No General Assembly session is without its ups and downs, quarrels and disputes. However, the 2013 session may have taken the trophy for the most sparring between Democrats and Republicans – especially when it came to transportation.

A new state law to stiffen penalties for Virginians caught texting while driving will save countless lives, the head of a nonprofit driving safety organization says.

Virginia’s multibillion-dollar transportation funding package will put a heavier burden on lower-income households than on more affluent families, according to a Richmond-based think tank.

The Senate on Wednesday upheld Gov. Bob McDonnell’s veto of legislation to boost efforts to establish a tourist train between Tazewell County and Bramwell, W.Va.

Virginia drivers should get used to hitting “send” on their phones before they get behind the wheel of their vehicle. Beginning July 1, a new state law will crack down on texting while driving. Gov. Bob McDonnell approved the law Monday but recommended that the General Assembly reduce the proposed fines for violators.

Washington Nationals fans living in Virginia have something to cheer about even before the Major League Baseball season officially begins: a specialty license plate honoring the team.

Moped operators in Virginia would have to wear helmets and eye protection, carry a government-issued photo ID, and title, register and put a license plate on their scooters under a bill waiting to be signed into law by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

A tourist train soon could be chugging its way through historic and scenic Tazewell County and across the state line to Bramwell, W.Va.

Like a bicyclist who’s taken a tumble but stays in the race, Virginia bicycling advocates say they’ll push on despite disappointments they suffered during the 2013 legislative session.

There will be no tolling on the southern end of Interstate 95 without the General Assembly’s say-so, thanks to approval of the transportation funding bill during the recently concluded legislative session.

Virginians will soon have two new options for specialty license plates: one for fans of the Washington Nationals baseball team, and the other sporting the words “Peace Begins at Home.”

A divided Virginia Senate on Saturday passed Gov. Bob McDonnell’s signature issue of the 2013 legislative session – a bill to overhaul the state’s system for funding transportation.

Critics of the transportation funding compromise reached by legislative negotiators say the plan would place a huge burden on Virginia taxpayers.

School bus drivers and schoolchildren from across Virginia gathered at the state Capitol on Thursday for the second annual “Love the Bus” rally.

Negotiators from both the House and Senate came to an agreement Wednesday on a transportation plan that, if passed, would be the first transportation funding overhaul in Virginia since 1986.

Legislation cracking down on texting while driving is only Gov. Bob McDonnell’s signature away from become law after passing the Senate on Tuesday.

A conference committee of 10 legislators has less than a week and a half to hammer out a compromise between the House and Senate versions of a bill to increase transportation funding in Virginia.

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved an amended version of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation funding bill, opting to raise the gasoline tax instead of replacing the gas tax with a higher sales tax.

A Senate bill that would have banned smoking in cars carrying children under age 15 was tabled Friday by a House committee.

Three days after Senate Democrats derailed his transportation funding plan, Gov. Bob McDonnell urged two key Democratic senators to support the House version of his proposal.

The day after bills to crack down on texting while driving passed in both the House and Senate, a bipartisan coalition of legislators came together to urge their colleagues to complete the process of turning the measures into law.

Gov. Bob McDonnell expressed his disgust after his transportation funding package was derailed by Senate Democrats late Tuesday.

The Texas Transportation Institute’s “Urban Mobility Report,” released Tuesday, rates the traffic congestion in the Washington, D.C, metro area as the worst in the country.

The Senate today passed a bill to prohibit smoking in a vehicle when a child under 15 is present.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has reason to celebrate after the House Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a key part of the transportation plan that he hopes will define his term.

Brantley Tyndall, a Richmond bicyclist since 2007, used his only form of transportation to show up in support of Bicycle Action Day at the Capitol. This session, Virginia legislators have introduced bills that would make biking safer for both cyclists and drivers across the Commonwealth.

Northern Virginia would get a bigger share of the state’s highway maintenance funds under legislation being sponsored by Delegate Jim LeMunyon, R-Oak Hill. House Bill 1884 would allocate the funds “on the basis of vehicle miles traveled in each highway construction district compared to vehicle miles traveled in the Commonwealth as a whole.”

A bipartisan group of 10 Virginia House members has sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation, urging the federal legislators to join in opposing the Virginia Department of Transportation’s plans to charge tolls on Interstate 95.

