sides seem to be making statements to position themselves for the public, but he does not consider either party to be drawing lines in the sand.

"Six weeks out, when faced with the prospect of not doing anything, they may be able to change their mind," Saslaw said. "To sit there and deny, as the Speaker [of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford] has, that we don’t have a statewide problem is absurd."

Saslaw said the transportation plan approved by the General Assembly in 2007 had called for a road construction budget of $1.5 billion and a maintenance budget of $1.2 billion.

Saslaw said one problem with the funding package was that $365 million from the expected construction budget was going to be needed to cover additional maintenance costs.

Virginia’s highway maintenance and construction costs, he said, have gone up 50 percent in the last six years, making it a debt that must be paid now to avoid significant financial impacts in the future.

The 2007 transportation package had called for regional taxing authorities to provide additional money for Tidewater’s and Northern Virginia’s road problems, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in February that the authorities were unconstitutional.

Saslaw said the road package needs to be fixed so those funds that would have been generated by taxes in Tidewater and Northern Virginia will be available to fix roads.

"Around 2013 or 2014, we do not have enough in maintenance [funding] to qualify for four-to-one match money from the federal government when it’s available," he said. "In 2016 or 2017, the loss [of federal matching money] out of the construction fund would be over $700 million. In Tidewater and Northern Virginia, that’s almost 60 to 70 percent.

"That is $350 million out of Northern Virginia alone, so what good is it to pass a regional package?" Saslaw said as he stressed the need for statewide funding. "That [regional] package is supposed to be in addition to [regular funding for transportation]."