The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia, created in 2002 by the General Assembly through the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Act, Chapter 25, Title 33.2, of the Code of Virginia. The NVTA’s primary functions are to develop and update the region's long range transportation plan (TransAction), conduct regional transportation project planning, and with the funds available to the Authority, fund critical multimodal transportation projects benefitting Northern Virginia by giving priority to congestion reduction relative to cost.

On April 3, 2013, the Virginia General Assembly approved House Bill 2313 (HB 2313, 2013). This legislation established a funding stream for transportation in Northern Virginia and allowed the Authority to begin fulfilling its mission to address regional transportation challenges. Title 33.2-2500, of the Code of Virginia requires the separation of these funds into “70% Regional Revenue", which is allocated by the Authority for regional transportation projects; and “30% Local Distribution Revenue", which is distributed to jurisdictions for their transportation projects and purposes. Revenues began to flow to the Authority on July 1, 2013. Subsequently, on July 24, 2013, the Authority approved its first project list, the FY2014 Program, setting in motion a new era of transportation improvements for the Northern Virginia region. Following the adoption of the first three funding programs, the Authority currently conducts biannual updates to its Six Year Program (SYP). The most recent update was adopted on July 14, 2022, with 20 projects totaling approximately $626 million in funding. This brings the total number of projects adopted by NVTA to 122 multimodal projects and the funds to $3.122 billion. See more details in Table 1. In addition to NVTA funded projects, through the provisions of HB 2313, the Authority has distributed $994,688,648 in funding directly to member jurisdictions for public transportation priorities within their jurisdictions. In September 2023 (FY2024) the Authority celebrated the $1 billion milestone of Local Distribution Fund (30%) transfers to member jurisdictions.

The member jurisdictions of the NVTA include the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William, and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park. The NVTA’s governing body consists of seventeen members as follows: the chief elected official, or his/her designee, of each Member Locality; two members appointed by the Speaker of the House; one member of the Senate appointed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections; and two citizens who reside in Member Localities, appointed by the Governor, including a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board. In addition, the Director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, or his/her designee; the Commissioner of Highways or his/her designee; and the chief elected officer of one town in a county which is a Member Locality, all serve as non-voting members of NVTA.

Per the Virginia General Assembly Budget Bill HB 5002 of 2014, the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability (JCTA) shall regularly review and provide oversight of the usage of funding generated pursuant to the provisions of HB 2313. To meet this requirement, the NVTA has prepared this report to inform the JCTA on the uses of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Fund for FY2023.