The state transportation board will have to cut an additional $134 million from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s budget this year and trim the six-year highway plan by $743 million by December.

All three interstate wreck scenes that were jamming Richmond-area traffic have now been cleared, the Virginia Department of Transportation said this afternoon.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says drivers should expect periodic road closures and delays tonight on Temple Avenue and Oaklawn Boulevard in the Fort Lee area because of the delivery of a huge C-17 cargo aircraft fuselage that will be used for training.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says this morning the right lane and shoulder on Interstate 295 south in Henrico County are closed at mile marker 27 after a tractor-trailer hit an overpass and spilled diesel fuel.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says this afternoon it will close all but one lane in each direction on Interstate 64 between mile markers 185 (Staples Mill Road) and 181 (Parham Road) tonight and tomorrow night from 9 p.m. through 5 a.m. for overhead sign maintenance. VDOT warns to expect major delays.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says this afternoon that I-64 East at Nine Mile Road in Henrico County has reopened after having been closed because of an overturned dump truck that spilled its load of gravel.

Here is a list of closed rest areas from across the state this morning.

The motor club AAA has added its voice to those opposing the state’s plans to close some highway rest areas because of budget shortfalls. AAA Mid-Atlantic said yesterday that the plans to mothball 18 Virginia rest areas this month and one welcome center in September would “compromise the safety of all motorists” by limiting options for fatigued drivers to stop and rest.

BILL LOHMANN Local Columnist After returning home some years ago from a seven-week cross-country excursion with my wife and three young children, I was invited by various groups to talk about the trip. On one such occasion after we had exhausted the typical travel chatter of mountains, oceans and deserts, one questioner got down to the nitty-gritty of any road trip:

The Virginia Department of Transportation won’t save quite as much money this year by closing interstate rest areas as it intended. VDOT decided to keep some interstate public stops open past the start of the state’s fiscal year on July 1 to avoid some adverse impacts on summer tourism. “We didn’t want confusion for holiday traffic,“ state Transportation Department spokesman Jeff Caldwell said yesterday.

The Virginia Department of Transportation began putting up electronic message signs today warning motorists that 18 rest areas will close July 21.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says it’s going to do more work on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.

The recession-delayed repaving of a stretch of Interstate 64 in Henrico County and the rehabilitation of Interstate 95 bridges in Richmond will go forward next year at a total cost of $163.3 million, state transportation officials said yesterday. The $43.3 million I-64 project will repair and resurface 5.6 miles of much-patched pavement on both sides of the sixand eight-lane highway between Parham Road and the Bryan Park interchange with I-95.

Work should begin on Virginia’s first federal highway-stimulus projects by June, the Virginia Department of Transportation said. The state will award the first contracts, worth about an estimated $111 million for highway paving work, in May. “The Commonwealth Transportation Board has made approximately half of its stimulus project decisions,“ state Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said. “And we should complete the remainder in the next 30 days.“

With vehicles using less gas, but vehicle miles increasing, Virginia transportation officials have begun thinking about linking the highway gasoline tax to the miles that vehicles drive on the state’s roads. Doing that, however, would not be a painless fix for the state’s highway woes. “It would mean that the gas tax itself would go up,“ Ralph M. Davis, state deputy secretary of transportation, said in an interview.