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation budget would provide millions of dollars for road and rail projects along Interstate 64 from Newport News to Richmond to ease traffic congestion.

A bill to forbid smoking in cars carrying children is dead in the House, but a similar proposal remains alive in the Senate.

Delegate Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, has announced his support for Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan.

The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus is calling for higher taxes to boost funding for transportation, education and other services.

Members of the General Assembly’s Conservative Caucus today detailed its concerns about Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation overhaul plan, which would eliminate Virginia’s gasoline tax and raise its state sales tax.

Legislators representing the city of Franklin have mixed feelings over Gov. Bob McDonnell’s plan to boost funding for transportation in Virginia by replacing the long-standing gas tax with an increase in the state’s sales tax designated for transportation.

Opponents of tolls on Interstate 95 have a new ally: African American legislators.

Delegate Kirk Cox of Colonial Heights says he supports Gov. Bob McDonnell’s plan to overhaul the system for funding transportation in Virginia and to pump more money into projects especially in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

With the General Assembly set to convene, Governor Bob McDonnell proposed a plan to increase Virginia’s sales tax and abolish its nearly 27-year-old gas tax, making Virginia the first state in the country to do so.

With the General Assembly set to convene, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed Tuesday increasing Virginia’s sales tax and abolishing its nearly 27-year-old gas tax, making Virginia the first state in the country to do so.

A state law that takes effect July 1 makes it a crime to point a laser at an aircraft. Laser strikes are dangerous because they can temporarily blind the pilot and cause a crash. There were 98 laser strikes in Virginia last year.

Motorcyclists are eager to legally burn rubber side by side now that Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed legislation permitting them to ride two abreast in a single driving lane in Virginia. House Bill 97, sponsored by Delegate Tony Wilt of Harrisonburg, allows two-wheeled motorcycles to drive alongside each other in one lane.

As the state budget inches closer to passage by the General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Transportation is hoping to raise money by selling the naming rights for roads, bridges and highway stretches.

While campaigning for the House of Delegates, Randy Minchew heard about problems getting “Children at Play” signs installed near a school in Loudoun County. Two months after Minchew took office, Virginia has a new law authorizing towns and counties to erect such signs as long as VDOT agrees and local governments pay for them.

Opponents of drunken driving are applauding the Senate for passing a bill to require even first-time DUI offenders in Virginia to install a device to prevent them from operating their vehicle while intoxicated. The Senate approved House Bill 279 on a 26-13 vote Wednesday. It would require Virginia drivers to have an ignition interlock installed after their first DUI offense. Currently, the devices are required only after a second or subsequent DUI conviction.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia soon could get money to rev up its tourism promotion efforts whenever motorists buy or renew a specialty license plate depicting that scenic region off Virginia’s mainland. The Senate has passed a bill to channel proceeds from the specialty plates’ sales into a fund to promote tourism on the Eastern Shore.

Several state legislators are sponsoring proposals to require governments to compensate property owners when public works crews block roads or sidewalks and prevent customers from getting to businesses.

When U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood held a “town hall meeting” at Virginia Commonwealth University to discuss President Obama’s State of the Union address, the turnout implied more of a ghost town than a bustling institution of more 32,000 students.

In remarks that raised some eyebrows in the audience, the nation’s top transportation official said this week that there is an “unlimited supply of oil” in parts of the world. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made that statement Wednesday at Virginia Commonwealth University at the end of a town hall meeting attended by about 75 students, staff and faculty members.

Legislators from communities in Prince William County and along the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers will play key roles in determining how the General Assembly crafts a state budget and addresses transportation and other issues during its 2012 session.

Thanks to a new phone app, it soon will be easier for commuters to share rides to military worksites in Northern Virginia. The app, called Avego Driver, will begin its pilot program in Northern Virginia around June. It will be available to government contractors and military employees offering or seeking rides to and from Fort Belvoir, Quantico Marine Corps Base and Alexandria’s Mark Center. Those three sites are known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, locations.

Advocates of a high-speed rail system through Virginia and North Carolina will seek federal funding this year and hope to begin service around the year 2030. “We are going to go to Washington sometime in the summer or fall to meet with congressional representatives to talk about federal funding for rail transportation with an emphasis on high-speed rail,” said state Delegate Richard Anderson, R-Woodbridge.