Georgia legislators reached unanimous approval today on transportation proposals that will ensure adequate funding, eliminate political favoritism, guarantee efficient management, overcome massive gridlock and provide modern, safe, adequate and cost-effective roadways for the state’s growing population well into the future.

Sorry. We got carried away. April Fool.

It’s pure coincidence, but painfully appropriate, that the Georgia General Assembly is racing the clock - and butting heads - over transportation proposals on April Fool’s Day.

With just one day left in the session after today, there’s a very real chance the House and Senate will, for the second consecutive year, fail to agree on a transportation funding plan. There’s also no assurance that the lawmakers will move forward on separate, dueling proposals to overhaul the state’s transportation bureaucracy.

And there’s no compelling reason to feel confident that the contemplated changes will lead to improvement should a last-minute deal get done.

That’s how messy and muddled the transportation situation has become. All we can say, for sure, is that there’s been plenty of ‘gridlock’ and no shortage of stubbornness under the Gold Dome.

The House backs a referendum for a statewide sales tax that would raise about $25 billion over the next decade. State Rep. Vance Smith of Pine Mountain outlines his argument for that plan in an essay at right.

The Senate, led by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, favors a regional sales tax - a county or group of counties could seek voter approval for targeted projects.

Last week, Smith and the House leadership offered a compromise, saying “OK” to the regional plan, but only if a referendum on a statewide sales tax failed. The Senate said no to that, and the House stood pat.

Here we sit, singing yet another chorus of “You can’t get there from here.”

A ton of hard work by Smith and others is in danger of amounting to nothing because, once again, the two GOP-dominated bodies can’t agree on a single approach. That’s not leadership. That’s not even governing. It’s power broking and nobody seems to have the “power” to get important work done.

A statewide coalition of business, environmental and transportation advocates is practically begging for action. The Get Georgia Moving Coalition says roads can’t wait and it doesn’t care which plan is approved - as long as one of them is.

But Gov. Sonny Perdue, who wants to abolish the DOT board and create a new authority to make transportation decisions, says he might veto either plan if his governance proposal isn’t approved first.

So there.

We’re not sure Georgia voters would approve either a statewide sales tax or a regional one, although supporters claim polls show 60 percent are fed up enough with gridlock to vote themselves a new penny tax. We’re nowhere near sure the leadership of the DOT - as currently constituted or as might be reorganized under the thumb of the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker - is up to the task.

But Get Georgia Moving is right that Georgia’s transportation problems are real and worsening.

Today we are on the brink. Somebody needs to blink.

Or else Georgia will be stuck in neutral. Again.