Buildings first, but what about the highways?

[caption id="attachment_9995" align="alignleft" width="150"] photo by Civitas[/caption]

Editorial by Burlington Times-News, October 1, 2015.

For those who haven’t noticed, the state is preparing for a major building boom in the next few years. We admit, that piece of information was lost amid the legislative shuffle until it was pointed out by John Hood of the conservative John Locke Foundation in a column last week.

Indeed, new buildings will likely appear on the North Carolina landscape in bunches should voters decide to endorse the $2 billion bond proposal passed by the state legislature in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning.

More than half of the $2 billion will go toward construction at the state’s university and community-college systems. That’s an investment that will pay dividends — especially if lawmakers will stop cutting higher-education operating budgets. Community colleges are a wise investment in a region’s labor force.

Other spending will include hundreds of millions for water and sewer projects, investments in more than 40 of our state parks, new buildings at the North Carolina Zoo, a new Department of Agriculture lab, construction for the National Guard, and grants for local parks for children and for veterans with disabilities.

Voters will have the final say-so. The entire measure could be on the early primary ballot set for March 15. Historically we like to see bond votes go before a good-sized number of voters. North Carolina’s first ever early primaries for president should ensure a quality turnout. Historically, North Carolina’s presidential primaries were held in May, usually well after the nominees have been determined. With a huge field of Republicans and Democrats likely still in the hunt, the March races should get appropriate attention.

The bond package is a good start toward addressing some infrastructure problems across the state, even if it won’t do all that Gov. Pat McCrory had hoped. The governor wanted $3 billion in bond funding for a package of improvements on state buildings and highways. He got the first but not the latter. Lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, said they would rather pay for highway improvements through existing funds.

That’s probably a mistake. Even though the General Assembly has moved away from its longstanding annual raids on the highway funds to balance the budget — a move that would’ve warmed the heart of the late Alamance County lawmaker Cary Allred — the state isn’t collecting enough money to get the job done. Lawmakers have capped the fuel-tax rate and as America’s automobile and truck fleet gets more fuel-efficient, the cash flow is steadily diminishing. With more required increases in average fuel economy in our future, the funds will continue to shrink.

We need to find alternative ways of funding highway repair and expansion. Our roads are starting to show the kind of wear and tear commonly seen in other states. By all appearances lawmakers aren’t looking hard enough. And anytime the idea of toll roads is advanced in North Carolina, the howls of protest are deafening enough to scare off most politicians.

If voters OK the bond package it’ll be nice to see those new buildings go up. But it would be nicer if travelers could find acceptable roads to get them to them there.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/article/20151001/OPINION/151009931/15233/OPINION