The term "shovel ready" has been on the lips of many public officials ever since President Barack Obama (D) revealed that the federal government would send billions of dollars to each state to help fund various infrastructure projects.

As a result, states and localities are compiling lists of unfunded or delayed construction projects for schools, roads, bridges and buildings that are ready to begin breaking ground within the next 1-2 years. The stimulus bill is still being drafted in Congress and has yet to be approved. Part of the problem is determining what projects will be eligible, regardless of their shovel-ready status.

"It’s too early to speculate until there’s a stimulus package," said Joan Morris, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation. "We don’t know what the rules are going to be."

Nevertheless, state and county officials have already identified a host of transportation projects that they believe would be candidates under the proposed bill. One view held among some state officials is that previously designated projects, which ran out of funding or were delayed in the aftermath of the fall 2008 financial meltdown, are the likeliest choices for federal funding.

"Projects cut or delayed from the plan would obviously be candidates under a stimulus bill," said Morris.

State Sen. George Barker (D-39) pointed to the unfinished portion of Fairfax County Parkway and Telegraph Road improvements as a prime examples of the type of projects that could get moving quickly enough to qualify.

Barker shared the belief that these projects would be among the first to be considered and would take some of the burden off the state government and Fairfax County while they deal with their own budget woes.

"The advantage of federal money is that it can be used to do a number of construction projects that we’ve planned in the past but don’t have the funds for," said Barker.

Here is a list of transportation projects compiled by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors sent to the Fairfax County delegation to the 111th Congress. All projects are ready to break ground before 2010 and are listed with the amount still left unfunded:

* $60 million to complete phases three and four of Fairfax County Parkway through to the Engineering Proving Grounds in Springfield

* $9 million to complete construction of a secondary road from Old Keene Mill Road to Fairfax County Parkway in Springfield

* $20 million to complete improvements on Interstate Route 29/Gallows Road in Fairfax

* $11 million to complete construction of Mulligan Road (Old Mill Connector Road) through Fort Belvoir

* $49 million to complete construction of Telegraph Road

* $900 million to complete phase one of the Dulles Rail Project

* $4.1 million to fund more powerful locomotives for the Virginia Railways Express.