Solving Virginia's transportation problems requires some new faces in the General Assembly, and that's not a partisan statement because some Republicans want progress too, Gov. Tim Kaine told a transportation conference in Roanoke Tuesday.

Specifically, those new faces need to appear in the House of Delegates, where party leaders blocked some Republicans from voting for a compromise transportation plan they had helped design, Kaine said.

"The House fought us every step of the way," Kaine said, describing transportation plans put forth by himself and by the state Senate during the assembly's regular session, which didn't end until June 30.

"That's not a partisan statement, it's a fact," Kaine said. It's also nonpartisan because some Republicans in the House favor progress, he said.

Kaine was asked whether or not he would make transportation an issue in House elections in 2007.

"I don't think I need to make it one. The public is going to make it one," Kaine told reporters after his remarks to about 700 people from road-building companies and state transportation employees.

House Majority Leader Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said Kaine's claims of nonpartisanship didn't match up with some of his previous comments.

"At the AFL-CIO meeting in August, he said he was going to take the House and Senate. It's not a matter for him of policy but a matter of he's a Democrat," Griffith said.

"The Senate Republicans were some of his best allies, and he wants to take them out," Griffith said.

The transportation impasse contributed to the March-to-June delay in the adoption of the state's two-year budget. A special session on transportation ended in gridlock and frustration nearly two weeks ago in Richmond. Kaine didn't put his own transportation plan before the special session, Griffith said, adding that "I think that was a setup to try to take over the two houses."

Kaine said during his speech that he held back on presenting his own plan because he wanted to see if support emerged for a compromise developed by assembly Democrats and a few Republicans. The plan was voted down on straight party lines in the House Finance Committee.

Only a few faces need to change in order to make a difference in the dynamics of what the House can produce, Kaine said.

Those faces don't necessarily have to be Democrats, Kaine said; Republicans who are progressive also acknowledge a need to increase revenue for transportation, he said.

Kaine acknowledged an increase in the state's gas tax is highly unlikely when gas is $2 a gallon.

Tolls and other fees offer better ways to finance improved roads and rails, Kaine said.

Transportation is high priority because it's a key to Virginia's economic success, Kaine said. The port of Virginia and Dulles International Airport are assets few states possess, Kaine said, but Virginia needs highways and rails connecting them to capitalize on its opportunities in the global marketplace.

Virginia's competitors, he said, are not just other states but other countries.

Rail figures strongly in Kaine's plan, he said, and he signed an executive order Tuesday establishing a Transportation Accountability Commission.

James Squires, Norfolk Southern Corp.'s senior vice president, will be chairman of the commission.

For highways, technology, tolls and user fees are the best ways to achieve better roads, Kaine said, and tolls may be effective mostly in urban areas.

User fees can be applied statewide, including Southwest Virginia, he said.

A higher sales tax on new-car purchases is reasonable even in the state's less populated areas, Kaine said.

Higher fees for heavy trucks also are likely revenue sources, the governor said.

All 100 seats in the House of Delegates and 40 seats in the Virginia Senate will be up for election in November 2007. The House is made up of 57 Republicans, 40 Democrats and three independents. The Senate is made up of 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats.