Del. Keith Hodges (R-Middlesex) held a town hall meeting last Wednesday at the Gloucester Library in Main Street Center to update residents on issues currently before the Virginia General Assembly.

He said the primary issues concerning him at the moment are transportation, health care and education.

Transportation

Transportation is the major problem in Virginia, said Hodges, even though it doesn’t have as noticeable an impact in rural counties as it does in the state’s more urban areas. All the state’s road construction money has been going toward maintenance, he said, so that there will be no money left for new construction in five years.

Virginia ranks third in the nation in terms of road miles, said Hodges, with the responsibility for 12,000 miles of interstate roads and 48,000 miles of secondary roads. Paying for maintenance and solving the problem of new construction are crucial for the state’s economy, since cargo needs to be moved from the port ...