A gas tax increase in Minnesota appears dead for this session. A plan to index Louisiana’s gas tax to inflation failed to win votes this week. And transportation funding plans are moving forward in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania but face political challenges ahead. Here’s the latest roundup of what’s going on around the country as states seek solutions to meeting their transportation needs.

A Circuit Court judge’s decision in Virginia could spell trouble for a tunnel project already under construction in the Norfolk-Portsmouth area and could have broader ramifications for the future use of public-private partnerships (P3s) in the commonwealth. I also have links to a number of other recent items on tolling and P3s and more on a conference this summer that will bring these issues into sharp focus.

An $8.5 billion transportation revenue package in Washington State, including a 10-cent gas tax hike, will have to wait for a special session after lawmakers adjourned their regular session this week without passing the package, which would have provided a companion to an $8.8 billion transportation budget they did approve. I also have updates on transportation funding developments in six other states.

The Vermont state legislature voted this week to increase gas taxes to raise additional revenues for transportation. The Green Mountain State became the latest state to address transportation funding needs during 2013. I also have updates on what’s going on in three other states with regards to transportation funding.

While a number of states have already completed work this year on transportation funding plans, officials in a number of other states are still hard at work seeking compromises, stating their cases and planning for the future if they’re ultimately unsuccessful in 2013. I have updates on nine of them, as well as links to a number of recent items on the trends in states seeking new transportation revenues this year.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley this week signed into law a House bill that revises guidelines for infrastructure public-private partnerships (P3s). I also have updates on P3, toll and other projects and policies in eight other states, a look at some recent reports and writings on those topics, and some information about how state government officials can learn more on these topics at an important forum this summer.

The passage of MAP-21, the federal surface transportation authorization bill, by Congress in 2012 provided some certainty for state transportation agencies that had dealt with short-term extensions of the previous bill for nearly three years. Moreover, the legislation included many policy changes they had long sought: the consolidation of federal programs, provisions to accelerate the delivery of transportation projects, an emphasis on performance measurement and an infusion of cash for a popular credit assistance program. But state transportation officials say the implementation of MAP-21 continues to present challenges even as the discussion must now turn to its successor--due in 2014--and the important question of how to fund the federal transportation program going forward.

Transportation plans in Maryland, Ohio and Virginia are one step closer to becoming a reality this week. For other states though, the debate over how to fund transportation going forward continues. I also have some noteworthy items below on the condition of America’s infrastructure and what states are doing about it.