Republicans continued Wednesday to pick at flaws they see in Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's plan to pay for state roads with new taxes, but publicly remained coy about whether they will present an alternate proposal.
"We're trying to figure out what the governor is going to do first," was the response of Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, to questions about a GOP road-funding plan.
During a transportation meeting in the Capitol on Wednesday, Saxman and other Republicans grilled state transportation secretary Pierce Homer about Kaine's plan to raise $1 billion annually for roads.
Several GOP legislators described the plan as a tax-heavy package that fails to consider recent transportation investments.
The lawmakers also called for the use of tolls to pay for roads.
"No one has looked at what we've already done," said Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, who advocates using tolls to pay for a Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion and other regional needs.
"One could argue maybe there's more to be done, but this idea that we haven't done anything is incorrect," he added, citing the hundreds of millions of dollars for roads approved last year.
Homer said tolls are part of the solution, especially in Hampton Roads, but "tolls alone can't do the job. What we need are supplementary revenue sources to make the tolls work."
Tolls could be used to woo private contractors to build state roads for a profit, some Republicans said.