Mobility, yes (News and Observer)
One of the biggest problems in North Carolina’s highway system is on the road to a solution. But there’s another big problem right on its doorstep, and an even larger one lurking outside.
The first problem is the grossly inadequate Yadkin River bridge on Interstate 85 in Davidson and Rowan counties. The bridge’s old, narrow roadways have exasperated engineers and Greensboro-to-Charlotte motorists for years. This fall, work gets under way on a $136 million replacement, plus related upgrades in the immediate area.
The other big problem is a stretch of interstate north of the bridge. It needs widening from four lanes to eight. That $100 million-plus project isn’t optional, because it makes zero sense to eliminate the bridge bottleneck but neglect to widen the road. However, as the DOT candidly states, “The department currently does not have the money available to fund phase two.”
That’s largely because of that third problem. North Carolina’s longstanding formula for spreading highway funds around the state, balancing east and west, rural and urban, etc., simply doesn’t allow for a painful but necessary concentration on megaprojects such as the Yadkin bridge – even though it’s key to the statewide road system and even to north-south travel from Virginia to Atlanta.
When it comes to really big projects, there simply has to be a way to git ‘er done.
Here, Gov. Beverly Perdue deserves credit. She saw a problem and tried to fix it.
First, her administration made a serious bid for federal stimulus funds intended for big projects. But the feds split that pie into too many pieces to help the Yadkin bridge much. Then she took a new tack, working out a funding combination that, while it regrettably takes on debt, got the new bridge going.
Second, in her budget for next year Perdue asked the General Assembly to create a Mobility Fund, essentially a pot of money focused on high-priority, hard-to-fund projects such as its first intended target, the lane widening north of the bridge.
However the state Senate, in its version of the budget, did not go along for the Mobility ride. Senators balked at raising money from motorists and taxpayers – the fund would involve some fee hikes – and Perdue stepped on the toes of the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association too, rarely the route to legislative success.
Now the House is working on its budget, and Perdue hasn’t given up. She’s enlisted mayors on behalf of the special fund. Presumably she’s open to compromise on how to fill up the money pot, trying to make the Mobility Fund palatable to both houses. But everyone involved must realize that worthwhile projects are worth raising money for – cutting unspecified “waste” goes only so far.
Here’s hoping Perdue succeeds. Sure, the long-term solution is a more forward-looking distribution of all the highway money (including transit projects), but until that blessed day, a special-duty fund meets a real need in a realistic way.
Published Sun, May 30, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Sun, May 30, 2010 06:00 AM
