There’s little hope of new money to fix Georgia’s ailing transportation network, according to the district’s representative to the State Transportation Board.

David Doss of Rome said he’s even less optimistic about the upcoming Georgia General Assembly session than he was in the three previous years. Some local legislators are saying he’s not far off the mark.

“I think we have to remain hopeful, but the state’s financial situation is going to make it hard,” said state Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome. “And, if you go outside the Atlanta area the concern for it has diminished. For most of our state, (traffic congestion) is an occasional challenge rather than a daily one.”

Doss said the “window of opportunity” has likely passed to ask voters to approve a 1-cent statewide transportation sales tax, and the shortfall first announced by the board in 2007 has grown.

The Georgia Department of Transportation will get through 2010 with some more cutbacks, he said, but there is a real possibility there won’t be enough money in 2011 to provide the required 20-percent match for $1.2 billion in federal funds.

“That means the motor fuel tax dollars Georgians send to Washington will be left on the table and they’ll go to other states,” he said. “We’re through crying ‘Wolf.’ The wolf is here.”

State Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said Doss is right about the money crunch — and he pointed to recent polls that show a vote on a statewide sales tax would fail by as much as 60 percent.

Loudermilk, who is secretary of the House Transportation Committee, said the legislature is going to have to look instead to technology and “management” strategies such as telecommuting incentives to deal with the issue. In the past, transportation has been focused on adding infrastructure, “the supply side,” he said.

“Now we have to look at the demand side too — things that worked for the 1996 Olympics.”

State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, said he’s expecting another push for a bill allowing counties to band together on a regional transportation sales tax. The measure passed the Senate last session but House tabled it in favor of a statewide tax.

“This would let counties put a package directly to their own voters,” Smith said. “We’re also looking for a solution that wouldn’t require a constitutional amendment. I really feel the General Assembly won’t adjourn without some sort of transportation plan.”

State Rep. Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo, said she supported the regional proposal drawn up by state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, but the House wasn’t given a chance to vote on it during the 2009 session.

State Rep. Rick Crawford, D-Cedartown, also backed the regional tax over the statewide option, but said his support is not assured this time around.

“I liked that it would be up to local jurisdictions if they wanted to use that mechanism,” he said. “However, I am disinclined to support anything that would be a tax increase right now. Times are hard and those extra pennies add up.”

The General Assembly’s 40-day session kicks off Jan. 11.