VIDEO: Sick Of All The Traffic? So Is Governor McDonnell

In an exclusive Patch interview on Friday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said his ambitious transportation plan would not only help alleviate transportation problems in Northern Virginia, but save the state money in the long run.

“It’s never going to be an easy commute because there’s always going to be a growing population in Northern Virginia,” McDonnell said. “What we can’t do is be as far behind in the construction plans as we are now.”

McDonnell has produced a bold transportation plan that would spend $4 billion dollars over the next three years in making road improvements and the money will also go toward the creation of a transportation infrastructure bank that would give low-interest loans to localities to help them build local projects.

McDonnell’s plan takes advantage of the economy’s effect on construction costs. “We’re getting the best deals now than we’ve gotten in modern Virginia history on road projects because developers and contractors are hungry to get back to work, they’re hungry to create jobs for people,” McDonnell said. “The competition is fierce—so the prices that we’re getting are excellent.”

The plan would also take advantage of historically low interest rates on floating bonds.

“Why don’t we issue them right now when it’s the cheapest we’re ever going to see?” McDonnell said. “To me that’s smart management.”

The money for McDonnell’s transportation scheme would come from a variety of areas, including the issuing of $1.8 billion in accelerated bonds and $1.1 billion dollars in Harvey bonds, using federal funds to pay debt service. The transportation infrastructure bank would be funded by $250 million dollars found in a VDOT audit last year, $150 million dollars from last year’s surplus, and money gathered from his hoped-for sale of ABC stores in Virginia.

McDonnell is against any raise in the commonwealth’s gas tax, arguing that the gas tax revenues have declined in recent years as more fuel efficient cars and alternative fuels are developed.