Virginia is trading in gold for bronze, at least when it comes to doing business in the commonwealth. The state dropped from first to third place this year in CNBC's Top State for Business 2012 report.
Virginia has been edged out by Texas and Utah in this year's ranking of business-friendly states. There are some positive aspects of the report such as the quality of life.
The state jumped 10 spots in the rankings, from 26th to 16th. The quality and size of the workforce in the state also earned Virginia four spots, putting us at eighth.
But what hurt the most, and likely dropped Virginia to third overall, is the quality of the state's transportation infrastructure. The state fell 23 spots in 2012, from 10th to 33rd.
Tim Hulbert with Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce said, "We have all the pieces, the piece that's missing is transportation. And that can be fixed relatively simply if Richmond would summon the courage to do the right thing."
The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce says the state can fix the infrastructure issue by pumping more funds into the transportation system.
To raise that money, the chamber suggests increasing the state fuel tax by two cents. It estimates Virginia could rake in a billion dollars in the next 10 years that way.
